Monday, December 24, 2012

The Why and Where of Art in the 21st century

There isn't much that makes me more happy then having not been able to get into a Fine Arts program at a University when I finished High school. I didn't have the academic English required. Tho I aced my applied English class because it was better laid out for my brain. I do however wish I had a wider array of skills at my disposal by now to choose and create from. But I'm happy about this because I didn't have teachers or books to influence my eyes. Telling me what they they thought was the reason for an artist using this brush stroke or that. It's not like they could ask the artist so where does this opinion even come from? Even now When I got to art galleries I never use the audio guides or read very far into the inscriptions except for the date, name, and medium.  I've found that after you go thru your own process of understanding why you personally paint and use the brush strokes that you do, a lot of other art comes into your field of understanding. This became clear when I went to the Van Gogh exhibit in Ottawa this past year, and I got the book of letters to his brother Theo. Doesn't have all of them, but a wonderful read. From reading that I was opened to a whole perspective on the artists of history. I had this weird idea in my brain of artists from the past. The show completely transformed me. And following Van Gogh I saw the Picasso Exhibit. Phew!! Even more mind blowing. Both brilliant in their own right. Van Gogh had a bit of a tougher Gogh with his reality, living in solitude for the most part, spending days walking about the country side and painting the landscapes. It wasn't to just capture in material form the essence of the beauty of the places he was in. Art for Van Gogh was very much his therapy. He used it to understand the world around him. The daily struggles, and harvests, to the purity and simplicity of flowers. Twas no easy feet fighting with the norm of the day. It never is. From reading his letters, the words he would speak to his brother reveal a very sincere and honest bond. One that Vincent could only share with his brother. Knowing on one would understand his thoughts, his torments and laments within his heart. The soft love starved side that felt unworthy because it felt tainted by the complexities of understanding.

Picasso had an easier and for expedient process of coming to terms with these thoughts. Having had Vincent pave the way before him no doubt attributed to this. Picasso's art focused on a next level of thought. Unlike Vincent who spent his time trying to understand the world as it is seen. Picasso Attempted to deconstruct the world and re-order it to see if the feeling or essence of that world would be intact still. This is my interpretation anyway. So following this procession into the period we are currently living in. With all the knowledge of the pioneers of art and techniques before us. Of the some total of humanities achievements thru visual reference. I ask the question, "where to next?". Well the next is happening right now. And its..well.. a cluster fuck of everything! Of people who do imitation art to People who do duplications of set designs for aesthetics. To those who want to re-construct styles of the past, and then their are those who thru all of this jumble of the all, are still looking onward and forward. Attempting to make something new. There could be varying degrees of this. Such as those who wish to make something new based on the building blocks of accumulated knowledge of art and technique to date. But perhaps I'm being too logical with that statement. For that is the procession of how time works is it not? We cannot lift our foot to climb the next step without first having gotten to the step we are already on... So looking at the step before us again. I'm using Picasso as an example for my writing at this time. He deconstructed our reality to understand it.

May a I propose a theory as to what I 'feel' is happening at this time. More and more people are leaning towards the quantum theory of the sciences. It's a magical and mystical side to life. One that is not so easily comprehended but once understood, is also so easily comprehended!! Haha. Beautiful eh? More and more people are finding that deconstruction "Reality" as the artist of the past once saw it seems futile. So the attempt in the artist is now to understand the idea of a reality we only beginning to perceive! I say perceive and not see, why? Because I think the quantum reality for it to first become something tangible in your mind it has to be first felt thru this illogical feeling. You can attempt to put thoughts to it, but thoughts only seem to muck it up and make it less naturally perfect like trying to put words to a concerto. So we take the only route possible into this next phase in art theory, which is unconscious feeling based painting.

I feel art is going to be a great educator for the 21st century. In a society with so much chaos of the mind and heart connection, leading us to more and more mental illnesses, and addictions, art will be a source of much healing. Healing our self judgments, and egoic inner bantering, to the ordering of pieces into places externally creating the ground work for the ordering of pieces internally.

So paint, draw, sculpt, create! Create to understand why you create. You can't understand why you create what you create, until you first act and create! Then have a direction to angle your 'why's' at!

Where logic fails, Art will prevail.
Live love and Prosper friends.

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