how to look at art
Here are some thoughts on how to look at my art and art in general. (This is a developing page)
Before looking at art, the viewer should try and clear their minds of distractions. Suspend all judgements and stay aware of your emotional and mental state. Enjoyment of art is not to result in joy or even a conclusion. The viewer must be willing to be affected by the image they are viewing. Observing and living with art is a developing relationship between the viewer and a "living object." At its basis, art is a means of escape from the natural world to a reflection of life as expressed by the artist. Art can be a means to understand how humans perceive life, whether its the artist's or a collective vision channelled through the artist's hand.
What is art? Art is the corporeal representation of the deeply unsettling knot of humanity, which the artist tries to untie.
Definition of Fine Art:
Fine relates to the fine or complex sensibilities of emotions: deep states of consciousness, elations of spiritual, philosophical or religious states of being, or intense emotional reactions to your environment; life finely explored.
Art does not relate to the object, but to the artistry displayed in capturing the state of being communicated. The ideal is to match the artistry to the fine intent so the consequence is that the viewer experiences the same state of being, or deep understanding of the subject, as the artist did when making the work.
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Adam's artwork explores the zozobra in a suture zone, through the medium of digital painting and photomontage. Collage is a means to express the workings of the unconscious mind or as a political or social act of protest. Collage makes clear the disparate parts of images used, that when coupled together, a new reality previously unknown arises. Montage is the painting, suturing and layering of multiple parts to create a single unified image, thereby emphasizing the final image’s “reality” rather than the procedures and materials of its creation. Photos from a variety of sources, including the artist's, brings realism, clarity and relevance to contemporary themes of corruption, war crimes, disease and greed. Images appear as "real" as the photographic material they are based on, but now embody a reality of their own. By turns, demanding, fearful, and disorienting. They are apt representations of the times we live in.
Artists re-contextualize their cultural experience into new forms and realities. Even though the artistic methods may be historically similar, the meaning and content are relevant to the times in which they live. For Adam, light and shadow become the primary language of communication. Light struggles to define unknown spaces while shadows sit lugubriously in the atmosphere. Dense light illuminates the journeys we take from the purely aesthetic to the sacramental to the political, then reconstruct into stark forms and landscapes, resulting in nuanced, disturbing and sensual images. Shadows visually define the composition, form and space, but unknowingly, it may not be the light we see - only the shadows have substance. Adam's images reflect our anxious world showing the “essentia” - the world as it really is.
Each view of art provides a view-within-a-view of reality, a window to look through. New realities change how we interact with the world around us. Images such as the view of the earth seen from the moon (below) has changed how humans see ourselves in relation to the earth and all things. The effect of this "televiewing" happens unconsciously. Changes in scale changes the scale of our consciousness; what we are conscious of in our daily lives, which in turn changes how we behave or what we believe in.
Some basic assumptions and possible truths...
#1. An image does not make it a work of art. Art is an expression of an idea, concept, or vision, based on the artist's perception life which is manifested by a process of hand work.
#2. Visual art is its own language. Like writing and speaking we have words in our vocabulary that we use in combination with other words to communicate. The personal dictionary we have allows us to describe and identify our reality. The limits of language limits expression. Visual art similarly has a language which includes drawing, painting and a variety of methods. Specifically artist use light and shadow, line, shape, form, colour, composition, and design to shape a visual message that can communicate without words.
#3. The components of art:
- The object
- The context
- The aesthetic
- The content
Compositional Geometry
It may be of interest to some how my images are constructed. The examples here demonstrates how the geometrical composition "informs" the placement and size of elements and emboldens the design of the image.
