How do sign, symbol and metaphor relate to the world of art?

Works of art become most meaningful for us when they evoke thoughts and feelings. This occurs when we venture beyond merely identifying a work's visual elements (the character of its lines, shapes, colors, etc.) and the ways in which these elements are organized. It is essential to consider the proposition that works of art speak to us through both their formal organization and the signs, symbols and metaphors that can be associated with them. How these additional components can be defined and identified is demonstrated through the following series of exercises.

How does one move beyond what is literally there?
When we look at a painting all that we can actually see are shapes and the textures and colors of paint on the canvas which absorb and reflect varied amounts of light. But there is much more to react to if we contemplate the character of the shapes and colors and how they relate to each other. To illustrate this principle in a very direct way, carefully observe shapes A and B.
tactility

bambino
shape A shape B
Shapes A and B are drawings of simple shapes. To the left of these shapes are two words. Which word relates to which shape? If you sound-out each word you should readily associate shape B with "tactility" because this word's piercing, staccato-like sounds correspond to the sharp angularity of the shape. The soft, undulating rhythms associated with "bambino" conform to the round, flowing character of shape A.

We have just demonstrated that there are implied meanings in both aural and visual forms that are elicited by the nature of what actually exists within these stimuli. Everyone can sense how differences in sound and appearance evoke variations in feelings and thoughts, even though there are only lines that define shapes or letters that create words.

In our next exercise we see another example of this phenomenon. Words can appear in type faces in such a way that what the word describes can actually be felt. The character of the letters evoke these kinds of associations.