The Unexpected Visitor by Ilya Repin
2014. 8.5" x 11". Eye-tracking data from A.L. Yarbus (1967). Pen and archival paper (framed).
Are the eye-tracking movements of looking at an artwork artful in themselves? Is there beauty in the looking pattern of a beautiful picture, is an inherent aesthetic blueprint revealed?
The picture an observer is looking at must inherently be present in their eye movement pattern, and while each drawing below - based on scientific data - varies according to the viewer's intent and context, there emerges similar patterns throughout. To capture the eye movements of a viewer, then, is to capture what the viewer is observing. In this way, the recorded eye movements become a separate representation of the artwork, a trace. Would other viewers, if recorded, have similar eye tracking patterns? Would viewing an abstract work elicit similar patterns among viewers, or patterns based on personal experience with abstract art? These seven drawings begin to explore this idea.
Are the eye-tracking movements of looking at an artwork artful in themselves? Is there beauty in the looking pattern of a beautiful picture, is an inherent aesthetic blueprint revealed?
The picture an observer is looking at must inherently be present in their eye movement pattern, and while each drawing below - based on scientific data - varies according to the viewer's intent and context, there emerges similar patterns throughout. To capture the eye movements of a viewer, then, is to capture what the viewer is observing. In this way, the recorded eye movements become a separate representation of the artwork, a trace. Would other viewers, if recorded, have similar eye tracking patterns? Would viewing an abstract work elicit similar patterns among viewers, or patterns based on personal experience with abstract art? These seven drawings begin to explore this idea.
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To the right is Repin's Unexpected Visitors. Below are drawings strictly based on data from Yarbus' above mentioned paper, of seven recorded trials from one participant. Click on the images below to enlarge.
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Unexpected Visitors by Ilya Repin. Image in the public domain.
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Installed at Dunedin Fine Arts Center (FL) for "Vespertine" 2020
Installed at Islip Art Museum for "Compendium" 2015
All images © Julia Buntaine Hoel
