The images that exclude and how the excluded is included again

Abstract

Based on the semiotic insight that no sign can represent its object completely, the paper argues that semiotic exclusion is at the root of visual representation. It examines the forms and causes of such exclusions of visual and nonvisual information about the object of the visual sign. The author distinguishes between exclusions that are specific to visual representation and creative compositional exclusions. The paper develops the argument that the history of the visual arts and creative graphic design is a history of reversals of the various forms of exclusions that are specific to visual representation with the goal to create images that include the excluded object (again) and to make the otherwise invisible visible.