Art and Life
Eldonrek

08-23-98

When I draw or attempt to draw, I place myself in an encounter. I not only see a subject or object (or the precursor of a form), but I also begin a blending where I merge with what I am focused on--- I become one with it.

I train muscles, breathing and nerve endings into a singular event, where I loose my own identity and become the identity of what I am doing. I can get lost in it. There is physical effort, mental direction and emerging symbolic meaning happening at the same time.

I not only see with my eyes, but I also see with my whole being, which is necessary to give purpose to my actions--- to give feeling to the impresions of this encounter.

Really, I touch things with more than my eyes, or fingers, or senses alone. I touch things that touch me back on a deeper level. Sometimes I sweat, because I am so ingrained. I am trying desperately to uncover something that I know is there. And I am guided by this blind confidence and persistence that seems embedded in my DNA--- my genetic makeup ---which makes me want to listen to archetypical forms that resonate throughout reality and call me to sing their echos in my own individual expression of being.


08-29-98

To perform outside the boundaries of the everyday requires that a person enter a sort of rarified air. You have to leave behind everyday reality and go into a performance zone. Dancers with whom I used to be involved called this "the dance state". It actually is a form of concentration that enables strong focus.

I do not see this in many people with whom I associate today, and this is why I feel that so many people are superficial--- they never are "into it", whatever IT might be. They are distracted, frazzled, torn in too many directions, tired, stressed out, lazy . . . -- they just never enter "the dance state", and this is so alien and disturbing to me.

Romanticizing life, feeling a sense of enchantment, joy of life--- whatever a person calls it ---requires constructing the non-reality of reality, making up a personal internal myth, believing in it and acting on it consistently.


08-30-98

Motion in the real world exists, because bounded objects change position. Motion can happen on paper, because I do not put in all the boundaries--- implying that the boundary is open to relocate in another part of the space. In effect, the space merges with the boundary to pull apparently-bounded objects further into it.

If the boundary does not exist on paper, then the implication of boundary is somewhere else, perhaps located at another point or advancing to a future. The question of its NOT being there leaves open the possibility that it can be other places.

A forced uncertainty about location strengthens the suggestion of movement--- which reminds me of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle: If we cannot pinpoint location, then we must focus on motion. If we cannot focus on motion, then we must pinpoint location. Uncertainty about boundaries in drawing leads to a greater sense of motion in the scene or subject.


09-14-98

This era has taught us NOT to see deep meaning in what surrounds us, because everything around us is sterile, from the standpoint of actual human creative involvement. Architecture is square, cold and cavernous, because machines produce most of the clean edges. There is no DETAIL to the edges, like a fractal which radiates beauty and interest.

Things and structures that people touch and shape retain something of the invested energy configuration used to build them. This configuration vibrates and reinforces itself in the eyes of those who look at it. "Stuff" produced by machines looks mechanical and lifeless much of the time--- mere edificies of our ability to conquor resources, routinize their production, and meet essential needs clinically and without much depth of feeling.

That's why antiques have a warmth about them--- people actually invested personal energy to shape these self extensions--- these extensions have the makers' signatures of existence. They have life stories embedded in them somehow through the design and execution. A creation means more, the more a person is involved in it.

People need to appreciate this involvement and encourage it--- be part of it, lest we become mere drones of our own machines and devices.


09-15-98

Ultimately, what I am trying to convey is tht gesture does NOT rely on exact anatomical detail.

We like to look at pictures of landscapes to remind us of the glory of nature. I believe that we can visit a similar glory in the motion of the human body by glancing at minimalistic reminders of the sort that I paint with black acrylic latex.

There is a beauty or intrigue in the bare suggestion of human movement clearly conveyed, and this clarity does not require depicted eyes, noses, lips, fingers, toes, or even any significant indication of muscular striation. What it takes is "nailing" the FUNDAMENTAL FORM of the gesture, then making the right strong suggestion around this form, giving a viewer only enough to believe that the human body is there expressing the form.

The head and its tilt are the single most important consideration--- what happens around the shoulders and head (spaces/angles) seems to make or break a depiction. If I hit a good head, then I have pretty much got the rest of the figure nailed.

Beauty exists in motion, rather than in features alone.


09-25-98

In order for people truly to understand form and structure, they have to continually rediscover it for themselves. It is not enough to rearrange illustratioins from a computer file--- a person sometimes must create something like this from its very birth on paper.

We should not be so satisfied that we can click perfected images at lightening speed to any location we wish. This gives only a superficial illusion that we are being creative. "Creative" means getting into the guts of something and making errors to get somewhere. It means using more muscle, breath, and brain cells merged through concentration and persistence.

We do not value this kind of creativity today. We do not need it anymore (so we believe). Most people have no clue whatsoever what this kind of creativity is.


09-29-98

Even a rough indication of form can have a clear indication of perspective.

Forms crude in shape can be exquisite in their implied perspective. And this can lead to forms less crude with more drama.

Art is a type of intuitive geometry.

I feel around until I see something. Then I feel around until I can make this something more obvious.


10-11-98

The human form in abstraction is simply more fun. More fun to draw. More fun to look at. Abstraction is a cartoon character of reality, which makes us look at ourselves as less solid in the form we usually see.

Abstract figures can be like pets sometimes, because they arouse a sort of naieve warmness in the interaction between image and viewer. They reveal gesture without a name tag. The gesture IS their identity, instead of the facial features.

The gesture is revealed more strongly, almost, by obliterating details of the face and head.

I spent many minutes trying to determine head tilts--- drawing these little heads on a trio series ---only to find that obliterating these heads completely was the solution which made the final composition acceptable to me. This obliteration made the compostion more curious, by having legs connected only to triangular torsos that look like sails in the wind. I could not like the composition as literal childl-like primitive dancers. But I could like it as headless dancing sails with suggestions of human legs.

This distortion makes viewers say, "What?!", and then they look at the dance, either intrigued or disturbed. And either of those reactions is better than a neutral reaction.






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