The Key

"For me context is the key - from that comes the meaning of everything."--Kenneth Noland

This quote is one of my favorites. In finding the exact wording, however, I found the original speaker: Kenneth Noland. A 20th Century American abstract painter. Context is incredibly important in everything. It struck me first as a little odd but then as exceedingly fitting to abstract art.

Abstract art has a complicated reputation. People either "get it" or they don't. Many people don't see the point. I used to be one of them. Now, for two reasons, I rather like abstract art. First, you don't have to understand art for it to have meaning. It is the result of a creative endeavor that has been produced by a person. It is because it is. (I realize this is circular reasoning and a rather large logical fallacy.) Second, abstract art is just that. Abstract. Each piece means something different to everyone who experiences it. Like the wind. Or love. Now, you may interpret a painting as just some splotches of paint on a canvas. You may interpret it as the visual representation of a bridge or rain or hope.

This is where context comes in. The painter may have created something abstract because there are no words, or even pictures, that can capture what they want.

This also happens with language. While it is malleable, language is incredibly confining. Pain, for example. Doctors ask, at least in America, to rate pain on a scale of ten. If all your life you've only experienced minor injuries, your definition of what "10" is will be significantly less than someone who's broken their femur or experienced childbirth. Brian Regan, a comedian, has a bit about pain and hospitals, available here.

My point is language is dependent on who is speaking. When I say to my friends, "You're a dork", I don't mean that to be an insult. I generally mean something along the lines of: "I like you. You are funny. The things that make you you are interesting." When I say to my friends, "You're an idiot with a stupid face" (not that I say that but I think it an awful lot), I mean something closer to, "You are one of my favorite people and I miss you." Neither of these statements are said with malice, but they well could be. Context, though, defines their interpretation.

This is not limited to language. I visualize most things, even non-visual things, as snapshots. Every interaction is a polaroid and my brain is littered with them--taped across the walls of my self, scattered across my mental floor, woven into the quilt I wrap my consciousness in to sleep. The stark white borders separating experiences in some places, but in others, I've cut off the borders and taped pictures together to form a whole. The smell of freshly brewed coffee has two notable pictures: one from elementary school and one of my grandparents. The pictures of York are borderless and stitched together haphazardly; they spread across my mind like dandelions in a yard.

Meaning is derived from context. A fact has meaning because it was chosen and because it is being used. Nothing exists in a vacuum. Who we are is defined by our experiences. The language we use, and the definitions of the words therein, are defined by people over time.

Context provides depth. It is the difference between wading in a puddle and swimming in the ocean.