| When it comes to pieces of Art, the question of the title is unavoidable. To artists, the title matters so much that even “Untitled” is a meaningful choice. Some galleries even organize "Untitled" exhibits. Titles are also quite important for museums and galleries when they need to print exhibition catalogs. But what about crafts people? Does it make any sense to give a title to something functional? When I was still studying at university, I liked that the object was part of a whole. It had a shape and a function but it also had specific colours and materials. Everything together would create a specific atmosphere, evoke something to the users. The title, the name given to this piece was also part of this whole. So would it mean that a piece without a title is somewhat incomplete? It sure is harder for other people to understand what they are looking at, or at least the intent of the designer. People analyzing and creating the trends rely a lot on language (and colours and materials) because it gives a hint to the viewer as to what their intent is. Without the written or spoken worlds, the trends would be just an abstract collage of pictures but because they have a name that is carefully chosen, it becomes accessible to more people. Language becomes a key for understanding. There are different kind of titles. Some of them are purely descriptive, some of them refer to a process, some seem to have no link to the piece of art whatsoever. The latter ones are interesting since they add another dimension to the piece and the viewer will try to understand the link between that title and that artwork. In doing so, he will look more closely at the piece and probably access to a different level of understanding. Sometimes also, titles are used to create a link between different pieces. By giving the same title to a collection, the artist creates a dialogue between things that would have been otherwise completely unrelated. It can be quite unsettling for a customer to see the same artist making very different things. Labelling the collection allows the artist to explore different styles but also ensure that the customer is not lost when looking at all the pieces. |  Poster for the "Untitled" exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum in 2013 - 2014. |
I highly recommend the really good article (in French) on that topic in Ateliers d’Art de France's magazine #117.