What about haiga, then, in this contest? What does haiga attempt to do, and how can we link it with the tradition of combinatorial artforms as we have just explored?
I think it is apparent that none of these examples function precisely as haiga does. the humorous drawing, at least in this instance, could have dispensed with the text. However, many cartoons do exhibit an interdependency between visual and textual material, and as such it is perhaps closest to haiga. But even here there are some differences. Most cartoons are humorous, and the text is arch: the intent is not resonance, but irony, and intellectual humor. So perhaps we would consider cartoons to more akin to senryu, and perhaps we should imagine a new form of haiga, perhaps to be called 'senga', which treats this sort of material.
The others share some points, but lack others. For instance, the comic strip has a balance of interest between visual and textual elements, but features narrative, which is clearly outside of the purview of haiga. The poster is hortatory and hyperbolic, whereas haiga, at least as it has been practiced traditionally, is uually understated and seductive. The Magritte and like paintings aims more toward the intellectual than emotive or intuitive, and as such are perhaps more linked to the philosophy of art. And the calligraphy art, at least in this case (and in virtually all others I know) is severely limited in its visual expressiveness, and as such does not offer a fair opportunity for true balance of elements to emerge. So haiga's uniqueness remains, partially due to its unusual juxtaposition of art and text, and also partially due to its intentionality.
It is this intentionality we shall explore, and specifically how this intentionality informs the conventions by which we interpret it, as well as the parameters by which we create it. As haiga becomes more assimilable in the west, it wil be through this sort of interpretation of cultural modes that we will come to discover what place it holds in our perspective of art, compared not only to other haiga, but to all other visual forms we encounter.
In order to do this, we need to talk first a bit about haiku, as well as make a critical distinction in methods of viewing which is critical to the understanding of how haiga work.
Specifically, I would like to consider these two questions:
"What are you looking at"?
"What do you see?"
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Looking is a direct apprehension: it is neutral, specific, representative. Looking is the act of an observer, and accepting of the reality observed. Looking makes sense and value based on the positing of an objective world "out there" and our ability to perceive it accurately. We act faithfully to that objective world, even if it is not certain that we are seeing it so. If I show you an image and ask you to identify it, and you can't, you might respond "I'm still looking." And your looking is taking place in the realm of the objective world where you might have seen such a sight before. (It's unlikely you'll say, in this activity, that it is the shape of a dream you had once, or of articles to be found on Mars---that would make them subjective or imaginative, and still wouldn't answer the question.)
Seeing, on the other hand, is an act of choice. It is the contemplation of not just things, but the relationship between things, and between things and ourselves. It is the act of an imaginer. Seeing is not satisfied solely with what is objectively noted, but seeks to make connections. It is intellective and categorical. It is associative, and "knows more" than the simple face of reality. It is subjective. Consider that image I asked you about a moment ago: if you didn't "undertand" it at first, but came to do so, you might say "I see."
Looking is direct apprehension, and it requires an object; Looking says "I see it". Seeing is a step's remove, and requires no other object than the seer's mind and the connections found therein. Seeing says "I see".
There was a time when art was very simple.
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