imagesaccordingtojohn.com

 There is no doubt the internet benefits most, if not all, of us immensely. We have wide access across the globe not available any other way. The internet provides a means for artists to expose their work in ways undreamed of before. Yet, there are also frustrations, and curses that come through the internet. Often times, these exist side by side.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin suggests there is a vital fluid carrying us through the vastness of cosmic reality (Essay “Cosmic Life” from THE PRAYER OF THE UNIVERSE). He proposes we live most fully when we boldly plunge into the vast flow of the current of that mysterious absolute that beckons us, yet remains silent and hidden.

Does a well-known artist have more to offer than one who isn’t well known, but who has created great art?  Does the artist who exhibits in major museums and is represented in the best galleries have more to express than one who has done a few local shows and never been seen in a museum or gallery? Are new artists any less artists than famous ones?

One of the things I hear repeatedly in the art world is the importance of an artist having an identifiable style—one where the work is immediately recognized as theirs. I suppose there’s a sense in which this is true for all artists. None of us can remove the stamp of originality from our work.

 When I created the new image “Who Am I?” I realized the image asks a double question. The mysterious face near the bottom center asks us to seek to identify who is hidden in this depiction. Yet, it also asks us a deeper question: “Who, in fact, are we?”  Is this not the question each of us pursues throughout our life’s journey? Is it indeed the one question from which we cannot ultimately flee?  Does this question not indeed confront us in every encounter we have with life?

Marc Chagall once remarked that, though everything in the world around us may change and decay, one thing remains unchanged: the human heart and our striving to know the divine.1 Chagall viewed art as poetic expression--something to be felt and experienced rather than simply seen.

 Have you ever thought about how important fantasy is in our lives?  Whenever we hear the word, we think of something not true—something simply imagined. But, look around you: how many things can you see that began as a fantasy? I’ll wager a lot more than you might think.

In a recent study led by Nieu Sebe at the University of Trento, various abstract works of art in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rento and Roverto were analyzed by computer to see if they could identify why people respond with various emotions to different abstract works of art. Using principles based on Kandinsky’s theory regarding the meaning of colors in abstract art, his team was successful in getting computers to predict the emotional responses of people to various abstract works of art. The computers were right 80% of the time.

Not all art that heals is soothing. At times the elements of fragmentation, upheaval, and chaos become crucibles of healing, releasing creativity and new life. Art that confronts, disturbs, and shatters may potentially awaken deeper levels of consciousness and be sources of healing energy, motivating us to move beyond our fears, uncertainties, confusions, and stuckness.

Gerhard Richter once described representational and abstract images as different ways of seeing reality. There’s a part of me that really resonates with Richter’s statement. It rings true for me. Yet, I hesitate to fully embrace it. I have to ask myself “what reality”?

I create art not so much to portray reality as to give visual expression to my engagement with reality, and my struggle to create a manifestation that will speak to others. I am not trying to explain reality, interpret it, or define it. Rather, I am engaging it in a manner that will hopefully engage viewers.