why my painting
is spiritual
This is an explanation as to why the style and substance of my art is fundamentally spiritual in nature.
I am a colorist which is to say that although the forms in my images are essential, the dominant partner is color. It is done with the highest quality oil, pastel or watercolor and in a style which explores balance and subtlety of hue and translucence in a very european, individually crafted manner. It could never be done by assistants. There is a high level of preconceived composition. Each work is unique and distinct from all the others. It is not manufactured in any way and tries its best to lend to abstraction detail and old world, old school technical skill.
I avoid very large skyscraper sized canvases to reflect a humility and lessening of ego. I have no particular trademark style to distinguish myself or to assert the legitimacy of abstraction. I practice both a loose line and a geometric one to express ideas which in turn range from an almost mathematical or musical theory to the purely intuitive.
Color is the quintesential spiritual medium because it is instinctive and highly open to interpretation. What one person experiences and is unique and depends on the the time and place. Using the best oil paint is the best way to achieve good color, mechanical methods fail even to make good copies of it let alone create quality in the original.
Spirituality is best defined by Eastern culture as being a combination of philosophy and religion. How can this be linked to the visual arts ? It is said that religion is about devotion and faith, whereas philosophy is about the intellect and knowledge. One is the heart and the other the mind. A central idea that brings these two together is the force of compassion where the heart and mind act together in a positive way for the common good. My art is about this compassion.
What is compassion exactly? I think its the ability to identify with and to alleviate the sorrow of another person by shouldering the disturbance it creates and making a positive event from it. In my painting I try to show the transformation of disturbance into a positive outcome with color and abstraction.
The narrative of sorrow is broken down to an abstract meditative colour event, a kind of beauty that cures the original disturbance. Whatever figuration that results from words and thoughts is dispersed to intuition and instinct that cancels negativity. A beauty of color composed in a good way replaces the disorder with inner calm and bliss. The abstraction shows no reflection of society or direct emotionality but goes to a place within that is a relief from all that and is thereby an expression of the Spiritual in art.
In addition the organic nature of the colouring avoids the digital virtual palette to encourage an awareness of the actual world. Colours are not digital, industrial, mechnically repetitive or subject to verbal labelling. The forms are also organic and natural. Awareness is another key to spiritual development.
Finally the link to spirituality via meditation is important in my art. The history of modern art is about the change, in phases, of subject matter away from the outside material world towards the unique identity of the artist. Spirituality teachs that all the universe is contained within each of us and by looking within using meditation we understand this and ourselves better. Abstraction depends on relinquishing the need to copy the world and to instead compose from within. So it encourages the viewer to look within when viewing the picture but also meditation takes place while the art is created.
If the art is about oneself in an egotistical way then it fails. This is where the line between good and bad art is drawn. It cannot promote the ego but must counteract it. Good art is universal and not particular ie never narrow minded. It is original, meaningful and esthetically successful. Ego art is derivative. It copies other ideas and succeeds in number. Bad art either copies other bad art or good art badly and dominates the art world. Poor colouring is the main giveaway. Galleries are full of commercially successful examples of this.
The question "What is Art ? " is easy to answer. Everything is art. "What is good art?" is the better query. It is rare and very difficult to achieve.
the worst thing is to look within and find
somebody else's mind
all queries to paulsgreenan@yahoo.com
