Author: michael wilson

Every aspect of a painting cannot be dominant.  There is always the need for what I might call ‘peripheral passages’.  These are those subordinate areas in a painting that support the main elements of focus.  Typically unseen by the viewer (seen but not especially recognized) these support elements are vital to the success of the painting.  Because they are subordinate passages they are not seen as critical to the entire image yet they play a key part in getting the message across.  They enhance the areas of main focus.  They provide a substantive base for the painting in general.

Peripheral passages are those areas that direct the eye towards key elements.  They often provide a mood and they will often be different one from the other.  In the recent painting Emergence, there is a brown area on the left side of the panel that has been applied and then carefully scraped to reveal the texture of the panel underneath.  Then in the upper right is an area predominantly Prussian Blue and Ultramarine Blue, very dark that functions to set off the centered and key elements of the painting.  These are two examples of painted passages that uphold and provide a base for the general painting.  By passages I merely mean areas of the painting that when looked at closely are distinct from other areas – they have their own distinct characteristics.

If these subordinate areas of a painting are not rendered carefully, if they are not in balance and in harmony with the rest of the painting the overall result will be ineffective.  Artists will often say that a painting is only as powerful as the subordinate elements and by that they mean that if these peripheral passages are confidently rendered they give the required force and energy to the main focus of the painting.  They cannot be casual, in-elegant and un-related areas of the painting.  They must relate to the entire painting dynamically…they must relate to each other as well as the main design elements of the painting.  So consequently there is the interplay of structures.  The painting Emergence was set aside when it was about 80% complete.  Several weeks later I studied it and by analysis of the elements it was clear that the peripheral passages were not adequately related.  One area in particular was dynamically weak compared to the rest of the painting.  The painting was out of balance.  By correcting these faults I was able to bring the painting to a satisfactory completion.  The main focus of the painting was fine and intact but it took correcting the peripheral elements or passages to bring a wholeness to the painting, where every element seemed to complement and relate to all the other essential elements.

There are certainly times, especially when listening to inspiring music when I feel I am the envious artist.  Music has so many fluid capabilities.  It can begin with just the quietest, softest flute and then build little by little to a grand orchestral finale.  Music is by its nature, transitional.  There is movement, crescendos…the rise and fall creates unremitting interest and intrigue for the listener.  The visual artist stands mute before this energetic display of expression.  It seems to be almost constant in all veins of music and there is a tendency by composers to begin quietly and then to build in increments often relying on a consistent theme which supports the entire piece as it develops.  I am speaking as a non-musician but this seems to be a very clear advantage in conveying mood and emotion, the concept is revealed in successive stages, draws us in and captivates us by its initial subtlety.

When I was nineteen I had the fortune of traveling Europe drawing and studying from many of the great masters.  I drew perhaps six or seven careful drawings standing and sitting before the David.  When I returned my mother selected three of them and had them framed by a rather prudish fellow who was in the business and belonged to our church.    He was appalled especially at the one which concentrated on the pelvic region, the abdomen, thighs and penis.  He almost declined the work.  Sculptor seems to be even more static than painting and yet here was this fellow being quite emotionally offended by a simple drawing of a nude marble statue.  This was quite a revelation to me at that young age.  Since that time I have thought much about how the visual arts can in fact evoke an emotional force, a dynamic even when it lacks the inherent fluid qualities of music.  My conclusion (though still in discovery) is that the playing field is in fact quite different.  For example going to the extreme far  right and discussing an even less fluid medium, photography I will mention the iconic image of the four men having lunch in New York.  They are at an immense height sitting together on a steel I beam, resting and their lunch buckets have been neatly set out.  It is the construction of a high-rise and far down below are the city streets.  Though the image is fixed, definitely static somehow we are captivated by this scene.  We keep looking at it trying to detect all the nuances of the subject.  There seems to be a particular story evoked by each of the four men sitting.  Why is that one man without a hat?  How can they be so un-afraid sitting on that narrow beam?  How much could they be paid for such dangerous work?  Why didn’t they go down to the street level to have lunch and what unusual clothes they are wearing?  So we must agree that though the image is fixed, the images that our minds conjure up are actually quite alive and fluid.  

This small example then tells us something about just how we respond to a piece of framed art.  Whatever emotion is evoked stems in great part from our own experience, our own longings, our own desires and indeed, our own fears and anxieties.  The artist by ‘freezing’ an image focuses our attention.  In our imagination there are certain events that preceded the event that we now see and then we imagine those which may follow.  Though the image is static, thanks to our imagination and our own memories, our minds seem to experience a larger and more fluid whole.  There is a term in music which describes the beginning, the first tempo that leads to the heart of the composition.  With the visual arts we are not given such an opportunity…the entire concept is seen as an entirety.  There is no graduation, no build-up, no crescendo.  The entire painting is laid quite bare before us.  The more the painter develops the painting, the more exposed he becomes until finally the painting is complete and all is forever frozen – a moment, an event, an experience, an emotion or in the case of an abstract Kandinsky, unrecognizable forms.  These forms we are now discovering refer us to ancient motifs and these motifs refer us to very old myths that have played a very large part in shaping our culture.   Visual attenuations therefore resonate with us because we respond to them internally.  Abstract art that brings us out of naturalistic settings and in to unknown territories places these forms before us.  Everyone responds differently because those visual contexts we are used to seeing, are not present.

We see then how the visual arts can have vitality then even without the aide of musical constructs.  This very different playing field relies then on each individual memory, each unique set of experiences when viewing the so-called static image.  This is what gives that iconic black and white photograph such interest – we naturally compare our experiences with those we are looking at.  Also, those very ancient myths have been passed down through the centuries in my cases, by way of motifs.   Internally we respond to these visual motifs because they represent the make-up of our consciousness.  Art then, in its best manifestation is a truer reflection of our own consciousness through the eyes of the artist.  So then, art or sculpture that is apparently static and fixed has the opportunity to express remarkably ancient symbols, myths and motifs when the artist is sensitive enough to recognize them.  This is one reason why the brilliant psychologist, C.J. Jung frequently had his patients create and paint mandalas.  These mandalas had the uncanny characteristic of repeating dynamic human themes.  These proved quite helpful to the therapist in treating patient psychosis.  In any event the composer and the musician plays on, the sculptor chisels away and the painter keeps spreading paint across canvas.  It is only inevitable that the painter  will feel envious of the musical arts.  Perhaps we will grow to realize that in this age where we are accustomed to being overwhelmed with images and information, the artist is the one who helps us to focus.  Images drawn from the deep well of our consciousness desire then to be revealed.  It is these that will hopefully shed light on our circumstances, our civilization and those elements that are of value.  We need not treat our trade disparagingly.  We can refine the purpose within the medium.  The great joy that we experience across the artistic stage comes from the exploration itself.  Every small reflection and expression of what we feel inside tends to lead to joy.  It is within the context of this inner jubilation that we come to know ourselves more fully.  We become less confused.  We become more aware.  Personally abstract art provides an excellent medium to explore these often hidden and ancient motifs…freezing these on canvas in some ways represents for me lamp posts along the way of discovery, the evolution of our own society and perhaps even the fabric of our civilization.  We may not understand them but they resonate for us.  As artists then we can only play our small part in this evolution.

The actual merger of a conscious idea with the universal un-conscious is essentially the synthesis in abstract painting.  It is an actual process where an idea is given form.  This form is then transmuted by the un-conscious or as some would say, the sub-conscious.  Without this critical merger there is no real synthesis to depend on.

I like the story by one biographer of Picasso where he relates how Picasso would stand  hours before a painting in study.  The painting would be one third complete – he had given it the initial conscious beginning, the conceptual idea.  Now he studied what was before him to understand what the painting was trying to say… what the sub-conscious was wanting to manifest.  Without that merger there is no force, no real dynamic that underlies the painting.  It would be foolish to believe that our limited consciousness can fully grasp the vast universal un-conscious.  We can begin, we can start but it quickly becomes a process of carefully responding to these seemingly hidden universal themes.  This is the synthesis.  We occupy, after all two distinct spheres of influence – conscious form (that which we see and experience by our natural senses) and the hidden un-conscious which essentially motors our responses.  By becoming aware of those two distinct spheres the artist by degrees becomes adept in responding to a dynamic synthesis.

The genius behind the painting Nude Descending a Staircase by Duchamp represented a giant leap in exactly this kind of merger.  At that time there were the Futurists painters who were infatuated with motion.  They thought this was the next universal transition for painting.  The other presiding camp were the cubists led by Picasso and Braque.  They felt that form should be understood in terms of prismatic effects.   Duchamp effectively merged those two concepts with remarkable sensitivity in the painting Nude Descending the Staircase.  As a result Modern art was literally catapulted from figurative painting.  That one painting spawned an entirely new awareness in the artistic community.

Today we are unsure exactly where our art will take us and how abstract painting will evolve.  The advances in psychology and the broader understanding of the distinction between the conscious and the un-conscious should prove enormously helpful to the sensitive artist.  Evolution of concepts is inevitable. The merger, the synthesis of natural conscious form with the universality of the subconscious will potentially lead us to a vigorous and dynamic abstract expression.

Universal themes in abstract art are at best, a difficult subject to truly comment on.   Realistic, thematic art is the more common medium for describing universal truths.  Abstract art comments on universal truths on a very different playing field.  Surprisingly I find that expressing those truths and those feelings are more directly felt in the medium of abstract painting.  Pure color for example can be manipulated to elicit strong feelings among people of all age and all race.  Rothko is an example of an artist who completely minimized design so that color could predominantly transfer the intended feeling.

When the song was written To Dream The Impossible Dream we immediately feel the universality of that particular song.  It is impossible to not feel a universal sense – as if my dream is comparable to yours,  that in each of us we carry our own personal dream and this in affect draws us universally together.  It is characteristic of excellent music to lift one from relative unconsciousness to an awareness of everything that binds humanity.  Common spiritualitys become apparent.  There is that same beating of the heart.  By becoming surly, by closing oneself in spiritually to what is good, to what is universal we naturally are drawn to those preaching isolationism.  It suits our temperament because we are already closed off.

Painters will sometimes discover while painting the mundane, the common and those natural forms all around us, a  special resonance.  Through study and attention they can begin to find a universal thread which enlivens their work.   It is precisely this kind of discovery that leads a painter to pursue Universality as a goal:  yet that is where the slippery slope begins to develop.  It does not seem to be attainable by a straight line, by a pre-established theme.   It varies in this way from an inspiring song which places the universality in the context of word images and we know that word images hold incredible power.  The abstract painting seems to manifest only by direct experience – that is by an immediate response, as the painting develops.  There apparently is something about the mind, the hand and the attenuation that operates between them.  Add the muse or spiritual experience or what ever you want to call it and you have a fairly rare stew needed to create anything truly Universal.  It is a wonderful thing when it does appear.  When it does and when it becomes apparent on the abstract landscape it behooves the artist then to respond sincerely, carefully and yes, selectively.  The muse may be a force, a universal force but tends to create images beyond our capacities.  It is the artists responsibility then to selectively choose those images which he or she can manage effectively.  We say an artist is great when he is able to realize this – the harnessing of those impressions in line with the ability to translate.   After all, what is the purpose of this realization if nothing can be made of it – not even a line of response, not even a simple drawing of interpretation?

This is perhaps why artists rarely engage in things non-universal in scope.  They have realized the futility in trying to raise form to a better, higher level – that is without a very comprehensive view of humanitarian universality.  Besides, so much effort is required to truly improve the craft of painting there rarely is time to engage intelligently on matters political.  Curiously if we live honestly and if we respond sincerely to our emotions then we cannot help but be moved by those human elements that hunger for universal acceptance.  We are reminded of the Biblical story – the Good Samaritan.  How powerful is that simple story that Christ told ?  Yet in many ways that simple story describes most poignantly God’s view of us.  The universal part comes in that we all fit within the grandeur of that grace – that is every person of every race.  By degrees we are all slowly coming to this understanding.  An artist certainly must understand this for any true and positive effects.  There is a certain sensitivity required here, again a humanitarian and universal response to the world.  This falls short of course to a true purpose or understanding.   Strategically we know that painting anything with a universally dynamic image seems to always manifest beyond pre-conceived images.  The painting develops from one segment to another and until one area is defined there are no road maps for the next.  This is the difficulty.  This is the challenge.  Becoming more and more conscious, more aware is so very much needed.  Tolle came along at the right time for me – when I was ready.  When I truly wanted to know.   I concur with him that in every reasonable respect we have only the moment before us.  Responding to that moment (this moment) honestly, accurately and sensitively is how we mature as artists.  After all, down through the ages we have relied on the artist to give us that sense of Human Universality – those all-important images that freeze for us our sense of compassion.  The abstract painting however requires an entirely new form of expression.  An entire shift in sensibilities is needed to creatively express that desired universality.   There are so many avenues of interpretation – fortunately that can be at our disposal.   Van Gogh might have had a premonition of his early death and so, was in a hurry.  He was in a hurry to comprehend those deeply human and universal characteristics which define our civilization.   He detected that over-arching spiritual quality that envelops all of nature and all of mankind.  That is why in the great galleries men and women huddle before his paintings in awe.  Compared to say, Michelangelo or even against El Greco he was a clumsy draftsman.   His paintings however came alive by the spirit he captured in his paintings.  Every race of man is moved by his crude attempts to manifest a sense of Universal art.  We then are able to ignore his incapacities by embracing and understanding those simple and direct responses given up by his brush.

Van Gogh of course dealt primarily with natural images yet he saw within those very natural elements that surrounded him – simple cafes, crows in the field, a tired man cutting wheat, a particular heart cry of humanity.  He embraced these as his own.  But understanding and awareness of the human and universal spirit need not be melodramatic to be authentic.  In fact we almost revere humor in our lives.  We find ourselves delighted at the simple wisdom of Charlie Brown, the dry humor of Snoopy and the cunning of say, Will Rogers.  When we are poked fun at, we become more sympathetic but also more vulnerable.  It is not an easy task to create a truly humorous cartoon – one that speaks to the universal condition and one that someone of any race might understand and smile at.  It is however a rare artist who can find humor in his or her discoveries.  We see little humor in Van Gogh’s work but many years later in abstract artists such as Kandinsky we do find, if not humor, a distinct joy of creation, joy of life and this amidst the backdrop of the second world war.  Through color and design now void of any reference to natural form, abstract art transports us to a more visceral awareness of the human condition – especially in the manner in which we respond.  Abstract art as history progresses provides an entirely new and positive dynamic for expression.  Life seems to be more complex.  Abstract art has the capacity to reflect that complexity and convert it into a more linear expression.  This again must refer to an artists capacity – what he able to do, the level of his technical skill.   Regardless, as Hemingway would say,  ‘if it is authentic, if it is truly spoken then it is good art.’