The visual athlete may not be bi-lingual

The inward, introspective direction of art - its shift from the outside to the inside world - was influenced by two factors: our inheritance of the desire to explore new territories and the completion of the mapping of the earth.   

Our exploring urge is now directed toward outer space or the inside of matter.  Thankfully, this has not proven to be true, but was taught as true in most schools for the latter half of the 20th century.  In keeping with this historical movement, I probed inward.  Thus, this inward movement in art, most notable during the 20th century, has more to do with the optimism of exploration than the pessimism of alienation. 

Rejection is not what drives the artist – their personal and compelling turmoil is responsible for that.  But social influences.  Ah.  If alienation is the topic of compelling art work, than those in charge of social media are responsible for cultivating social indifference - its affect sanctified by the personal choices and behavior of the majority of people in the culture.  The artist is not responsible for this - they are simply the ones in the culture who have sufficient set of skills to record the dominant social evolution.

I am driven inward by a society that proposes to elevate, promote, respect, and applaud the work of its explorers.  This is the proper influence of society - influencing the subject matter artist's use to appease their internal turmoil.  The artist’s sensors read and interpret the undercurrents of social concern.

Both the environment and my body propel me into a physical reaction to life, and language propels me into an internal reaction.  Life is inherently both object and subject – a duality embodied in the products which bear a cultural label.  Cultural products earn their title when they have successfully bridged this duality.

The fine artist who accepts and meets the challenge of bridging duality will then acquire a skill that can be freely applied to anything which exhibits a high contrast to his own being.  He becomes adept at dissolving distinctions.

Without some means of dissolving man’s distinction from nature our struggle to develop an enduring affection toward her will remain thwarted. 

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The artist begins this dissolving process by bridging the duality within himself using artistic means and conventions to do so.  His visual gifts may be in such a concentrated form that he may or may not be equipped to share his methods with others verbally.  For some artists, for most perhaps, the best that they can do is to share their methods visually.   

The visual athlete may not be bi-lingual.

Harness Creative Turmoil

This is a continuation from the last post..."Through the traditions established by Nature I may yearn to depict three-dimensional forms and through the tradition of art history I am challenged to depict new one.... "

The historical pressure to create - the human tradition to be creative - is not unmatched by an internal one.  Through the legacy of art I am granted the permission to explore new forms, and through the cultivation of my own personality I discover which forms have personal significance.  Ideally these forms appease the turmoil within me that forces me to create – turmoil that has proven to be an unrelenting and abundant fuel responsible for the development of my creative ability.   It is unrelenting in that it is merciless, and it is abundant in that it as freely available as air. 

Creative turmoil provides the impetus to develop a library of forms designed to appease it.  The maturing of my creative skills is tightly associated with developing a personally significant library of forms.  Once in place, I use this library to communicate with others.  

Harnessing the turmoil is the goal – for it has both pitiless and kind qualities.  Its presence can be an enemy - as it is an omnipresent pressure - whereas its development enables its host contribute.  Man’s inhumanity to man?  Unharnessed, creative turmoil can generate inhumanity to self.


When I have developed a library of forms, than I have succeeded at harnessing the turmoil into a format that others can interpret and enjoy.  Then I can benefit too.  If the creative journey is productive, the turmoil can transformative and have a positive affect.

We need natural vistas to cultivate internal ones

          I desire power over the capacity to orchestrate my life. I achieve this by exercising the liberties bequeathed to me – defined by the activities of both social and professional ancestors. I have opted to express reverence for the past in my social behavior, and reverence for my professional peers with my actions.
          My need for freedom bonds me to Nature, exposing another similarity. If what makes me civilized is the capacity to reflect, and freedom is a requisite of that ability, than it is hoped that through reflection I will realize some new thought that was previously unknown to me. I will seize a new insight from the wild, undeveloped territory in my mind.

          Civilization may need comparable undeveloped territories in Nature as fuel for the activity of contemplation. We may actually need natural vistas in order to cultivate internal vistas. We may need undeveloped territories in Nature as a means of advancing, developing, and cultivating the symbolic systems of culture.
          When one considers that the materiality of our being inherently bonds us with Nature and that man can be studied by how he handles physical substances, than it can be said that how he handles Nature is a clue to his level of civilization.
          Our reverence for undeveloped natural spaces and land untouched by the hand of man may be the physical embodiment of the space needed in our mind for contemplation. Without this space our capacity to contemplate may actually falter.

          The activity of art enhances the artist's introspective capacity and from that stand point has utility - it is one of the means used to describe and embody our culture's symbolic systems. But many people seem to consider introspection either a luxury or something to fear. Maybe introspection is feared in the same way Nature used to be feared - as something untamed, wild in its musings, and to be avoided or protected against for its unpredictability. Maybe it is perceived as something to avoid, like mental hurricanes and tornadoes and flash floods, something to be dammed up and transformed into usable linear electrical pulses.

          While we first needed skills to develop Nature in order to survive, we now need an increased ability to understand ourselves in order to survive. As an artist I am challenged to embrace this need. I willingly plunge into the arena of the unconscious looking for material which adds to the breadth of self-knowledge, increasing my introspective facility, and expanding the information available to me about our inner being.


          So my distinction from Nature can now be used to help me reach a plateau of activity which cooperates with her and is of mutual service in assuring the survival of both of the earth and humankind. It is one of the continuing tasks of art to provide a fresh view of life and the world in spite of the dominance of repetition - repetitiveness found in Nature, the products of man, and in the repetitive tendencies of history.

          I use introspective tools to pull insights out of the protective anonymity of the unconscious, delivering myself from the oppressive aspects of repetitiveness and offering this release to those who view my work. But insights are also elusive and often defy their own seizing.
          Intuition gives birth to thoughts that resist being named or communicated in language. So I turn to a visual language in order to communicate and record the activity of my mind.
          I explore and re-define the influences on my mind by contemplating Nature on the one hand and my own mental environment on the other. Through the traditions established by Nature I may yearn to depict three-dimensional forms and through the tradition of art history I am challenged to depict new one.