Art gives a sense of order, life is basically chaotic, and there’s a tension between them. A sense of order comes from chaos and contains a bit of it, but it’s the sense of order that is important in a work of art…
Alfred Brendel http://www.alfredbrendel.com/ Art Quotes
Pattern seekers, us all. Filing and ordering… Trying to make sense. Many answers, but are the questions correct?
The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions that have been concealed by the answers.
James Baldwin
99 Inspiring Quotations on Art, Creativity, Life and Livelihood
Chaos II, Hendricks ©2020, approx. 5″x5″, Found paper, pen, and colored pencil
Continuing to work and play with both images and media, I find a path to prayer and meditation as I work. Prayer or mediation are words that I, as a Quaker, find a bit disingenuous. For me, I find in the silence, and I can open myself to my higher power.
This quote is meaningful to me because this reality that I experience is experienced to me through my brain’s filters. So the answers at times seem very clear… but it is the questions that are a mystery. In most Quaker meetings, there is an opportunity for individuals to ask for a clearness committee to help discern questions in their lives. I guess it is the art that I work with and enjoy that serves as my clearness committee. This committee provides questions to the answers and provides questions to explore to seek further clarity to the existing answers.
There’s no such thing as brown light! The color brown doesn’t exist in the external reality, but only in your internal reality: it’s simply what you perceive when seeing dim orange light against a darker background.
Max Tegmark,
Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality;
Good Reads
Still fascinated by Perception Vs. Reality
I have been doing a lot of work, surprisingly. I am still coping with learning the new media and focusing more on drawing with more control, as tempted as I am to use straight edges and drawing(technical templates). I believe a hand-drawn circle is more revealing about the artist and skill. Not that skill counts a lot, even if the world disagrees.
I suppose a bit of art speak is necessary at some point. If I have to put it in one word right now, I choose Creation, if I need to provide two words, Creation and Chaos. If I must give the reader three words… Creation, Chaos, and Order.
My friends tell me that the found paper I am working with isn’t such a good idea. They say it must be acid-free and have the ability to endure time. I understand their reasoning, and I guess to preserve the value of the work. I have two pieces of art that I did when I was very young, and when I open a drawer and see them, I think how beautiful it is that they are fading and turning a warm patina of age. By not worrying about the paper’s acidic nature, I feel I am embracing nature and time as Stefan Sagmeister did in his ‘Lisbon Billboard (2009).
I am archiving my work. Being that my drawings are small, that is easy. I have been digitizing them as well, building a body of work. I am having an opening of sorts on Second Life tomorrow.
Stay healthy… Thanks for reading,
Bill