The Philosophy and Motives on Painting: Is it to express meaning? To tell a story...or is it just a pretty picture?
(Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan by Diego Velázquez)
("You can't show anyone anything he hasn't seen already, on some level - any more than you can tell anyone anything he doesn't already know. It is the function of the artist to evoke the experience of surprised recognition: to show the viewer what he knows but does not know that he knows. Helnwein is a master of surprised recognition." -William S. Burroughs (On Gottfried Helnwein))
Greetings Everyone!
I thought it would be a great idea to discuss the philosophical reasons, motives, and the underlying inexpressible nature of the artist in the act of painting.
...After all, what is it that compels one to paint?
Even when one is confronted with adversity or reason itself, what is it that motivates one to defy that reason and to practice self sacrifice in the pursuit and dedication of a higher goal?
This act or self confirmation, appears to be a kind of call to higher being. Could this call to higher being be nothing but an attempt in the cultivation of a relationship with what we define as beauty? This relationship cannot but act as an invitation to the divine.
To somehow attempt to measure beauty or perceive it in some sort of quantifiable form appears to be a rather vain attempt doesn’t it? Even though at the same time it is only natural for humanity to attempt to define and create boundaries in order to further our comprehension of reality.
But no matter how we attempt to understand the artist’s drive into the unknown, it remains to be understood as a verbally lacking intuitive cognition towards a transcendent order.
Is it possible that what we understand as “beauty” is nothing more than an encounter with the potential of this insurmountable order?
(The Valpincon Bather by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres)
“The chief consideration for a good painter is to think out the whole of his picture, to have it in his head as a whole... so that he may then execute it with warmth and as if the entire thing were done at the same time.” -Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Often in these times what I find to be overlooked or extremely lacking in the aspiring artist’s work ethic (especially in beginners), is the understanding in the importance of knowing your primary goals/motives before beginning your painting.
While there are several core principles which constitute a great work of art, these necessary elements of painting seem to beg of a system of hierarchy. And it is up to the artist to decide which ones to emphasize. As the artist develops these “systems” of internal values or priorities, it becomes only natural for these to appear to almost uncontrollably seep through the work.
As the artist begins to discover and define the importance in values and principles in which he wants to express, one initially can’t help but to question:
“Is craftsmanship (form) more important to oneself than narration?
One could say that a great work of art is in a way a physical representation of evidence of the act of observation and skill that is solidified. On many occasions, great works seem to almost transcend their physical “documentation”!
When keeping this in mind, I can’t but help to see that in a similar fashion that any modern day mathematician would tell you that numbers are more real than reality itself.
“I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death” -Leonardo da Vinci
As you can see below here in this Antoine Vollon painting, through the adherence to the idea of simplification, this work speaks volumes with the use of light value and shape. This visual experience immediately becomes synesthetic.
Since when has a giant mound of butter ever been so appetizing?
It makes you wonder who made it doesn’t it? Or where? Or what’s it going to be used for?
(Mound of Butter by Antoine Vollon)
(The Astronomer by Johannes Vermeer)
Many great painters before us have said similarly that an abstraction of light, value, and shape is ultimately the primordial subject matter the artist is after. While these abstractions are ever present and vital in the act of visual storytelling, becoming myopically preoccupied with form and paint handling can detract from the elements of design, composition, and the larger forces of the work.
Here’s another example of the beauty in simplifying and the exclusion of the unnecessary. It almost seems to invite the viewer to engage with it in its elegant design..
(The Lustre Bowl with Green Peas by Sir William Nicholson)
..In a strange way, paintings are not depictions of what is visible, but what they represent!
Please feel free to let me know what you think?
Expressionism is something that quite didn't exist until the last century, when meaning started to be given to art, as in a breaking of the conventionalism of just painting a picture that was faithful to reality with commissions and such. Maybe art wasn't specifically born as something meaningful, but it found its way there when we learned that every artist has their own signature.