ON CONNOTATION AND ASSOCIATION IN THE WORK OF MICHAEL GIBBS (1949–2009)

Connotative semiotics as it is introduced and developed by Louis Hjemslev (1873–1950), became known to a larger audience thanks to Roland Barthes (1915–1980). One of Barthes’ admirers was the British-born visual artist and poet Michael Gibbs (1949–2009), who wrote about Barthes and made systematic relations and the concept of connotation central to his literary and visual work. Contrary to most semioticians in the Saussurian tradition, he was not so strongly opposed to the use of psychological concepts, such as “association” and “suggestion”. In this essay, Marga van Mechelen argues that his application of “connotation” and “association” is depending on certain factors. In general, when the production of a ‘text’ as a conscious and orchestrated act is involved, the concept of connotation is used, while considering the position of the receiver, “association” is the more common term. It is the right term to stimulate the individual and personal creation of meaning. In addition, to counterbalance the structuralist and all too defining approach that Gibbs as an artist fears. Indirectly, Gibbs supports the structuralist idea that there is, or should not be a fixed meaning, as well as Barthes’ thesis that denotation is not the first meaning, but the last of connotations.