Feb
21Art As A Mirror Onto The Soul
Tagged Under : abstract, animation, Art, creativity, hunamity, matt brown, painting, philosophy, soul
I was having an interesting conversation with a friend this week about how abstract art can be interpreted many different ways, depending on the viewer. And in a clumsy attempt to figure it all out, that got me thinking about mirrors…
Mirrors are fantastic things. Love ‘em! The one problem is they only reflect the mere surface of the objects you place before them. Buff and polish all you like, they won’t delve any deeper.
For that, we need something more incisive. Yes, X-rays will get you some of the way, but they’re really quite dangerous if used more than a couple of times a year. I can only hope Superman didn’t stare at Lois Lane too often.
No, I was thinking more of… hmm, let me see. You guessed it: Art!
Stare at an abstract thing for long enough and your mind will begin to see patterns and images flitting in and out of existence like unsaid sentences in a conversation. While, to you, that cloud up there may obviously look like a rabbit dressed as Mr T, others may disagree. And if we each are seeing something different, then that cloud, that constellation, that painting… is reflecting something of you.
You see not all reflective surfaces are photo-reflective.
In this sense, art is a mirror. People argue as to what this mirror actually reflects. An artist will tell you it is able to reflect the soul. Psychiatrists will use more prosaic terms, but secretly they agree. That’s why they hold ink-blots up to crazy people like they would a crucifix to a vampire.
But a painting differs from an ink blot because, generally, it has not been made randomly. There has been an intent and a will behind the forms you are looking at (even if it’s subconscious), and for that reason, it does not act as a straight-forward one-way mirror.
A painting is more like a pane of glass, in which half the light is reflected and half passes through. Stare at a painting – I mean really stare – and partly what you’re seeing is yourself, and partly you’re seeing the artist staring right back at you.
When done correctly, it is a thin membrane that separates the viewer from the artist. So much so that it can be hard to tell one from the other.
For this to work, the artist must let go of all inhibitions, and the viewer must let down all barriers. Only then is any worthwhile connection or communication made. Like personal relationships, this is the risk each participant must chose to make.
That is the intimacy of art.
Matt Brown - Contemporary Artist and Writer
Visit his online portfolio and blog at: http://blog.mattbrownart.com
Resources:
1: A new interpretation of a previous abstract picture - what I saw when I stared at it long enough. This is now concept art for an animation of mine. http://www.mattbrownart.com/blogpics/curiousvibrationslarge.jpg
2. The original abstract image - A Play on Light No.80: http://www.onekind.co.uk/art/largemain/ZA0080.jpg
Tags: abstract, animation, Art, creativity, hunamity, matt brown, painting, philosophy, soul
