Posted here are some nontraditional
paintings that are about play and
experimentation. I've always
been drawn to the psychological and
experiential (versus academic) approach to
making art. While a student I tried
different painting, drawing and printing
mediums. I was urged to stay open to
my creative endeavors long enough to allow
the work itself to guide me to inquiry
into the unknown.
I began
to explore an intuitive approach to
painting while taking classes in art,
psychology and philosophy. Studies in
Jungian psychology and mysticism helped me
to value and appreciate the elusive path
to a state of "imaginatio", or "true"
imagination. In alchemical texts, contact
with a spiritual creative force (at times
pictured as a personification like a muse)
can occur as if by accident, in a
meditative state or waking dream, through
staying with and suffering through not
knowing for as long as "it" takes.
Imaginatio can be accessed in
conversations with inner guides that help
us to take synchronicity seriously. As
Carl Jung says the images that come from
the unconscious can turn us toward
wholeness, self knowledge and the
mysteries.
I believe that making art
guided by instinct and intuition pays
tribute to the humor and wisdom that our
dreams and the synchronicities in life
reveal. Without knowing or planning
it there are times when a painting will
express themes correlated to traditional
religious or archetypal images. The themes
are modified by personal
context. At other times images or
patterns "appear" on the painting surface
that are not in any archetypal or
mythological tradition but carry a
numinous charge. Sometimes the art
materials themselves are where the
quickening happens in the imaginal realm.
In Jungian psychology the psyche shows us
the way. Imagery is an important
part of many spiritual disciplines.
Especially intriguing to me are the
ancient alchemical
texts. Anyone who's explored their own
dream material finds that the images drawn
up from the unconscious conjure a broad
range of content, from the disturbing and
shadowy to the sublime and
whimsical.
The way that I often
begin is to make random marks or patterns
on the surface of the painting without any
preconceived plan. From there I keep
working the surface intuitively. I
try to leave it open for a long time
before the image begins to
gel. Often I'll paint over the
images several times, destroying and
renewing them. At other times I will
start with a general idea and if needed, I
will let the painting to morph into
something else. Hubris can be costly when
I toss the project away before giving it a
chance to form to completion.
At some point, if
I'm lucky, something extraordinary can
happen. Out of the blue I might hear
a bell ring. I sense that Psyche or
something beyond me is giving me a nod and
that the painting and I are in agreement
as to what we are trying to say. It
reminds me of what the old alchemists were
referring to when they talked of "turning
lead into gold". I'm surprised
at how much concentration and patience it
can take to make images this way, and
especially to completion. There are
times when I've tossed a painting in the
trash and retrieved it repeatedly.
Occasionally a painting won't be finished
for years, others are born complete. The
process can be exciting and surprising,
the journey being well worth the
frustration of not knowing the
outcome. French poet Paul Valery
says the job of a poet (and other artists
as well) is to induce in themselves and in
others, a "state of poetry". He describes
it as "completely irregular, inconstant,
involuntary and fragile and...we lose it,
as we find it, by accident".
Here are some quotes about alchemy:
"I've never wanted to be a witch, but an
alchemist, now that's a different matter.
To invent this wizard world, I've learned
a ridiculous amount about alchemy. Perhaps
much of it I'll never use in the books,
but I have to know in detail what magic
can and cannot do in order to set the
parameters and establish the stories'
internal logic."
-JK Rowling
“The alchemists in their search for gold
discovered many other things of greater
value.”
Arthur Schopenhauer (German
Philosopher, 1788-1860)
"If by fire Of sooty coal th' empiric
alchymist Can turn, or holds it possible
to turn, Metals of drossest ore to perfect
gold."
-John Milton
"You are an alchemist; make gold of that."
Author: William Shakespeare
"The alchemical operation consisted
essentially in separating the prima
materia, the so-called chaos, into the
active principle, the soul, and the
passive
principle, the body, which were then
reunited in personified form in the
coniunctio or 'chymical marriage'... the
ritual cohabitation of Sol and Luna."
- C.G. Jung Mysterium Coniunctionis
"Once I had this beautiful book in my
possession, I did nothing but study it
night and day, learning very well all the
operations it described, but not knowing
with what material it should be started.
This caused me great sorrow, kept me in
solitude, and made me sigh incessantly. My
wife Perenelle, whom I loved like
myself was greatly astonished at this, so
I showed her this beautiful book, with
which, the moment she saw it, she fell as
much in love as I, taking extreme pleasure
in contemplating the beautiful covers,
engravings, images, and portraits, of
which
figures she understood as little as I did.
Nevertheless, it was for me a great
consolation to talk about it with her, and
to consider what could be done in order
to find out their meaning."
- Nicolas Flamel (supposedly 14th century)
Book of the Hieroglyphic figures, 1612.
"Alchemy is the art of manipulating life,
and consciousness in matter, to help it
evolve, or to solve problems of inner
disharmonies."
- Jean Dubuis
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