To Be or To Become, That is the Question
Click me
To be or not to be? A question posed in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
What does it mean to be? If you are to be you are present and occupy a single position in space and time. Furthermore, what are we to be? Human is the only answer.
Shakespeare realized you must face this question for life or death depends on it. Nevertheless, the contemporary world is faced with an even more daunting question. For the question “to be or not to be?” seems dated in a time when modern technology allows us to be easier than ever. To be in our contemporary world is not enough. We are living in desperate times with a famine for peace.
To simply be ignores what we can become. To become is to grow or evolve. To become a more considerate, understanding, sympathetic and tolerant being.
To be or to become, that is the question.
The materialistic world revolves around being. Its substance is artificial and static. It is simple and comfortable to be. To become takes action, active imagination, spirituality, humility, strength and dedication in actively facing a lifetime of change. By seeking this new question, we realize in a war torn world, in order to live, or be, we are forced to constantly become. Without becoming we shall cease to be.
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Click me
To be or not to be? A question posed in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
What does it mean to be? If you are to be you are present and occupy a single position in space and time. Furthermore, what are we to be? Human is the only answer.
Shakespeare realized you must face this question for life or death depends on it. Nevertheless, the contemporary world is faced with an even more daunting question. For the question “to be or not to be?” seems dated in a time when modern technology allows us to be easier than ever. To be in our contemporary world is not enough. We are living in desperate times with a famine for peace.
To simply be ignores what we can become. To become is to grow or evolve. To become a more considerate, understanding, sympathetic and tolerant being.
To be or to become, that is the question.
The materialistic world revolves around being. Its substance is artificial and static. It is simple and comfortable to be. To become takes action, active imagination, spirituality, humility, strength and dedication in actively facing a lifetime of change. By seeking this new question, we realize in a war torn world, in order to live, or be, we are forced to constantly become. Without becoming we shall cease to be.
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Residual Childhood on the Importance of Art
Friday evening marked the Sabbath. Seventh Day Adventists tend to be dedicated believers, and being a preachers son meant your family took the lead. There were many storms in that house near Washington D.C., although my memory of the weather isn’t fond. There was constantly a burglar. I believe it was him who stripped me of my childhood.
As a mature, inward child, I recall the church seemed larger than life. There were many paintings. One in particular is etched in memory. The inscription read something to the liking of “keep your eyes on the Lord.” Those who apparently did against what they were told were falling off a narrow cliff to hell.
After encountering that painting I can fondly remember walking along cracks in the sidewalk. I would look forward and pray to God to keep me from straying from the line. I always fell off. We always fall off.
Hell is not a place we want to be. So our family found a little heaven in Pawley’s Island, SC. The ocean provided me - among certain adolescent pleasures that come with beach life - freedom, a sense of awe and the feeling of being small.
I conceived the church and ocean one in the same. With the exception that one felt confined, the other vastly open. This realization made church walls fall and flooded these spaces with light.
I have never forgotten God. In fact, communication with God became clear and a renewal in relationship was found with greater strength. Questioning God became easier. Within these questions God’s response was always the same – and I could always count on it. God is mute. At once confusing, but now enlightening, it is in hearing this silence that spirituality is born.
Spiritual
adjective
1 of, relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things
The idea of spirituality in the modern world is a strange and unwelcoming subject. Things consume us. Furthermore, we force ourselves to run a rat race to accumulate these things that make us feel comfortable with where we stand in the hierarchy of the world. More importantly, modern man is defined by these things. The modern world is a physical, measurable, bottom line.
Materialism
noun
1 a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.
2 Philosophy the doctrine that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications.
Of course the idea that modern men put little stock in the so unknown is not new. The Gay Science, written by Friedrich Nietzsche and published in 1882 makes it perfectly clear.
---
Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market-place, and cried incessantly: "I am looking for God! I am looking for God!"
As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.
"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."
Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners; and they too were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground, and it broke and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time has not come yet. The tremendous event is still on its way, still traveling - it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves."
It has been further related that on that same day the madman entered divers churches and there sang a requiem. Led out and questioned, he is said to have retorted each time: "what are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?"
---
As Piet Mondrian said, “If we cannot free ourselves, we can free our vision.” Inherently, I believe if our vision is free, we can free ourselves.
Whether it is the church, the ocean or any combination or alternate you realize, let us move forward in our humanistic quest. To humanize is to spiritualize.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday evening marked the Sabbath. Seventh Day Adventists tend to be dedicated believers, and being a preachers son meant your family took the lead. There were many storms in that house near Washington D.C., although my memory of the weather isn’t fond. There was constantly a burglar. I believe it was him who stripped me of my childhood.
As a mature, inward child, I recall the church seemed larger than life. There were many paintings. One in particular is etched in memory. The inscription read something to the liking of “keep your eyes on the Lord.” Those who apparently did against what they were told were falling off a narrow cliff to hell.
After encountering that painting I can fondly remember walking along cracks in the sidewalk. I would look forward and pray to God to keep me from straying from the line. I always fell off. We always fall off.
Hell is not a place we want to be. So our family found a little heaven in Pawley’s Island, SC. The ocean provided me - among certain adolescent pleasures that come with beach life - freedom, a sense of awe and the feeling of being small.
I conceived the church and ocean one in the same. With the exception that one felt confined, the other vastly open. This realization made church walls fall and flooded these spaces with light.
I have never forgotten God. In fact, communication with God became clear and a renewal in relationship was found with greater strength. Questioning God became easier. Within these questions God’s response was always the same – and I could always count on it. God is mute. At once confusing, but now enlightening, it is in hearing this silence that spirituality is born.
Spiritual
adjective
1 of, relating to, or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things
The idea of spirituality in the modern world is a strange and unwelcoming subject. Things consume us. Furthermore, we force ourselves to run a rat race to accumulate these things that make us feel comfortable with where we stand in the hierarchy of the world. More importantly, modern man is defined by these things. The modern world is a physical, measurable, bottom line.
Materialism
noun
1 a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.
2 Philosophy the doctrine that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications.
Of course the idea that modern men put little stock in the so unknown is not new. The Gay Science, written by Friedrich Nietzsche and published in 1882 makes it perfectly clear.
---
Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market-place, and cried incessantly: "I am looking for God! I am looking for God!"
As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.
"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."
Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners; and they too were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground, and it broke and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time has not come yet. The tremendous event is still on its way, still traveling - it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves."
It has been further related that on that same day the madman entered divers churches and there sang a requiem. Led out and questioned, he is said to have retorted each time: "what are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God?"
---
As Piet Mondrian said, “If we cannot free ourselves, we can free our vision.” Inherently, I believe if our vision is free, we can free ourselves.
Whether it is the church, the ocean or any combination or alternate you realize, let us move forward in our humanistic quest. To humanize is to spiritualize.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albert Einstein, 1954
"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive."
This passage creates a discussion within the context of my work and within modern and contemporary art. I find it profound and relative, thus presented here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive."
This passage creates a discussion within the context of my work and within modern and contemporary art. I find it profound and relative, thus presented here.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meditating on Rothko
Painting begins and ends with Rothko. Certainly I do not mean he was there to paint the caves, or even will be there when my hand touches a canvas or canvases long after I am gone - art is before and after him; he has lived and is gone. Nevertheless, drawn from his paintings are everything that make us what we have been or ever will be - tragic, heroic, confused, certain, lonely, connected - honest in being human. They are spaces that are easily entered and one can, without hindrance, feel the emotion that is true to the work but obviously only true each viewers being. Rothko exposed what is so hard to perceive, the beginning and end. Not just the beginning, and not just the end, both presented in the most beautiful state, touched by more than himself, in one.
We are lucky to be born, to live and to die within his monumental work.
Meditating on Rothko
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Painting begins and ends with Rothko. Certainly I do not mean he was there to paint the caves, or even will be there when my hand touches a canvas or canvases long after I am gone - art is before and after him; he has lived and is gone. Nevertheless, drawn from his paintings are everything that make us what we have been or ever will be - tragic, heroic, confused, certain, lonely, connected - honest in being human. They are spaces that are easily entered and one can, without hindrance, feel the emotion that is true to the work but obviously only true each viewers being. Rothko exposed what is so hard to perceive, the beginning and end. Not just the beginning, and not just the end, both presented in the most beautiful state, touched by more than himself, in one.
We are lucky to be born, to live and to die within his monumental work.
Meditating on Rothko
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Artist Statement
July 3, 2008
Painting is the tool for spiritual experiences, processes and revelations.
Inspiration derives from life experiences. Capturing these experiences with immediacy creates a breath of tension, drama and emotion. The expressions become recorders of my life experiences interacting to define each space.
In time these spaces shift and present concerning questions. Having consciousness of this shift promotes further artistic and personal growth. With reflection I can come to a deeper understanding of these complex spaces, the feelings they elicit and the questions that drive the process of being.
Through working I seek and discover these questions, pieces to a larger definition or description of the nature [or meaning] of existence. My paintings reflect this exploration, a struggle for structure physically, mentally and spiritually.
The void is the metaphysical [mystical] space that unites individuals within our condition. The void exists free, available and unoccupied, around and within all of us. The void is used to represent feelings of absence or loss; the fusion of mind, body and soul; and the coalescence of beings. This motif speaks directly to my humanistic and spiritual concerns.
Current work challenges the viewer to perceive the ubiquitous void as a personal and attainable space by placing it in and within intimate structures of color.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 3, 2008
Painting is the tool for spiritual experiences, processes and revelations.
Inspiration derives from life experiences. Capturing these experiences with immediacy creates a breath of tension, drama and emotion. The expressions become recorders of my life experiences interacting to define each space.
In time these spaces shift and present concerning questions. Having consciousness of this shift promotes further artistic and personal growth. With reflection I can come to a deeper understanding of these complex spaces, the feelings they elicit and the questions that drive the process of being.
Through working I seek and discover these questions, pieces to a larger definition or description of the nature [or meaning] of existence. My paintings reflect this exploration, a struggle for structure physically, mentally and spiritually.
The void is the metaphysical [mystical] space that unites individuals within our condition. The void exists free, available and unoccupied, around and within all of us. The void is used to represent feelings of absence or loss; the fusion of mind, body and soul; and the coalescence of beings. This motif speaks directly to my humanistic and spiritual concerns.
Current work challenges the viewer to perceive the ubiquitous void as a personal and attainable space by placing it in and within intimate structures of color.
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I am a Gawker Artist
"Gawker Artists is a curated online art community promoting the works of artists of all media. Participating artists receive free profile pages on Gawker Artists and a select group have their images displayed in the ad space on various Gawker Media titles. When readers spot these images, they can click on them to read about the artist or to browse the Gawker Artists collection."
Visit the website. Browse other artists. And of course, find me (just search Gabriel Pionkowski) and start a discussion!
Gawker Artist
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Gawker Artists is a curated online art community promoting the works of artists of all media. Participating artists receive free profile pages on Gawker Artists and a select group have their images displayed in the ad space on various Gawker Media titles. When readers spot these images, they can click on them to read about the artist or to browse the Gawker Artists collection."
Visit the website. Browse other artists. And of course, find me (just search Gabriel Pionkowski) and start a discussion!
Gawker Artist
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Exploring the Void Within Its Context; A foundation for understanding
View pictures of this exhibition here.
Watch and listen to a quirky, edited version of my gallery talk here.
Get the full, unedited version by request here.
space
noun
1 a continuous area or expanse that is free, available, or unoccupied
Particular spaces define our lives:
1. Nature is the space that holds force in causing and regulating phenomena. These are the laws of nature that bind us to the earth.
2. Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future. Within a space in time we will define our self as a whole.
Nature and time are constant spaces that thrive with or without us. Nevertheless, with them we can recognize our self as organic and grounded. Therefore, our aptitude as humans to recognize our free will allows us a quest for liberation.
3. Being free willed, organic and grounded gives us the ability to define our own personal space within nature and time.
Defining personal spaces is of primary concern. How does one conclude that we are truly able to define our own spaces? First, one must determine that we actually exist within space. Second, one must determine existence of space as a reality.
Rene Descartes determined the existence of space through self-exploration. Cogito ergo sum or, I think therefore I am, is his conclusion determining that we truly exist within thought. Descartes also established the necessity of a material world by recognizing that sense perceptions take place whether willed or not through thought. The conclusion suggests we exist as both mind and body; two distinct spaces.
mind
noun
1 the element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciousness and thought
body
noun ( pl. bodies)
1 the physical structure of a person or an animal, including the bones, flesh, and organs
• the physical and mortal aspect of a person as opposed to the soul or spirit : a duality of body and soul.
Cartesian Dualism turned the world on its head with explosions of thought. His philosophy is often criticized by its lack of explanation of how the body, a material object, and the mind, being nonmaterial, can interact to produce a vital functioning being without supernatural explanations that constitute a metaphysical space.
metaphysical
adjective
1 of or relating to metaphysics : the essentially metaphysical question of the nature of the mind.
• based on abstract (typically, excessively abstract) reasoning : an empiricist rather than a metaphysical view of law.
• transcending physical matter or the laws of nature : Good and Evil are inextricably linked in a metaphysical battle across space and time.
Even so, few argue against the existence of a body, or material world completely. Even those that believe the physical world, especially that defined by science cannot be trusted, rarely refute its existence although it is often explained as an extension of our mind.
And even the mind in all of its complexity remains largely an unmapped space. Many thinkers have gone so far to deny that explanation between the relationship of mind and body is even relevant. Some believe, or think, the mind is simply a psychological myth.
For example, Materialism states that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications. In this sense, the need to explain the problems within Cartesian Dualism is obsolete. Nevertheless, even modern sciences struggle with the definition of matter. Most believe that matter cannot describe the mind even using arguments rooted in modern neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Remember the need for a metaphysical space?
Also, Eliminative Materialism argues that the mind and its functions do not exist and are simply a false perception of humans. Of course, using basic functions of the mind to disprove they exist is arguably self-refuting.
It is evidently difficult and often problematic to disprove the existence of both mind and body. Therefore, accepting mind and body as true spaces still leaves us with questions between the connections of metaphysical spaces and that of what we can only relatively understand within the space of the material world.
In exploring the relationship of mind, body and the metaphysical spaces they suggest one must also consider a breadth of relevant questions that may include things such as the necessity for either a god or God. All of these multifarious questions will help in naming the definition of the spaces we call our own. In other words; the meaning of life.
Exploring the Void Within Its Context is an exhibition chronicling a personal journey in defining ones personal space. It is through the reconciliation of slippery positive and negative spaces that understanding has occurred. The work suggests space as a contingent totality. In other words, positive and negative spaces exist dependent on each other to define a whole of something.
Emphasis is placed on exploring that of which seems hardest to understand, the void.
void |void|
noun
a completely empty space
an emptiness caused by the loss of something
an unfilled space in a wall, building, or structure
Completely empty; free from; lacking; vacant.
The void exposes crucial questions that are a guide to personal understanding. Architect Louis Kahn touched on these silent truths when he wrote:
The order of making the wall brought about
An order of wall making which included the opening.
Then came the column,
Which was an automatic kind of order,
Making that which was opening,
And that which was not opening.
A rhythm of openings was then decided by the wall itself,
Which was then no longer a wall,
But a series of columns and openings.
Such realizations came out of nothing in nature.
They come out of a mysterious kind of sense
That man has to express those wonders of the soul which demand expression.
soul
noun
1 the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.
• a person's moral or emotional nature or sense of identity
• the essence of something
• emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, esp. as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance
The answers derived from the process of creation, the retrospective look of development within time, and the work that will be generated play vital roles in defining ones personal existence through the understanding of space.
Definitions approriated from:
Dictionary, Version 1.0.2 (1.0.2) Copyright © 2005 Apple Computer, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
View pictures of this exhibition here.
Watch and listen to a quirky, edited version of my gallery talk here.
Get the full, unedited version by request here.
space
noun
1 a continuous area or expanse that is free, available, or unoccupied
Particular spaces define our lives:
1. Nature is the space that holds force in causing and regulating phenomena. These are the laws of nature that bind us to the earth.
2. Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future. Within a space in time we will define our self as a whole.
Nature and time are constant spaces that thrive with or without us. Nevertheless, with them we can recognize our self as organic and grounded. Therefore, our aptitude as humans to recognize our free will allows us a quest for liberation.
3. Being free willed, organic and grounded gives us the ability to define our own personal space within nature and time.
Defining personal spaces is of primary concern. How does one conclude that we are truly able to define our own spaces? First, one must determine that we actually exist within space. Second, one must determine existence of space as a reality.
Rene Descartes determined the existence of space through self-exploration. Cogito ergo sum or, I think therefore I am, is his conclusion determining that we truly exist within thought. Descartes also established the necessity of a material world by recognizing that sense perceptions take place whether willed or not through thought. The conclusion suggests we exist as both mind and body; two distinct spaces.
mind
noun
1 the element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciousness and thought
body
noun ( pl. bodies)
1 the physical structure of a person or an animal, including the bones, flesh, and organs
• the physical and mortal aspect of a person as opposed to the soul or spirit : a duality of body and soul.
Cartesian Dualism turned the world on its head with explosions of thought. His philosophy is often criticized by its lack of explanation of how the body, a material object, and the mind, being nonmaterial, can interact to produce a vital functioning being without supernatural explanations that constitute a metaphysical space.
metaphysical
adjective
1 of or relating to metaphysics : the essentially metaphysical question of the nature of the mind.
• based on abstract (typically, excessively abstract) reasoning : an empiricist rather than a metaphysical view of law.
• transcending physical matter or the laws of nature : Good and Evil are inextricably linked in a metaphysical battle across space and time.
Even so, few argue against the existence of a body, or material world completely. Even those that believe the physical world, especially that defined by science cannot be trusted, rarely refute its existence although it is often explained as an extension of our mind.
And even the mind in all of its complexity remains largely an unmapped space. Many thinkers have gone so far to deny that explanation between the relationship of mind and body is even relevant. Some believe, or think, the mind is simply a psychological myth.
For example, Materialism states that nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications. In this sense, the need to explain the problems within Cartesian Dualism is obsolete. Nevertheless, even modern sciences struggle with the definition of matter. Most believe that matter cannot describe the mind even using arguments rooted in modern neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Remember the need for a metaphysical space?
Also, Eliminative Materialism argues that the mind and its functions do not exist and are simply a false perception of humans. Of course, using basic functions of the mind to disprove they exist is arguably self-refuting.
It is evidently difficult and often problematic to disprove the existence of both mind and body. Therefore, accepting mind and body as true spaces still leaves us with questions between the connections of metaphysical spaces and that of what we can only relatively understand within the space of the material world.
In exploring the relationship of mind, body and the metaphysical spaces they suggest one must also consider a breadth of relevant questions that may include things such as the necessity for either a god or God. All of these multifarious questions will help in naming the definition of the spaces we call our own. In other words; the meaning of life.
Exploring the Void Within Its Context is an exhibition chronicling a personal journey in defining ones personal space. It is through the reconciliation of slippery positive and negative spaces that understanding has occurred. The work suggests space as a contingent totality. In other words, positive and negative spaces exist dependent on each other to define a whole of something.
Emphasis is placed on exploring that of which seems hardest to understand, the void.
void |void|
noun
a completely empty space
an emptiness caused by the loss of something
an unfilled space in a wall, building, or structure
Completely empty; free from; lacking; vacant.
The void exposes crucial questions that are a guide to personal understanding. Architect Louis Kahn touched on these silent truths when he wrote:
The order of making the wall brought about
An order of wall making which included the opening.
Then came the column,
Which was an automatic kind of order,
Making that which was opening,
And that which was not opening.
A rhythm of openings was then decided by the wall itself,
Which was then no longer a wall,
But a series of columns and openings.
Such realizations came out of nothing in nature.
They come out of a mysterious kind of sense
That man has to express those wonders of the soul which demand expression.
soul
noun
1 the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.
• a person's moral or emotional nature or sense of identity
• the essence of something
• emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, esp. as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance
The answers derived from the process of creation, the retrospective look of development within time, and the work that will be generated play vital roles in defining ones personal existence through the understanding of space.
Definitions approriated from:
Dictionary, Version 1.0.2 (1.0.2) Copyright © 2005 Apple Computer, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following essay, written in November-December 2008, is an in-depth conversation about works that appear here.
My process is critical; it is a mystical experience within which paint begins to breathe. Paint is an extension of my being; painting is a reflection of an evolutionary journey of experiences that define my existence.
My current processes construct stable or stressed equilibrium within which paint exists as form. Positive form creates conversation by revealing negatives. Negative space is the absence of form. This negative, plainly present, brings to me heightened sensitivity to its place within my process. Switching of focus enables negatives to construct positives, shifting spatial roles. This shift creates a dialogue implying spatial duality: positive versus negative. In the first body of work, this tension, ensuing between dual canvases at a specific interval, speaks to the degree of relationship between the paint’s positive characteristics: color, shape, line, and its negative’s dismissal of form as holes within the canvas. This tension within duality produces large puzzling color fields that for me demand confrontation in questioning emotional space.
This process, described above, is a metaphor for, and seems to, embody my life. In this first body of work, canvases and their relationship upon the wall become mirrors that aide with the resolve of my emotional condition. Analyzing space brings into question my identity. By exploiting these voids I create a tension within my ego: unconsciousness versus consciousness. Within this work positives are unconsciousness: materials, daily routines and conditioned emotions. Negatives are consciousness: questions that define and give worth to life. This constant tension creates crisis, but confronting these voids elicits awareness, which gives me personal understanding. I paint unconsciously, but through this process I am awakened. This awakening redefines my process revealing space as a contingent totality - a spiritual realization.
In the first body of work pre-constructed geometric canvases seemed to limit paints existence. By pre-constructing the rectangular shapes both negative and positive, I resulted in a pre-conceived notion of meaning, a meaning that didn’t arrive organically through the process of painting, but seemed conventional and regimented in its duality. My process became liberated as I began painting on the floor, breaking my convention and destroying the restrictive edges of the stretched canvas. Staining paint into unprimed canvas allows me an organic vocabulary. The breadth of gestures express bodily emotion, while more accurately portraying my tactile engagement during the process. Through physically engaging with the work from every vantage point, allowing paint to define its own flowing existence; by seeing and allowing bare canvas to become necessary as negative space, expression opens up and conversation emerges. This process fuses space, canvas and paint bringing the work even closer to myself.
This redefined process, expressed in the second body of current work, is my life: grounded, organic and free. Technique and media marry, creating a vehicle for expressing life: Canvas as totality or body, paint as sensation and recorder of life’s experience. My process is a truer experience when I work more closely to myself. This requires decisiveness and results in an intuitive awareness of who I am.
My current work strives to reflect a liberated description of myself through spontaneously capturing a truer intuitive experience within greater self-awareness. As I actively seek experience within this process I am beginning to feel my genuine existence. I am more within my very being.
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My process is critical; it is a mystical experience within which paint begins to breathe. Paint is an extension of my being; painting is a reflection of an evolutionary journey of experiences that define my existence.
My current processes construct stable or stressed equilibrium within which paint exists as form. Positive form creates conversation by revealing negatives. Negative space is the absence of form. This negative, plainly present, brings to me heightened sensitivity to its place within my process. Switching of focus enables negatives to construct positives, shifting spatial roles. This shift creates a dialogue implying spatial duality: positive versus negative. In the first body of work, this tension, ensuing between dual canvases at a specific interval, speaks to the degree of relationship between the paint’s positive characteristics: color, shape, line, and its negative’s dismissal of form as holes within the canvas. This tension within duality produces large puzzling color fields that for me demand confrontation in questioning emotional space.
This process, described above, is a metaphor for, and seems to, embody my life. In this first body of work, canvases and their relationship upon the wall become mirrors that aide with the resolve of my emotional condition. Analyzing space brings into question my identity. By exploiting these voids I create a tension within my ego: unconsciousness versus consciousness. Within this work positives are unconsciousness: materials, daily routines and conditioned emotions. Negatives are consciousness: questions that define and give worth to life. This constant tension creates crisis, but confronting these voids elicits awareness, which gives me personal understanding. I paint unconsciously, but through this process I am awakened. This awakening redefines my process revealing space as a contingent totality - a spiritual realization.
In the first body of work pre-constructed geometric canvases seemed to limit paints existence. By pre-constructing the rectangular shapes both negative and positive, I resulted in a pre-conceived notion of meaning, a meaning that didn’t arrive organically through the process of painting, but seemed conventional and regimented in its duality. My process became liberated as I began painting on the floor, breaking my convention and destroying the restrictive edges of the stretched canvas. Staining paint into unprimed canvas allows me an organic vocabulary. The breadth of gestures express bodily emotion, while more accurately portraying my tactile engagement during the process. Through physically engaging with the work from every vantage point, allowing paint to define its own flowing existence; by seeing and allowing bare canvas to become necessary as negative space, expression opens up and conversation emerges. This process fuses space, canvas and paint bringing the work even closer to myself.
This redefined process, expressed in the second body of current work, is my life: grounded, organic and free. Technique and media marry, creating a vehicle for expressing life: Canvas as totality or body, paint as sensation and recorder of life’s experience. My process is a truer experience when I work more closely to myself. This requires decisiveness and results in an intuitive awareness of who I am.
My current work strives to reflect a liberated description of myself through spontaneously capturing a truer intuitive experience within greater self-awareness. As I actively seek experience within this process I am beginning to feel my genuine existence. I am more within my very being.
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Under Constant Construction - A Timeless Disclaimer
Greetings! This site is still under major construction. I am currently working to update with descriptions, medium and sizes of paintings. After that I will always be adding new work and new commentary! If there is something you would like to see happen on this website that is not taking place, contact me! Otherwise, check back often and enjoy the site as it is under constant construction...
Greetings! This site is still under major construction. I am currently working to update with descriptions, medium and sizes of paintings. After that I will always be adding new work and new commentary! If there is something you would like to see happen on this website that is not taking place, contact me! Otherwise, check back often and enjoy the site as it is under constant construction...
