Art Essays

" I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." Albert Einstein

Motivation to paint

Introduction

If considered pragmatically, there really isn't a lot of sense in a lot of art that I create. I started this site, not to explain the unexplainable, but to articulate to a scientific world the rationality of the unexplainable.

Existence
Humans are the only animals that can produce art that shows an awareness of their own existence. In that regard, art is the gateway to the human experience.

Impressionism
When creating a painting, every single line, and colour, has been noticed, and flowed through the artist. When experiencing this intimacy, it is tempting for artists to impart some of their feelings onto the final product.

Self-portrait
A self-portrait is a bit like shaping one's appearance in the mirror. The main differences are that the artist paints a canvas instead of a face, and instead of being merely visual, the the artist can infuse emotions, dreams, memories, idealism, and fear. This allows the artist to understand who they are or who they want to be.

Judging Art

The Role of the Critic
In art circles, there exists a cultural value that there is no such thing as bad art. Unfortunately, this has resulted in morgues having more action than many art galleries. Art patrons simply look at art in silence and refrain from giving an opinion. This constitutes a failure on behalf of both artist and art patron.

The Artist's Role
Asking an artist to justify their role is like asking someone why they exist. Unfortunately, the government funding process demands some kind of justification and this often results in art being justified on "moral" or activist grounds.

Skills Versus Originality
I liken photorealism to a jigsaw puzzle. Even though jigsaws aren't my scene, I can understand why someone would want to spend two weeks reassembling little pieces to see the completed whole one more time. That said, looking at a completed jigsaw puzzle is boring. At the other extreme, individuality for the sake of individality is lacking in both skills and relevance. It is even more boring than looking at a jigsaw puzzle.

Unappreciated Genius
Although it may pain artists to admit it, there is a good reason for why their genius remains unappreciated.

Government Involvement in the Arts
Whenever a government subsidises an industry, the market is flooded with crap. As a result, the market sees all the crap and turns away from it. This in turn makes the industry more dependent on government subsidies and a vicious cycle is created. This is particularly evident in the funding of the arts in Australia.

Art that I like

Australian art
While modern Australian art has been found wanting, historically some great art has been produced in Australia.

European art
With the likes of Goya, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec's, and Dali, the Europeans have led the world in the creation of psychologically disturbing art that expands awareness of humanity. It is my kind of art.

Chinese Art
Traditionally, Chinese art has existed more in the emotional rather than cognitive realm. In modern times; however, the clash between traditional Chinese ideas with global ideas is producing some very interesting art.

Iconography
Pictorial representations have a great deal of psychological symbolism. For example, the Chinese character for "good" is a mix of the character for "son" and the character for "daughter." Just as green is a mix of blue and yellow, but different from both constituent colours, the way that the iconographic characters are depicted as individual entities, and the choice to pair them to create a new entity, reveals a great deal about the thinking of the script's creators.

nson nn Email: stompie2000@hotmail.com son