19/12/2017 0 Comments A written reflection on: MundanityYou travel through life as if waiting for a moment - a sudden brightness proving the existence of reality. Stare through a one-way mirror to the ghosts of a space that you reflect within but feel not a part of. Standing at a station you stare numbly across the void of empty tracks to witness others, like you, unseeing on their journey.
Then, one day, crack the mirror is broken, by a single soul that, staring ever-blindly as in any other day, finds your stare. And in a crash of realism the blind are seeing - seeing each other, for the first time. The other looks not only upon your mirrored existence but through the chasm of this blurred realm to see you. Through your bored expression and politely closed posture, into the reality you had thought to be but a dream of childhood. In a moment you are one, connected by the energy that pours from your souls, previously trapped by society. It dances in the air like tropical birds reunited with the wild. Spreading their colourful plumage, they touch this bland world with the light of reality. A reality not wasted in routine; but celebrated in emotion and togetherness. You have found your one. One of many. The one whom ignites the world and brings your soul to dance. But life soon calls to all: Your train will come and so will theirs. And you may simply shrug, as passers-by most often do in this routine existence. You board the train again. And find a seat alone, again. And as, again, you stare out of the window to the repetitive scenery of your existence, you allow just a hint of colour to filter into your daydreams - a remnants of a possible life beyond this route. Or perhaps, one day, you may just follow the dance... [Written sitting on the floor of a busy train.]
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9/5/2017 26 Comments I'm Tired...
Whilst researching empathy and social connection for my dissertation (of which I will certainly share parts with you soon!) I kept stumbling across this same method - Loving-Kindness Meditation. A Buddhist mindfulness technique to spread compassion and refocus the mind on selfless love. Of course as any good researcher would I took a first-hand approach at discovering the truth and value behind this technique. Any one who knows me well will know that despite my hippie-dippie style and Buddhist beliefs I struggle with meditation - I have the knees and back of a 60 year old and a rather high spirit which is better grounded with dance meditation than still practices. However, I relish new ideas and have written below my own explanation and thoughtfulness on the process as tested by me, using the led-meditation audio clips on the site quoted below (- I would always recommend such led-practices for newbies and it certainly supported me). A quick description...Loving-kindness or Metta Bhavana is a meditation practice taught by the Buddha to develop the mental habit of selfless or altruistic love. Metta Bhavana literally meaning, in the Pali language, (Metta) 'love' (in a non-romantic sense such as friendliness or kindness), (Bhavana) 'Cultivation'. So 'Love Cultivation'. ~ Beautiful enough to make you want to try it from the title alone huh? It is a 'heart-meditation' that does aim to affect your daily life - to increase your compassion and openness whilst diminishing judgement and discrimination. The process is traditionally a still meditation that tends to cultivate in a series of steps, developing from your inner circle of care to your adversaries and eventually to all the sentient beings of the World. It is a way of crossing borders of disagreement and judgement, distance and situation. The steps...1. Think of yourself, smiling, light moving into your heart. Forgive yourself, love yourself. "May you be well and happy." 2. Think of a friend, smiling, light moving from your heart to theirs.Think of why you like them, send love to them. "May he/she be well and happy." 3. Think of a neutral person, you may see them around but hold no feeling towards them. Think of their humanity, cultivate a feeling, send love to them. "May they be well and happy." 4. Think of an 'enemy', one you have a disagreement with. Forgive them, focus on their qualities, send love to them. "May they be well and happy." 5. Think of all 4 together, yourself, friend, neutral and enemy. Sharing light and receiving equal love. "May we be well and happy." 6. Think further, to those in the building, the city, the country. Share the light and love further still, to all beings across the world, human and animal. "May they all be well and happy." My thoughts...I am known to be loving. Sometimes overly so. It confuses people. In this day and age love is a misunderstood word; but the Buddhist Metta Bhavana puts it into its correct perspective. Strange however loving you are thought to be the struggle one faces to focus, train and accept this metta. To see yourself without today's multi-million dollar trend of flaw-focussing. To give yourself time and realise that you are human and so are 'they' - the friend, the neutral and the 'enemy'. To see your adversary and release those pent up arguments - the stored hostility and barriers built up in some strange self-harming strategy of safety. To release yourself from societal built barriers and allow the mind to transcend beyond the minuscule number of known individuals to the entire world, the entire universe, surrounded by your loving-kindness. A golden ball of warmth and respect encircling all of life and just because of you; because you gave it the time. Perhaps it is nothing. Perhaps you are simply sitting in an over-flexible position that you'll probably later regret and imagining: Creating a fantasy of infinite proportions that is forever beyond reach. And yet. If you go out tomorrow and encounter that 'neutral' and feel a smile spread across your face - an involuntary symptom - and subsequently receive one in return - a simple biological response displaying the work of in-built mirror neurons within the brain - has the world not already become a little kinder? When you stumble into the 'enemy' and forget to replay your recent indiscretions through your mind before greeting them, will you not be more loving and therefore likely fix some small difficulty between you. Will these tiny things not ripple through the ocean of beings in the world and change things? Is a ripple in a pond truly inconsequential, swallowed up by the overarching volume? No, I think not. How can any energy scientifically go to waste - it must move, transform. Nothing is without consequence whether noticeable or not, all is Karma. And so we come to conclude that anything done with pure and good intentions is worthwhile. And there can be no rationalising to discourage such positive attempts or indeed the quality of such 'alternative' methods. No? Further reading...If you want to research this and other methods of Buddhist practice, firstly good for you! And secondly here is a couple of sites I found useful and accessible teachings:
https://thebuddhistcentre.com/text/loving-kindness-meditation http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/loving-kindness.htm The audio I used for my meditation was from: http://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/audio/details?num=M11B
A few weeks back I visited the 'Hacking Habitat' exhibition, set in an old prison in Utrecht. Much as the title suggests its focus centred around the technological advances of humanity and sported a large collection of politically fuelled artworks.
The space itself was a refreshing and strongly relevant location that proved to be highly inspirational to the artists involved. Each cell provided an individual experience in which the artworks became an installation - communicating with the very present memory of the buildings former use and the feeling of restriction and hierarchy this produced.
Despite my love for this concept the message that stayed with me all three hours homeward bound was the unbelievably reliant nature of modern society on technology. And what more the ability to learn about one another remotely and our willingness to allow our privacy to be bought from us in the name of safety, sales or simply social media. This has inspired me to continue to question such things and bring this argument into my work.
As a socially engaged artist myself I have a keen interest on such works but due to the usual negativity instilled in such collections I was wary of this visit. However, I am pleased to say I was blown away, inspired and truly touched by the experience; leaving with a feeling of increased awareness and a passion for those who choose to question and improve the system. My Position as an Artist in Society:
The term 'Political Artist' brings to mind a stereotypical collection of confrontational artworks inspired by a somewhat cynical view on our societal systems. For my own work, I find better identification with 'Social Art': Art that is inspired by humanity and communication. Of course these two labels are not mutually exclusive but with a strong belief in creating approachable, equalising art I believe these initial expectations can be a detriment to an artist's practice if not used with caution. Furthermore, with the ongoing rise of political, cynical and shocking art - just as in news media and cinema - this now regular experience is becoming redundant. Shepard Fairey said that if you repeat something enough it becomes important. However, a person cannot be shocked and appalled into action every day. Walk around a political exhibition or watch a shocking film and you will see people discussing skill, innovation, maybe even the bravery of the artist - but how many will show true emotion towards the message and how many of those will go home and do something about it? I am not unaccustomed to the feeling of helplessness: The hopeless wishes to improve a world much too large. And so with complete sympathy for those who separate themselves from the problems of the world - teaching themselves there is nothing they can do - I chose to focus on small achievable differences with faith in the ripple-effect they cause: My main aims are to bring understanding, positivity and gratitude to our varied society. I place my viewer in the shoes of another, spreading awareness of the differences between people and helping them to empathise with one another. In doing so I fight against stereotyping and prejudice in a more subtle way and without just negatively portraying the issue. As well as social differences I also take inspiration from philosophy, psychology and opinion. I believe the route to contentment lies within the practice of appreciation and gratitude and therefore attempt to 'teach' people to observe and enjoy the little things that are special to them. You will notice here I refer to the viewers interests and not to my own - this is where opinion comes in. I see a simultaneous issue with the art world that is the Ego. The idea of the humble artist is overtaken by the elitist nature of the market which can fuel artists with a sense of personal power or leave the 'uneducated' viewer feeling belittled by unclear artwork excelled by high prices and long terminology. Whilst I don't believe an artist needs to be poor I believe everyone can gain from humility and so as well as creating work with a wider audience in mind I view myself as a tool to facilitate communication where it otherwise lacks. This is why for the past year the majority of text in my artworks are direct quotes from conversations with others, whether directly (preferable) or via social media (to contact a larger audience). This removes stubborn or biased information from myself and instead proves the importance of the opinions of those around me no matter who they are. It is also of high importance that whilst my work has positive aims it is not there to fool or coerce the viewer to agree. Art should be the beginning of a conversation not the persuasion of an argument. 5/6/2016 0 Comments Project Outcome: PostersInspiration
I also found a huge amount of inspiration in the Open Studio environment, from including the dead bird from Suhela's 'Alter of Inbetween' to being inspired by discussion with my fellow artists to display all of the photoshop experiments as a series and collaborating with Suhela again to curate a flower arrangement from her working style above my own single poster. The ProcessThe OutcomeWhat Next?I feel this project is just beginning and the works still have a long way to go to reach their potential. However, I have discovered that this format of working on two contrasting projects at once supports my motivation and enthusiasm for my work and opens my practice to a wider audience.
Moving on from here I would like to experiment with size and display formats as well as what kinds of comments I want to portray. What would you like to see commented in this visual format? The Idea
However, to me he is a friend, a confidant, a cuddle and an inspiration. With his own creative skill and typographical interest he regularly looks at my work and is a great support to my progress. Whilst discussing my 'Diagram as Art' exploration he explained that they remind him of a mind process; specifically the way he writes things down when thoughts get stuck in his mind or he needs to work something out. He elaborated that with his schizophrenia this process often becomes a huge collection as if his mind were flowing out across the wall. This immediately sparked my interest and we began to debate the possibility of really visualising a persons mind. How close could you get to a complete picture? How much do we understand of our own minds? And could this make a person more understandable to a 'reader'? Soon I asked if he would let me base this process on his own mind as a test of these ideas and as an attempt to spread awareness of the honest and direct effect of schizophrenia, without the dramatisation, rumour or stereotype usually attached to such terms. Thankfully he eagerly agreed and became devoted to the project and to the improvement of the term 'schizophrenic' in our society. The Process As with all good social art it began with communication. In fact make that hours and hours of communication. Over a two week period we met repeatedly and discussed the ins and outs of his thought processes. He explained what it's like living with the diagnosis, how the psychosis effected him and how his thoughts could be separated into personalities. We went through explanations and examples, mind maps and diagrams, good parts and bad parts. For him the analysis was tiring and I did my best to support rather than intrude. At times it would get too difficult and we'd take a break - we would doodle or watch shows or lay on the floor and discuss our weeks. Sometimes I would notice a hesitation to share a darker side of himself and I'd make myself busy whilst he wrote in silence. Eventually this delicate process resulted in a board full of pages and pages of notes that I could then shuffle into some sort of coherent layout. The main 'thought processes' took on a pie chart composition in the centre encased by a 'Sanity boarder' that restricted the flow of schizophrenic thoughts into his main consciousness. Connected to this were his schizophrenic 'safety nets' that encourage darker actions in order to protect himself and often become confused with or even take over his main thought processes. Then of course the better known side effect of voices - or 'wobbles' as he finds a better descriptor - surround the mind. I endeavoured to include all of our notes and so this outer layer also included some his own explanations: his description of schizophrenia, why hearing is effected, what sanity is to him and so on. The piece is drawn entirely by hand, first in pencil, then in fine liner on a large sheet of white paper. The work directly copies our notes, which considering his dyslexia and multiple languages makes for an interesting read. The aim of this was to create a human interpretation. The piece itself is an oxymoron - a minimised, formal schematic of one of the most complex and unclear concepts of our understanding: The mind. By disregarding a ruler, computer and even correct spelling this work proves itself to be an entirely humane construction with all of the beautiful struggles, contradictions and incorrectness of life itself. The OutcomeThe ReactionI am really pleased to say the understanding and appreciation for this piece was way beyond my expectations. People not only respected it's position as art despite its minimalist design but took time to read, consider and discuss the information it provides. Strangers began in depth discussions on societies interpretation of sanity, their own understand of schizophrenia and other diagnoses they have experienced first or second hand. Visitors described it as "interesting", "beautiful" and "informative" with people often revisiting it multiple times to discover more. In this way the project not only achieved its goals but improved my faith in the communities eagerness to understand and appreciate both these socially fuelled works and each other. What Next?Thanks to the hugely positive reaction received both by the public, the school and the owner of that 'unique mind' I can happily say this is not the end for this project. My initial aim is to continue our discussions and build some smaller mind maps to give the reader a more direct experience of how these processes effect every day life. From here I can also consider the usefulness of such a personal analytical process on other people and perhaps continue similar processes with multiple 'minds'.
So if you feel intrigued and inspired keep an eye on the development of this work here in the near future. And of course if this sparks a specific importance with you please share your feedback in the comments or directly to me via email. 15/2/2016 0 Comments To Engage or Not to EngageEssay on Social Engagement in Art with regards to my PracticeFrom early paintings such as Gustav Courbet’s ‘Stonebreakers’ 1849, to interactive works of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) or the modern day graffiti of Banksy; creatives have been using art to give unappreciated sectors of society a public voice and sense of worth for a substantial share of art history. A theme that’s exponential growth can be proved simply by overviewing last year’s Venice Biennale (2015) which contributed it’s most socially engaged collection yet. Ascertaining that this genre in its many forms not only holds an important place in the current art world, but can be expected to continue expanding in the way that we view and value art. Many reasons can be connected to this increased production such as freedom of speech and equality or increased awareness of world-wide issues. Socially engaged art can do many things including fighting for essential political or social debates. However, it is this hope as seen in Courbet’s painting, caused by publicised support and instilled on an individual level that interests me the most.
“It is a kind of teasing rebellion; it is not a violent revolution.” –Grayson Perry
6/2/2016 0 Comments The Philosophy of BeautyA research essay discussing 'beauty' with regards to philosophical theory, art movements and modern media in relation to my own artistic practice..I. ‘American Beauty’ 1999 film Disinterested beauty On discovering that Angela Hayes is a virgin, Lester Burnham illustrates a transition from the effect of Eros to a platonic love displaying disinterested satisfaction as theorised by philosopher Kant. Realising that Angela is pure and recognising her innocence, Lester reacts to the beauty of truth as discussed by the theories of Plato, relying on moral judgement to find ‘good’ the highest reality rather than the aesthetic judgement that had previously led to his lust. This is shown by him no longer wanting to have sex with Angela; still finding her beautiful but finding contentment without the need to use her for physical pleasure. Aesthetic Enjoyment Kant believed beauty to be reliant on feeling and imagination more than the geometric or scientific qualities sought during the Renaissance. Lester Burnham’s first sight of Angela Hayes during her cheerleading routine is a clear example of this theory. Without knowing her morally or understanding any scientific conclusion of beauty, Lester experiences a sudden emotion of ecstasy due to his aesthetic judgement of her. This leads him to imagine her in a sexual situation that shows his lust for physical pleasure from beauty. Extra Observation: Rick Grimes’ Beauty Rick Grimes follows an evident disinterested satisfaction for the beauty in life. He films moments with no intention of adapting or using the footage. However, his aesthetic judgement whilst also fulfilling ‘purposiveness without purpose (for example, finding beauty in a useless plastic bag) seems void of common sense as described by Kant. His ideals of beauty remain unaffected by the opinions of others despite often being harshly evident. Neither does he need or expect them to understand or agree with his interpretation of beauty.
These reasons make my idea of beauty relatable to others through both geometric theories and classical philosophies of beauty. However, whilst these are theoretically relatable, I believe our judgement of beauty is a friction between the inbuilt aesthetic ‘common sense’ that Kant believed to be universal and the nurture debate. For example, when comparing this tropical beach to the tree-lined road I would describe both as beautiful but my preference lies with the chosen image because it is relatable to landscapes I have witnessed. This leads me to trust the image, removing any sense of uncanny as I know the beauty is realistic from personal experience. A further example would be my reaction to this image of a new design for a BMW motorbike. Having owned my own motorbike and having friends in automotive design I have a learned appreciation for motorbikes and their aesthetics. Upon finding this model on the internet I gained pleasure simply from viewing it. To many others this would simply be a motorbike and lead to no emotional reaction as the interest relies on a specific interest. This supports the theory of Kant and David Hume that whilst there are inherent standards, ones subjective view of beauty is a trainable quality through experience.
On top of this the atmosphere and meaning of these photo's can vary widely depending on artistic decisions such as the format and exposure of the below window.
17/11/2015 A written reflection on: Eat. Pray. Love.Swirls of colour and culture still dazzling my mind, I sit in a sense of awe at witnessing such a story. To any travel-intrigued individual (which is probably most modern-day westerners tired of the tedious nine-to-five of urban living) the locations and scenery involved in this film will be a source of newly enlightened inspiration.
However, for me the real importance was held not by the places, the colours, the artistic camera-use or the lively breadth of accompanying music. My interest lies with the bare truth and frantic realism of both story-line and character. There is no saviour appearing in all his perfection in time to save her from sadness. Rather, in truth, I have never seen so many tears in a single film (and cannot help but wonder at the effect this emotive performance had on Julia Roberts in her everyday life). It is refreshing to be allowed negativity: For popular culture to understand, and furthermore reassure, the presence of anxiety, guilt and loneliness within the process of personal growth. For once permission is given to accept all forms of emotion with open arms and present awareness. If any one thing should be taken from this film it is that happiness is never guaranteed, you can be lonely anywhere, doing anything. And this is one of life’s most beautiful truths; because it also means that happiness is within you. Happiness is carried like a torch, bright and proud, lighting the way and warming our souls. So whatever you are feeling, wherever you are, happiness is never much further than a quiet seat or a slice of pizza. [Further artistic note: I recently found myself in a discussion regarding the use of shock and awe in art and the repetitive fashions in art culture. Questioning: Is there anything genuinely ‘new’ left to discover? And can we really be shocked in today’s direct culture, where sex, money and aggression are used to attract and sell? I think with this film came an unexpected realisation: I was shocked by reality. Some would describe this storyline as slow or rambling and perhaps that is the beauty of it. Seeing a film with the frequent ups and downs of life, and the genuine problems of human emotion, left me surprised and what’s more with a feeling of being emptied out and rebuilt in a better order. How novel to think that what truly shocks us now is accepting reality with all its turbulent imperfections. And perhaps this attention to truthful reality could filter into the art world?.] |