PLANES IN ART

SEMIOTIC PLANE

Semiotics is the study of signs and their meanings. Signs include words, gestures. images,
sounds, and objects. According to Ferdinand de Saussure, a founder of modern semiotics, sign
consists of two parts: the signifier (the form which the sign takes) and the signified (the concept
represents).

This is the plane wherein the viewer considers the elements of the work. Every part of the
work is to be considered as a potential meaning conveyor. This simply means that each aspect,
whether it is as trivial as a rock on sand or the color of clouds, contributes to the overall impact
of the work. The mere presence of an object or material is already an evidence of its
significance. Example, La Tragedia de Gobernador Bustamante and Spoliarium.

ICONIC PLANE

The term icon pertains to a single image with a unique meaning. Although this plane is
concerned with the image, and may be confused as being part of the semiotic plane, an analysis
in the iconic level mainly fits with representational or figurative art, as opposed to the semiotic
plane that deals more with abstract art. Here it is not that material elements of the work that
are dealt with as in the basic semiotic plane, but this has to do with the particular features,
aspects, and qualities of the image which are the signifiers. The iconic plane includes the choice
of the subject which may bear social and political implications..

Contextual Plane

Here one proceeds from the basic semiotic and iconic planes and the knowledge and
insights one has gained from these into the social and historical context of the work of art.
Resituating the work in its context will bring out the full meaning of the work in terms of its
human and social implications. The viewer draws out the dialogic relationship of art and society.
As has been said earlier, the meaning of a work is a complex that involves concepts, values,
emotions, attitudes, atmospheres, sensory experiences that arise from the three planes. The
experience of a work cannot be reduced or paraphrased to a statement, such as a moral lesson
or message, but is a total experience involving the faculties of the whole person-not just his eyes
or his senses, but his mind and emotions as well.

Prepared by:

Ordillano, Jonah Mae

Dela Cerna, Nica Nicole

Espayos, Armina Rose

Sarmiento, Francis Maoi

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art."

- Leonardo da Vinci