Thursday Post 1-29-08

abstract

How many people make themselves abstract to appear profound. The most useful part of abstract terms are the shadows they create to hide a vacuum.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist

Hahn, Harley. "Understanding Abstract Art". Harley Hahn Art Center. 28 Jan. 2009.

This article gave a bit of history behind the build up toward the onset of purely abstract painting. Here are some quotes I pulled from the article that I think most relate to my work.

"Until the 20th century, artists had to be content with merely grazing the surface of consciousness. Try as they might, their ability to penetrate to the heart of what it means to be human was limited by their tools. When the brain processes a recognizable image, a mental barrier is erected that prevents significant entry into the processes of the unconscious. Thus, representational art, by its very nature, imposes limits on how deeply an artist is able to insinuate him- or herself into the unconscious processes of the observer.
However, with the coming of abstraction, artists had, for the first time, a powerful tool that would allow them to bypass literal perception and reach into this otherwise impenetrable world of unconscious emotion. This was possible because, the more abstract a work of art, the less preconceptions it evokes in the mind of the beholder."

It is in this gap between the recognizable and the unrecognizable that I wish to work. I want my images to hang somewhere that causes the viewer to keep looking because they might see something representational, but maybe not. It is changed enough that it is not immediately noticeable but needs to be further analyzed. I had a piece that was very successful in this that I called "Hurricane" in my solo show. It had one of the best responses among my images, second to the image of the red burned book. Everyone was dying to know what it was, because they could tell from the photographic quality that it was not an image created solely from the imagination but based somewhere in the reality. I've been continuing to work in this dimension, playing with colors and values to trick the eye into not knowing what it's looking at, but I've been struggling to come up with a hard concept behind why I'm doing this, other than making "cool" sort of "hippy-trippy" images. This article helped me by explaining the method behind the madness, the reason that painters choose to paint abstractions - to get beyond the preconceived and reach a new level of emotion. I feel that somewhere in this idea lies my concept, though I haven't been able to fully hammer it out in words yet, I can feel it bubbling in my mind. I want to create this pull between preconceived recognition and unconscious emotions, where my images act as competing magnets swinging the mind between both ends.
"There are a number of straightforward reasons why human beings create art: to make a decoration, to tell a story, to capture or preserve an image, or to illustrate an idea. However, there is another, more subtle, but far more important reason why art is important to us. The need to reach inside ourselves and manipulate our unconscious feelings is universal. We all do it to some degree, although most of the time we are blind to what we are doing. The reason abstract art has the potential to be so powerful is that it keeps the conscious distractions to a minimum. When you look at, say, the apples and pears of Cézanne, your mental energy mostly goes to processing the images: the fruit, the plate, the table, and the background. However, when you look at "Lavender Mist", you are not distracted by meaningful images, so virtually all of your brain power is devoted to feeling. You can open yourself, let in the energy and spirit of the painting, and allow it to dance with your psyche."



"Hurricane"