THE LOGOTIC IMAGE: BETWEEN DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

Abstract

This article, situated within the broader framework of Iconophotology — a theory that investigates the modes of presence and signification of images from classical domains (material and immaterial) to emerging regimes (epiplastic and holographic) — proposes a theory of meaning in the image based on the distinction between denotation and connotation, not as separate levels, but as constitutive tensions. Starting from the notion that tropes are not merely figures of speech, but elementary operations of perception and thought, the text develops the Brandão Scale, a dynamic model in which metaphor is organized as an ascending movement (analogical condensation) and allegory as a descending movement (narrative unfolding). The scale is exemplified across three domains — verbal, photographic, and cinematic — and articulated with the material and immaterial domains of the image. Finally, the article discusses the concepts of margin (where meaning is tensioned) and paramundo (where the image no longer signifies, but appears as presence), situating the enigma as the boundary of interpretation.