As human beings we must create, for creativity is the impulse that sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Indeed, one might suggest that the creative impulse is the only thing we have going for us in the toughest times. I have chosen to focus my impulse where we should find the edge of such creativity; where our understanding is most challenged: Abstract art (with the occasional ventures into other areas).
There is a lot of abstract art in the world today although it is currently out of favor with intellectual elites. And it isn’t as thought today’s abstract art is bad art , because that value judgment must spring forth from the eye and mind of the beholder. As a self-taught artist I’m not sure I have one neatly-defined “style” of work, but I prefer to be considered an abstract expressionist painter who sometimes branches into other areas including impressionism, occasional photo realism and expressionism.Thus, The Abstract Generalist..
By the way, for people obsessed with this idea of me being an outsider artist: Does anyone really know what that means? I’m not sure, but I think the art critic who called me an outsider artist was trying to come up with a nice of saying that she thinks I’m a mental case.. bull goose loony. Hey, if that is your definition of an outsider artist, fine. Whatever. I prefer to think of myself as “unusual” and an unrecognized genius. But I also know that there is sometimes a fine line between genius and insanity, so we’ll leave that judgment stuff to others. Back to art…
Some say that abstract expressionism is dead, that it died with Jackson Pollock and that it is best left in the past. But for me, there is always something else to be done if we apply ourselves in a thoughtful manner. I’m attracted to the idea of visual stimulation without reference to subject; the idea that one can have an evocation of emotion from an object that is only paint and canvas with no pretense to anything else.
The Perceptual Puzzle Approach
My inner guidance has led me to envision the function of art in a different way. Through a thousand sleepless nights, I began thinking of colors and shapes not in the vague and highly subjective terms of beauty nor in the art-nazi way of structure and symmetry, but in a scientific way: the way colors and shapes act upon neural synapses from the initial stimulus of the eye, and how this information can be used to manipulate the minds of viewers. In a sense, then, it is neither the canvas nor the paint that becomes my contribution to art, but the sculpting of the human mind. Ultimately, however, my work must do its own talking, just as your own sense of art should be your guide in judging my work.
This approach is considered object-oriented, in that the goal of mental effect is what is important rather than the means of producing that effect. When this approach works correctly, the result is a Perceptual Puzzle - the inescapable feeling that there is something “not quite right” here, yet the viewer cannot quite put his/her feeling into words.
This perceptual puzzle, I believe, is a result of visual perceptor neurons firing in unaccustomed patterns: Unsure of how to react, the brain tries different neural patterns, but nothing fits. The beholder of this puzzle might feel vaguely uneasy, or even physically ill. As the effect continues, new neural patterns are formed, new connections begin. With new neural wiring, perhaps subconsciously, the viewer may begin to see the whole world in a slightly different way. If that happens, the artist has done his/her job.
The accidental discoverer of this special kind of art was Jackson Pollock. Unfortunately, I know of no other artist who has been able to achieve this level of neural disruption. This is where my own research and efforts come in: I wish I could say that I have been able to continue that object-oriented visual puzzle approach with great success, but my work has been - in my mind - rather hit and miss. But I will not give up….
I have seen a lot of art and the things and the works that have interested me most have contributed to my way of seeing the world. I am not unaware of the influences of Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso and Basquiat. I share the drive of these souls and will join them someday. I will continue to seek my own direction, with realism as my “fun” work and abstraction as my work of research and pain. After all, it is really all about life - expressed in paint.
