JonMark Photography

Posts Tagged ‘form’

Lao Zi is depicted in his biography as a man who practice the way and virtue. His doctrine was then generalized into something that “aimed at self effacement and namelessness on the one hand, and, on the other, into something that invites people to take no action and thus become self transform, and love tranquility and thus become righteous.

Although it definitely gets to the point a generalization of this kind oversimplifies what he intended to express in over 5000 words. Widely recognized as the founder of Taoism, he constructs a philosophy of fertility and individuality that unfolds by virtue of his preoccupation with and formulation of the Tao.

Mixed media is sometimes called assemblage art. It is a way of altering or arranging things into new forms and shapes. It includes things like collage, or some other handmade item, using a wide collection of things. It doesn’t really matter what those things are, or where they come from. That’s one of the things that makes this type of art so exciting and delightful.

My first impression of mixed media was that it is fun, whimsical, sort of easy to understand, and maybe not worth taking too serious. It is certainly fun. I mean, when do you get a chance to experience chunks of miscellaneous rubbish put together in different ways to make an entirely new form or figure? You just don’t see it lying around. Mixed media art pieces don’t put themselves together. They don’t just appear randomly. They are deliberate and engaging. Whether it is worth taking serious or not is for each individual to say. It is, perhaps, best to see mixed media as a way of integrating different items, either found or reclaimed, into something wonderfully new.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
~William Ernest Henley.

Some well-learned Christians I know don’t subscribe very much to this poem of Henley’s from 1875 (published in 1892). I imagine they think its ‘theology’ is askew and tantamount to some form of heresy, or that it’s problematic at best.

Yet, like many inspirational poems and works talking of victory against the odds, there is the countering view that all of these speak volumes for the resilience that is made known only via the power of God. We call this the activity of faith, or requiring same to succeed.

Thankfulness to the “gods”

Modern abstract art holds a special place in the hearts and minds of many people. To the uninitiated, it appears like any second grader could do what, in fact, only a real artist can master. There is a tendency for some to understate the real insight and technical skill that is required by an abstract artist. I once overheard someone in a gallery comment on a piece they were looking at, that they couldn’t believe how stupid it was that people would “put out good money for a piece of crap like that”. I held my tongue because I remembered how it was only a very short time before that I had uttered equally inane blather. I knew that this person just didn’t know better, that they hadn’t bothered to learn about this beautiful form of art.

I am not an artist, art history major, nor was I raised around art and been an art buff all my life. But, I have been learning a lot more about art lately, and my ability to appreciate abstract art paintings has increased over the past few months. As many lay people who do not know much about art, I would look at a Jackson Pollock piece and say, “my kid could paint that!”. But in my heart I knew that was not true, and silently I liked and admired his work.

Representational paintings are much easier for the every day person to understand. You look at the painting, you see what it is, and the form acts as a beginning to understand and interpret the piece. But, with abstract art paintings, there is no recognizable form to influence your conscious opinion. Abstract art works at a deeper level, with the intention to evoke unconscious feelings and emotions. As the observer, your purpose should be to open yourself up and allow the painting to evoke these feelings and emotions.