Time and Duality in Painting
The only physical perception that is capable of sensing a wider range of time than this very instant is sight.
Although we can remember the pervious musical note played, we cannot perceive it – we can only perceive the sound(s) at any specific moment. Although we can remember previous smells, we can only perceive what we can at any specific moment. The same goes for touch and taste.
Granted one can only see what one sees in any moment, that vision can behold the accomplishments of many previous moments. For instance, as look at “Starry Night” I see almost all the strokes that were painted over the time it took van Gogh to create the work. So in one moment, I can see the complete work created over time.
However when I listen to a Bach symphony, I can only hear it in the moment, and I must remember the sounds that proceeded the ones I am hearing. I cannot hear the complete symphony in a moment.
We can instantly absorb more information through our sense of sight than through any other sense.
English is a phonetic language, meaning the way it is written is based upon the sounds of the words. When reading silently, many people “hear” each word in order to comprehend. Speed reading developed as it was discovered that seeing, not hearing, was all that was necessary for comprehension of written words. Basically, people can visually comprehend complex meanings faster that they can hear them. Thus, if one can read musical notation, one can comprehend the music of a new song faster than it can be played in an audition.
This means that visual art that can be fully presented all in one moment (such as a painting) has a greater inherent potential for conveying more information immediately.
As an artist this understanding has me concerned with how to best convey the most intense amount of selected information, thus intense experience, in a moment.
Since in a painting the image is conveyed by the strokes, and those strokes evoke the presence of past time, choosing strokes that are meaningful, or convey meaning as well as create the illusion of imagery is of value. So, my strokes are all symbols.
My strokes are all letters in a binary font, since using a binary font creates more “hidden” further references, which adds meaning to a work. Thus the letters themselves always reference theological concepts of duality as well as contemporary science's binary forms. Embodying duality seems to be to be an attribute of most great art. For instance, in Starry Night , I perceive a wild, joyous exuberance along with a frenzy of emotional pain, and it is all magnificently stroked into one painting, perceived by me in one moment.
Every one of my works has the concept of duality inherent in each and every binary stroke. It is something I am conscious of as I work. In the Genesis: Sunset-Sunrise series, I work to show the splendor of sunsets, however, I am working to convey a glorious but fleeting moment, and I also work to convey the immediate duality of encroaching, descending darkness.
The sky during sunsets and sunrises are transitory and quickly changing, unlike the night or day light hours. The splendid but fleeting light further points to the immediacy of the moment as described via the strokes in a painting.
Recently, I have begun to create portraits, so far pen and ink drawings in black a white using texts of psalms. At the time of posting this article two are shown in the sidebars of the blog page. Psalm 19 depicts Andy Warhol while Psalm 22 depicts Rembrandt. These are preparatory studies for upcoming paintings and prints. In each case I am working to show the vision of both artists, their unique styles combined with mine. I am also going to be accepting commissions for portraits, so it was not coincidence that the initial portrait is of Andy Warhol whose silkscreen portraits inspired the idea.
By using psalms specifically selected for each artist for the strokes in a work, I am again pointing to the complexity of the person portrayed, the time that the work involves plus my on-going premise of depicting a reality we do not readily perceive—one that lies beneath our perceptions. The next two will be of van Gogh (Psalm 113) and Fra Angelico (Psalm 23). Although I am creating a second version of the Warhol as I am sending one to Creative Times's Night of 1000 Drawings benefit.
At the moment the portraits are in black ink against white paper, and I am appreciating the contrast and even duality of that! Of courser, that black and white also references And Warhol's silkscreen paintings.
Predominantly, I have selected artists who created at least some religious or spiritual work – artists whose works have inspired me.
At first glance Warhol may seem a strange choice, but I consider his well known rendition of the da Vinci's Last Supper , which is one of his late series of these works. The one I am referencing is the one with the Dove (soap) and Light (GE) logos. It is one of the best religious works of the Twentieth Century. I remember when and where I first saw that work and it stopped me short. It is at once a religious painting and a secular one commenting on the consumer society – an elegant and riveting duality containing visual references (time) from the Italian Renaissance and marring that to the late Twentieth Century!
Thus Andy Warhol combining with Leonardo Da Vinci has inspired me to work with him (first ) and also others (including eventually Da Vinci with Psalm 119) with my own series of portraits focusing on duality and revealing the reality that lies beneath our perception through symbol strokes made in time.
[Note: A search for “Andy Warhol Last Supper ” on Google Images will turn up the above referenced picture on at least a Sotheby's site. “van Gogh's Starry Night is best found on the Museum of Modern Art's site]
Tuesday, November 27. 2007
