From Viewer to Observer: Analyzing Spatial Complexity of Pictographs in the Lower Pecos

Summary

From Viewer to Observer will discuss the visual elements of the Pecos River style rock art, exploring the painting techniques and patterns that created these complex spaces. In addition, this paper will examine Lower Pecos pictographs through David Summers’ Real Spaces, as well as other texts, to create a context within current and traditional art historical methodologies. In using Summers’ idea of the spatially aware "observer" instead of the "viewer" I hope to expand the boundaries of the traditional composition to incorporate the physical space these works of art occupy, which enhance their spatial complexity as paintings. Analysis of the pictographs within their respective settings can deepen our understanding of the formal qualities of these paintings, and further, reveal interactions between image, surface, and surrounding space. By expanding our understanding of how meaning was communicated through the art and how it formed part of the culture within which it was produced, we gain insights into the cognitive behaviors which underlie Pecos River style imagery.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Investigating a Ten-Millennia Record of Hunter-Gatherer Lifeways in the Northeastern Chihuahuan Desert

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16084