Motivation to paint
Introduction
Explaining the unexplainable
Existence
I think therefore I am
Impressionalism
Visualise the feeling
Self-portraits
Who am I?
Art that I like
Australia
Beauty in the wasteland
Europe
The underbelly
Iconography
Picture writing
Chinese Art
Traditional and modern
The rationality of the unexplainable
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Half Cut - Oil on board
"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." Pablo Picasso
If considered pragmatically, there really isn’t a lot of sense in a lot of art that I create. For example, Half Cut, my painting of a man drinking beer with a slice of his head on a plate before him, is not the kind of painting that will motivate a woman to sleep with me, motivate her parents to approve of our relationship, or inspire lots of people to want to buy my art and make me a rich man in the process.Furthermore, as well being unable to bring me tangible benefits, the creation of Half Cut seems a bit irrational because its meaning is not clear. It is a painting that even I am not sure about. I think it might be something about the irony of alcohol empowering people at the expense of their brain, and self awareness. Then again, the painting could be about alcohol being an escape from the problems of the world. In fact, it might be none of these things. It might just be a celebration of the soothing effect that beer has had on Australian culture. I just don't know for sure.
As I create art that does not provide me with tangible benefit, my art is incompatible with the scientific approach of the
modern world. Scientific belief in cause and effect cannot tolerate my
apparent irrationality. The scientific mind demands that actions be
justifiable, and that the outcomes of actions be justifiable. Arguably though,
the great value of art is that its justification, both in creation, and end
purpose, is not immediately apparent.
The truly revolutionary scientists have been able to appreciate the value of something that cannot be immediately understood. Albert Einstein, arguably the greatest thinker of the 20th Century, likened himself to an artist in that he believed that the freedom to imagine had more virtue than grasping what was before him:
"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."
Einstein's approach can be seen in quotes from the world's great artists such as Francisco de Goya:
"Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels"
Erich Fromm:
" Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self"
George Braque:
"Art is made to disturb. Science reassures. There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain"
James Baldwin:
"The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers".
Richard Flannigan:
"All great art is amoral. It offers neither guidance on how to live, nor wisdom on how to reconcile with this world. It simply takes us into the chaotic soul of things, reminding us of the full possibilities of this life."
Although Half Cut doesn’t provide me with any tangible benefits, or communicate a clear message, it does stimulate my imagination as I wonder what it might mean. This stimulation more than compensates for any loss that its creation has cost me. Instead of delivering one message to others, I can create a 1000 ideas in my own mind, and instead of feeling a singular emotion, I can feel a whole emotional spectrum.
I started this site, not to explain the unexplainable, but to articulate to a scientific world the rationality of the unexplainable. I didn’t want to be a translator explaining to non-artists what artists are thinking. Instead, I wanted to find the human commonalities that artists liberate, and so resonate with us all.
Judging Art