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Philip WittmannInnocent2023
2023
About the Item
The art of Philip Wittmann is founded on signals. For him, signs serve as a bridge between abstraction, reality and writing, too. When he was 26 years old, he began painting as a hobbyist using 'pure' abstraction. However, he believed his work lacked a solid foundation upon which to grow.
He discovered a book on the origins of the Chinese alphabet, which origins are essentially signs, in 2008 while taking a calligraphy class. The 26 letters of our Latin alphabet are less pictorial than the Chinese characters as we know them now. He discovered that pictorial representation is more prevalent when examining the origins of alphabets—all alphabets, in fact—because there is frequently a similarity between the sign's true meaning and what it is meant to represent. For instance, the symbol for a turtle in the original Chinese script resembles a turtle.
Wittmann loves signs as they leave room for interpretation. For instance, if one writes “the sky
is blue”, one will make for themself a mental representation of a blue sky, even if each one-off us
will probably have some nuance in our own mental representation of that blue sky. On the other hand, a sign can be interpreted by the viewer in any way you want. There is no clear meaning
attached to it. These signs might appeal to your conscious and/or unconscious thoughts. This is
what he finds attractive. As we listen to people talking about what they ‘see’ in his work we are always surprised by the ‘stories’ that people build with themselves in their own minds.
organization, sign, writing, calligraphy, signs, unconscious, conscious, thoughts, interiors, pattern, meaning, interpretation, design, abstract, series, ink, paint, Belgian artist, graphic, natural.
- Creator:Philip Wittmann (Belgian)
- Creation Year:2023
- Dimensions:Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1566212119322
About the Seller
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Established in 2010
1stDibs seller since 2021
29 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 1 hour
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
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