The process of painting is to go beyond language to reach the edges of what the rational mind can think and know. The possibility of discovering what is unknown beyond the self. Rational thought only suppresses the imagination.
Where there is color, there is light
Does art that illicit instant political messaging the only important work worth considering, or can painting have a role? Empathy, heightened consciousness?
Art becomes radical in that the act of looking can alter a viewer’s perception.
The Chicago Art Institute is running a program of art as part of the conversation concerning empathy. Judges that are part of the criminal justice system have to make decisions everyday as well as doctors treating patients who are very ill from Covid. It was found that when Art became part of the dialogue, there was an increase in empathy.
‘ The Deer Fence’
Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei
“ empty mountain/ no one to be seen but hear – human sounds /
returning sunlight enters the dark woods / shining again on green moss.”