The semantic syntax of conscious abstraction
The Symbol Grounding Problem, formulated by Stevan Harnad in the context of debates concerning the nature of symbolic representation and cognition, became an important point of reference in research on the relationship between symbols, representation, and meaning. Harnad pointed out that a system operating exclusively through syntactic relations between signs, analysing formal rules and dependencies without connecting them to the external world, does not explain how symbols acquire grounded meaning. Operating on pure syntax resembles attempting to learn the Chinese language using only a Chinese-language dictionary.
Abstract art has faced an analogous cognitive challenge for decades. Relying exclusively on internal rules of composition, colour theory, and pure formal aesthetics, it creates visual arrangements: attractive in reception, yet devoid of a defined semantic grounding. Analysing an abstract work solely from the level of its compositional principles resembles an observer standing on flat terrain, for whom the Earth appears flat. Only a research perspective makes it possible to perceive its actual geometry. For abstraction to cease being merely a set of decorative forms, its elements must be grounded in a semantic field that is as intersubjectively accessible as possible.
Abstraction acquires the status of a language when it rejects egocentric, arbitrary declarations by the author in favour of a defined conceptual architecture. It transforms the artist from an autotelic subject into a researcher who, through material realisation and structure, investigates the nature of complex concepts.
The process of transposing an abstract concept into a visual structure is based on a four-stage operational structure:
Abstract Concept⟶Descriptive Grounding⟶Constructive Grounding⟶Visual Record
Between the disembodied idea and the finished work lies the grounding procedure. It is this procedure that distinguishes the conscious construction of a visual statement from the retrospective attribution of meanings to a form that arose by chance.
The first level of the Matrix establishes the Semantic Field of a concept through four fundamental operational dimensions:
- Essence defines what the concept is in its pure form: its core definition, necessary features, conditions of existence, and conceptual boundaries.
- Experience defines how the concept is recognised or experienced: through states of consciousness, emotions, sensory perception, and boundary experiences.
- Relation defines against what the concept acquires meaning: through oppositions, contrasts, dependencies, boundary conditions, and external context.
- Consequence defines what follows from the concept: its effects, possibilities, transformations, and dynamic horizon of impact.
The four dimensions of Descriptive Grounding do not correspond directly to the four Constructive dimensions. The first level defines the semantic structure of the concept, while the second defines the conditions of its visual construction. The transition between them is not a mechanical mapping, but a transformation.
The second level maps the Semantic Field onto the Syntax of Abstraction through the Tension Matrix — a closed, canonical alphabet of operators:
- State (Existential-Material Dimension): Initial conditions and environmental density (brightness | darkness | tension | emptiness | fullness | certainty | uncertainty).
- Vector (Kinetic-Directional Dimension): A directed force modifying or breaking through the State (attraction | repulsion | opening | closure | transgression | pressure | flow).
- Relation (Architectural-Spatial Dimension): The geometry and architectural arrangement of the work (boundary | centre | distance | proportion | symmetry | asymmetry | hierarchy).
- Process (Temporal Dimension): The behaviour and modification of the arrangement over time (duration | repetition | rhythm | growth | transformation | decay | escalation).
The Grounding Matrix is not a dictionary of symbols. It does not establish a simple correspondence such as yellow = hope or circle = perfection. Such an approach would merely reproduce a mechanical dictionary of signs. Within the Matrix, no single element carries the entire meaning on its own. Meaning emerges only through the relationship between operators and their specific spatial and temporal configuration. The same operator can contribute to the construction of different concepts, just as the same letter participates in the construction of different words. The visual statement is determined by the syntax of relations, rather than by an isolated pictorial mark.
OPERATIONAL EXAMPLE: “THOU SHALT NOT KILL”
The operation of the architecture is demonstrated through the transposition of the concept Thou Shalt Not Kill.
Descriptive Grounding (Semantic Field):
- Essence: The inviolability of being, the primordial prohibition of destruction, the protection of pure structure against rupture.
- Experience: A sense of absolute sacredness, resistance to crossing the boundary, a state of concentrated protection.
- Relation: Existence ↔ Non-existence | Protection ↔ Destruction | Inviolable core ↔ External pressure.
- Consequence: Preservation of continuity, sustaining existence, creating barriers inaccessible to destructive forces.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: Essence→Experience→Relation→Consequence
Constructive Grounding (Visual Syntax):
Thou Shalt Not Kill: State (tension)→Vector (pressure / resistance)→Relation (sharp boundary / confrontation)→Process (duration)
Visual Record (Realisation in the medium of light):
- State: The deep blackness of the surrounding environment constitutes an indifferent space in which the fate of being is at stake. Light is not a metaphor here, but a physical medium with strictly controlled intensity and exposure time.
- Vector: The construction is based on two opposing forces. From above, an aggressive, sharp vector in an intense red hue advances (a concentrated force of threat), opposed by a dynamic, arcing protective vector of a cool colour.
- Relation: Tension arises at the boundary of the approaching forms. The hard, edge-defined separation of the reddish blade from the shield creates an impassable zone of resistance, establishing a sharp division between the force of destruction and the order of being.
- Process: The modulation of the bands and the rhythm of the gesture reveal the moment of arresting the advance in time. It is a state of enduring restraint and grounded resistance that does not permit the boundary to be breached.
The Grounding Matrix defines the dimensions and operators through which an abstract concept is articulated into a semantic field and subsequently translated into a visual structure. The complete set of transformation rules defining the transition between the semantic structure of a concept and the configuration of visual operators constitutes the internal operational method of Conscious Abstraction. This study presents the architecture of the system and its canonical alphabet, while leaving the transformation procedure itself as the author’s protected know-how.
Within this framework, the medium does not determine meaning, but constitutes its material field of realisation. Its physical and technological properties may be employed in the construction of the visual structure, yet remain secondary to the grounding process. By rejecting purely aesthetic decoration in favour of an integrated syntax, the creation of the work ceases to be a random gesture. It becomes a considered structure in which form and matter directly defend the substantive rationale of the concept.