Vision runs back and forth from objects to eyes, and whatever is seen also sees… seeing is self-definition. Objects look back, and their incoming gaze tells me what I am.
James Elkins — from The Object Stares Back.
Elkins’ books, especially (for me) The Object Stares Back, are fascinating phenomenological pickings-apart of the familiar — art history, perception, representation — into shards of pure revelation. Essential reading.