MANIFESTO

Art springs and gets its energy from a subconscious place. One way to explore the source of this creativity is to peel back the layers of history. In the beginning we find human experience and thought rooted in natural objects and events. Objects did not exist merely as tools of our will but had a spiritual power of their own. After all, any tree, rock or animal could affect ones survival. The world was full of life and death. One had to be vigilant of all forces.

I seek in my art to revive primitive images which summon the core understandings of life. Going to the source, I encounter images of birth, death, sex, conflict, comradeship, shelter and family within human society. And in the wilderness there is bear, wolf, eagle, deer, raven, trees, cactus, snake etc, etc. all of whom own a place in life. These inner universal archetypes percolate up from a the source of life , symbols of celestial energy.

Civilization has progressively subdued and extinguished the powers in nature, resulting in our safety, convenience and luxury. Each step from the smelting of bronze to the coding of software, directs the mind toward discrete controllable elements and away from a communion with all of nature and life itself. Thus I declare that art remains our connection to the source of life and attempts to express the often hidden meanings imbedded in our history and memory. But I must admit that creativity can be enlisted in the cause of commerce and politics. As I speak for that rare creature, the “true artist”, the intent behind the art should be a primary concern.

Regarding art history, one finds the earliest art rife with symbolism relating to the natural and spiritual world. If you compare the earliest cave drawings with child drawings, there is a close resemblance. As humans became more clever, more organized, more centralized, art also evolved, first to capture the visual world more accurately, then to serve an educational purpose in a national society. Each technological discovery has brought forth new ways of mesmerizing people’s vision. Any of the artistic media can be used for propaganda, for pleasure but also to express abstract and timeless realities.

I ask the question of any art. “Is there a statement about life.” I must admit I’m not a good realistic painter and for the reasons mentioned I’m not inclined to improve upon that. Perhaps jealously, I regard realistic art as a form of bragging although I also imagine that it is an exercise in seeing clearly and carefully, and even honoring the beauty of objects. But above all, I seek the meaning.

If this discussion is too vague, let me give some examples of art that has meaning. Starting with cave paintings, one can include primitive dance, chanting, and costumes. These express pre-historic and often obscure ideas about life and the supernatural, ideas untouched by organized science. Western religious art is full of symbolism, often for doctrinal purposes but also expressing a faith in something transcendent. Classical Chinese painting formally demanded a calm meditation upon universal principles and archetypal images. Many of the great European painters did works with underlying meaning; of these I include Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, Goya, Manet, Turner, Van Gogh. A sterling example of my argument is Picasso’s “Guernica”. So one need not “go native” to heed my manifesto, and in fact one need not heed me at all. After all art is in the eye and mind of the artist and the beholder and the society. Thus we are all free to our own taste.

Much has been made of “art from the right side of he brain”, referring to mental processes which are random, wholistic, inventive, and irrational. Whether or not these emanate from the right brain, at least they recognize a source of creativity. I suspect that the lymbic system which is deeper and more central in the brain also has a hand in creativity. And so I would argue that the impetus for art comes from a more primitive place and that the effect of civilization is to proscribe what form it takes. Examining the life stories of artists reveals a driven quality to their lives. The act of art is akin to breathing, eating, loving. Freud suggested that art is an expression of sexuality, and I find an affinity between the act of loving and the act of painting. Art is an expression of love or the lack of love. Andrew Wyeth said, ” your art is only as deep as your love.” And what is more universal, more tantalizing, more mystifying, more confusing, more transcending than love.