Points of View

Here are a few things I've run across lately that I thought worth sharing with you in this rare photo-less post.

“Art is not Magic, i.e., a means by which the artist communicates or arouses his feelings in others, but a mirror in which they may become conscious of what their own feelings really are: its proper effect, in fact, is disenchanting.”

- W. H. Auden

This struck me as a slightly different way to think about the art we make, puts the emphasis away from the artist and onto the viewer. I decided I really like that and indeed have seen it in action. Yes, I may want the viewer to get what I'm trying to relay about my own thoughts and reactions regarding the subject or fabric or patterns I'm working with. But it takes some of the pressure off to accept the fact that my work may tap into something totally unexpected in another. That strikes me as exciting.

Here's another differing point of view:

"People say that I paint depressing and meaningless things," Mikael remarks. "When you are painting things," he replies in disagreement, "you are actually giving them meaning. Depicting is an act of meaning-making. Painting and sketching is a way to say that life is meaningful, even though it looks like . . . this." 

Mikael Jacobsson, Sketching the Space In Between, March 2019 Issue of Drawing Attention Zine

Turns out he had the same "moment of enlightenment" that I had when working with Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards:

"The brain is so much better at depicting reality when you don't understand what you are seeing, then you can hotwire your perception. You have to work in an abstract way, and then your drawings will turn out much better."

Finally, consider this way of preparing to create from the painter Calvin Chih Hao Teng:

"In Eastern philosophy one must first settle the physical body to settle the inner heart. To create, I bring my body and mind to total serenity. Only then can I harness the power of my brushstrokes to freely express my inner thoughts through my paintings."

Fluid Nature by Susan Byrnes, October 2018 issue of Artists Magazine

Do follow the link on him and read his artist statement. It is like none I've read before!