How do we perceive a picture (painting, drawing, photography, etc) as a meaningful whole, a three dimensional reality and not simply as images or sub-parts of images?
Well, it's an unusual situation in which we have two sharks, a left one and a right one that captured our attention (went viral), so any salient differences will pop out. So, we could ask, why did Left Shark go viral and not Right Shark, and how did it come to mean what it means?
First of all, it's the Shark to the left of Katy Perry from our perspective, so it can be said that we named him, that he is our perception.
Secondly, if one were to use the term in a sentence in front of someone who was given no background (e.g., "The Seahawks lost trying to be Right Shark when they're actually Left Shark"), the meaning of "Left Shark" would make little sense.
Third, why did Left and not Right Shark go viral? I might say it's because he was bumbling on national tv and acted as if it didn't matter but if it were two regular dancers dancing in human costume, would it have been the same? Why wouldn't I identify with the better dancer, anyways? That is, what do I even expect of a guy in a teal shark costume during a halftime show? Moreover, why not the beachballs? Why not giant surfboards? Why not palm trees?...
Finally, the phenomenon brought a copyright claim to our attention. For those of us who don't know how the law works, we got to see the arguments clearly in the letters that were sent by the lawyers. So, it might be used as a good example to communicate about an issue to the public. So, would Left Shark mean the same to a lawyer as to a mason, a baker or a ticket agent?
After all this, how should I perceive Left Shark, now? Is it different from my first perception? How does my knowing of other people's perceptions influence mine?
Although I was responding to the title (How does meaning arise out of perception), I think such questions about how our experiences, feelings and expectations affect creation of meaning may be transferable to art in general.
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