Many philosophers and artists often ask the question: What is Art?
I personally experience different facets in the process of 'making', that makes me wonder too. Is the thing I made art because it is beautiful, contains a story, are made technically well or expresses some magical or mystical concept? I find that I dance between imitating making ordinary things around me in nature that resembles beauty, and things that come into my dreams and imagination about the present or future of humanity and the state of humanity.
Gottfried Richter states in his book ‘Art and Human Consciousness, that “The energies, experiences and feelings of human beings are only the riverbed in which a greater event is carving out a path for itself.” This only becomes clear when we look back on history.
In the preface of his book, Gottfried quotes Goethe who said that ‘the whole of mankind can be regarded as the true human being. This means that a human is both a visible and an invisible being. What become visible, happens through countless individuals and a tremendous variety of nations and peoples that portrays but a single stage of overall human development. This is an attempt of the invisible being to realize itself in time and space. There is a horizontal unfoldment throughout history and a vertical unfolding of humanity’s relationship with the mysterious ‘Invisible’.
To me, the artist is that interpreter of that underlying mystery that needs to become visible, when they do tune into that riverbed of the Greater Consciousness.
there fore I agree with Paul Klee, who describes Art as not representing the visible, but Art as making the ‘invisible’ forces visible.
MTH Sadler translated Wassily Kandinsky’s book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, where he talks about the ‘internal’ expression of the artist as “containing the seed of the future within itself”. This ‘seed’ leads to the observer of the art to emotions beyond the reach of words, which we all often feel, and which usually also feeds our spirit.
Some art, Kandinsky says, is not only educational and a mirror of the contemporary time, but also contains deep and prophetic strength, the secret power of vision. This kind of art stirs growth through experience that is portrayed in the art, no matter what the medium. So here the individual artist demonstrates evolution and development. But their art can be a signature of the collective of which the individual is part of too.
Art makes visible otherwise hidden cultural and psychological forces. Art therefore is recognized as a tool for the cultural historian as well as the psychiatrist and psychologist.
How successful my art expresses that depth is in how it touches the viewer's soul and spirit, not only for its Beauty but for its consciousness provoking ability. This actually does not happen often, because these kinds of inspirational art comes only during certain conditions. The conditions required for inspirational art are not on demand. They usually happen during challenging transitions of kinds. It is good however to just keep on making what my intuition and desire drives me to make, between these soul-stirring times.
Blessings to you all,
Jayni