Gallery- a chamber to limit the awareness of the outside world. a place where the illusion of eternal presence was to be protected from the flow of time.

“space where access to higher metaphysical realms is made to seem available, it must be sheltered from the appearance of change and time. This specially segregated space is a kind of non-space, ultra space or ideal space where the surrounding matrix of space time is symbolically annulled. pg 8

I found O’Doherty’s writing style to be at times overly verbose and confusing which made it difficult for me to fully absorb his interesting interpretation on space and art (yeah, I know…this is college…but still!). However, the parts/concepts that I was able to translate into laymen terms were both thought provoking and novel. I hadn’t really contemplated the true impact and nature of the white cube before. Of how galleries create these sterile environments for the sole purpose of displaying art and only art, while at the same time restraining the observer’s or spectator’s behavior and removing the art from any real-world context (space and time). Silly as it may seem, I had never realized just how much the ultra “neutral” environment and associated rituals/rules within a gallery have affected my own interpretation of the art within.

I appreciate O’Doherty’s attempt to describe the concept of gallery space and its affect on the art because it forced me to contemplate the many different factors which influence and change the way the art is perceived after the art has been “made”. Simple, obvious things such as where a painting/photograph is hung on the “picture plane”, how it’s framed, and even what is hung next to it will inevitably alter the way it is perceived, and thus the message it is conveying.

I had a bit of a hard time understanding O’Doherty’s distinction between “The Spectator” and “The Eye”. Although I do see how they could be separated, I think they are both inseparable aspects necessary to understand, or experience art. And that no one is either a “Spectator” or an “Eye” but rather that meaning/understanding is derived from a combination of both of these characteristics within the human being

koichi