| Post Conceptual UnGraven Image is a new art theory that uses the 22 Hebrew letters from Bible texts for every stroke in a painting. The letters symbolically represent the strings (also called wave like motions or membranes) of elementary particle physics. It is art at the intersection of physics and ancient spiritual traditions and beliefs.
In preparing a presentation on Post Conceptual UnGraven Image, I cite art movements and their premises that were the inspired forerunners.
Impressionism – focus on painting the light not the subject depicted
Pop – focus on depicting the images of our culture, adding significance the profane
Pointillism – tiny dabs of color create an image
Conceptual/Word Art – uses words & concepts as art imagery
Cubism – showing all physical sides/reality of persons and objects
Surrealism – focuses on a reality beyond our conscious experience
I left out Minimalism. For a quick presentation, there was no way to explain in one sentence how Minimalism, especially the work of the late Donald Judd impacted my grasp of reality and art. This was compounded this week as I happened to catch a film on Judd and his work. It featured imagery of Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, which I hope to visit.
Minimalism simplified forms and dealt with how they interacted with the space around them. For sculpture this greatly expanded the presence of the work, as the footprint of the work became far greater than the brick and mortar (or metal, neon) space of the work. In Chianti, the space of Judd's outdoor pieces work includes a vast desert horizon.
The simplifying of the form to its essence relates to the basic strings of elementary physics. The strings (also called wave like motions or membranes) interact and form matter, sub particles, atoms, molecules, etc. For me, each Hebrew letter on a canvas is relating to the space around it, layer upon layer, until finally they form an image of our reality.
When I studied astronomy and atomic theory in school, it wasn't much of a leap to visually see the resemblance between atoms and solar systems.
My work is focused on the minute while Judd focused on a larger scale. I have to admit that his work inspires me.
Ironically, when explaining how one art movement that deals with the basic of essential could influence another that does the same, the explanation is complex.
August 8, 2006 |
