Explorations & Meanings

This article is on the absurd musings of a self absorbed artist (me momentarily) in search of the unknown, a sort of holy grail quest, though certainly not as profound as finally finding the philosophers sword......or was that the philosophers stone.........  Maybe some of you have gone through the following process of thought.

Starting a new series of art work is always a challenge, the contrasting elements of academia, intuition, preconceptions and a willingness to explore the hidden realms are often overwhelming for me. In this case I'm leaving years of figurative drawing & painting in the wind and proceeding with the amorphous and ambiguous nature of abstraction. I find abstract work to be much more difficult and am trying to find a way to define my concept in a set of constructs that will communicate something of value to the viewer. When dealing with figurative art there is always the associative thread of physical reality the viewer can correspond with, and even if the work is of little conceptual value there is still something easily associated with. When dealing in the abstract realms it is like trying to explain what another planet looks and feels like without the viewer having ever been there or having seen it.

A better question to ask in all of this is, "does it matter if abstract art means anything other than a pure & true expression of the artist?" If one paints from their heart & soul is that not enough, does everything need a justifiable and intellectual reason for creation as though to substantiate the artist virility, intelligence or purpose, or the viewers reason to look at the art? Is decorative art shallow and lacking in substance? Maybe all art is simply decorative and as artist we create stories about our art to satisfy academia, intellectuals and the audience hungry for a story of interest and entertainment value. I know this isn't really true, but I do ponder what the value all of that academia training tries to inundate us with.

A few of my main premises in all that I create are:
1) Will the viewer be elevated in some way?
2) Will it allow the viewer to dream and explore new emotional or intellectual territory?
3) Does it inform the viewer in some way?
4) Am I communicating what I intended through the medium of art?
5) And lots of other questions........
I should say that these questions arise only when completely lucid, not in the act of creating.......

The main question on my mind about creating this abstract series is, can I start without a concept and work towards one? When starting with a concept, a vision, a reason to proceed and of course passion, there is still an exploration of the infinite within any given subject matter which can take years to explore and define in way that will ultimately convey what I had in mind. If I start with no concept it seems improbable that as an artist anything of value might be produced other than a possible hit and miss sort of progression.

I have so many questions about what I'm exploring right now that it seems the only thing I can do is to move forward and create work or sit still and think about it, neither of which may be of much worthy fruition. After years of working in the figurative realm I am somewhat fearful of venturing into a realm of art that may simply end up a mess, or of course I might surprise myself and end up with a series of work that has some aesthetic and conceptual value......who knows? By the way, I have also ended up with a mess even in creating figurative art, but not too often.

Well, my friends I'm on a quest to search for my own truth, one that will honestly communicate without the interference of academia, mental projections of perceived audience, fearless planting of paint on canvas and paper to hopefully express my given potential, whatever that may be...........