Sunday, July 19, 2009

The Joy of Imagination


"Gratitude"

There is one component I have found present in most great art, and that is the use of imagination. To me, this is what makes certain art engaging, vibrant and original. Whenever I view a work of art where the artist has chosen a fresh way to approach even the most mundane subject, I feel excited.

A fresh approach might include a novel way of rendering line, texture, color, pattern, perspective or even the subject itself. A never-before-seen subject rendered in an original manner can truly be called a work of art.

When I think of what contributes to imagination in art, three vital characteristics come to mind: Development in the fundamentals of art, having a point of view and commitment to developing that view and being broad-minded in one's thinking. I am hard-pressed to see how having a narrow perspective in everyday life would allow an artist to be imaginative in her work. It helps to think "outside the box."

As an artist who, for several years, rendered technically correct, well-done drawings and paintings in the manner of millions of other artists, I could not understand why my work was often overlooked.

I had no voice, no point of view and no idea what I wanted to paint. For me, this was a good point from which to start because I eventually learned that art must be more than technical skills and more than the dictates of the market. Once I clearly understood this, among other important details, I was able to begin working as a continually developing, evolving artist. The paintings presented on this blog have recently furthered into broader renderings, which are still recognizable as my work, though in a different way. This is simply imagination at work.

As a practicing artist who is also imaginative in most aspects of my everyday life, I have sometimes been called "eccentric," "different," and even "hard-to-pinpoint." Whenever I'm labled in this way, I don't take it personally. I simply realize that some prefer a life within the confines of a box -certainly not conducive to imagination.

In my next post, I will say more about imagination relative to my definition of it pertaining to both art and life. Your thoughts, please.

1 comment:

Steve the left-handed Spirit Watcher said...

Waking up, I poured alphabet cereal, pondering the meaning of the letters. Without thinking I poured air onto the bowl of letters...creating an essay. Now I couldn't just eat my new essay could I?

Upset I opened up a can of tomatoe sardines; what the heck, it was a Sunday afternoon already. Wonder if the NY Giants were on TV yet or would I have to suffer another round of "dangerous" baseball.

Heaven forbid maybe even the rabid "extreme" sport of golf was on...drats and double drats, no football till end of August. The cruel Gods
Zeus and Hera watched me...

Putting off a project I didn't have to start today, I pondered on what the word imagination meant? Being uneducated per art vocabulary (but being an art snob by virtue of having been born left-handed...and strangled by the umbiblical cord I'm told...) I decided to skip any english/verbal comprehension...

But to go with my visual perceptions...and my feelings. Feelings have to be good for something? I can smell the color green, feel the color green and visualize it. But can I eat it? That was important to me...could I also digest it?

Stumbling onto a friend's blog, as if in a drunken snowstorm, I see she had green as a background. Oh so that's why I chose green as an example here. Yikes me think she, the authoress (sounds more...sexy) must think I am mad.

Yet I did drink my daily vitamins of furry animals, thoughts, phone calls, politics (the stoned people are winning) and various other sundries. I imagined my brother wasn't an alcoholic but was going insane. And I was right...

I'm not sure what imagination is...for me it's electrical energy. Either too much, not enough or on the low low side. Kinda like a dam, open the headgates and let it flood out (coffee helps
but not too much!)

Growing up as a poor boy, imagination was my ticket out of boredom. Out of being beat up by my father, out of having been abandoned. Yet still I was free to play sports. I'm not sure what imagination is; another world, another dimension I suppose. A door I can open up almost anytime I want to if I have enough imagination energy. Maybe I can substitute magic gold dust for it...

Imagination is like drinking just enough ginseng
Too much makes you nervouos but a little gives you an illusion...hmm no that's not what I wanted to say. Imagination...being able to imagine the Ginko Biloba I have drank in the past, had opened up blood vessels in my brain.

To imagine more I suppose. Maybe I need to imagine less? After all I am the original Walter Mitty. Daydreaming while imagining stuff. Like an invisible butterfly who, landing on your shoulder, kisses your cheek.

Steve