Note No. 4

•September 30, 2008 • Comments Off

I have posted this note but will be adding to it over time.

September 30th 2008: I have been working on the evolution of my new colored pieces. These pieces are influenced by my interest in the psychedelic art of the sixities. ( I would like to state for the record to those that read this, I do not use drugs. I have had this question put to me several times since my work does look hallucinogenic.)

I am thinking about using latin words for the titles of this new colored series. I look at my work as a growth of organic matter so I thought it would be interesting to use latin wording to title my work, much like the scientific world catorgorizes the natural world.

Here are a few terms I have collected using an online translator.

  • Artistic Growth: Artifex Incrementum
  • Dream Matter : Somnium Res
  • Free Forming: Solvo Formatura
  • Colored: Infucatus, Coloratus

Note No.3 / Revised Statement / 2008

•July 11, 2008 • Comments Off

The act of drawing Dream Matter is an expression of a Taoist idea known as Wu Wei, which, in western thought, is simply defined as spontaneous, free expression; not forcing, allowing the drawing to be freely created, with as little planning or interruption from the conscious mind as possible. I attempt to draw intuitively, to plumb the depths of the imagination, to tap into and express the fundamental nature of reality.

My work has evolved slowly over many years. In 1979, while talking to my high school art teacher, I absentmindedly dipped an old paintbrush in some india ink and began moving it around on the paper. My mind was focused on the conversation, and I paid little attention to the piece of art I was creating. When I looked down, I was excited by what I saw. Suggestive forms–a hint of a face, skeletal outlines, and more–were harmoniously placed on the paper. I was amazed that all of this had emerged unconsciously.

This was the beginning of the journey. Repeatedly, I attempted to create an intuitive drawing, but I could not achieve the same result that I had that day in my art class; I was trying too hard. I passed up an opportunity to attend art school, feeling that formal instruction would interfere with the mindset I was trying to achieve, and I continued to paint and draw whenever I
could. It was over twenty years before I created another piece that had the quality I was looking for. Dream Matter no. 1 was completed in 2003. It was three months in the making, drawn with simple graphite pencils and erasers.

While working on that first piece in the series, I was unknowingly following the principles of spontaneity and absence of conscious control outlined by the original Surrealists in the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924. As I was drawing, a concept began to form. During this time I was listening to the lectures of Alan Watts on the topic of Taoism, and I began to see a connection between my Dream Matter concept and the metaphysical teachings of Taoism; In the Taoist laws of reality,
I saw a foundation for the way I wanted to approach the art. The idea of “li,” or organic patterning, was what I wanted to achieve in my work.

As the work evolved over the years and I was more able to work in the correct mindset, I began to see more organic patterns and morphing of the imagery. This was something I had hoped would emerge. It allows each viewer to have a unique experience when they see a Dream Matter piece. People seldom see the same imagery, and it seems to be a very personal experience for some viewers. It’s exciting to be able to offer this in my art, and remains an important goal for me. I enjoy giving the viewer something that captures their attention, entertains the mind, and possibly
leaves them wondering.

In searching for other artists who are attempting to draw in a spontaneous manner, I’ve been fascinated to discover very similar forms and imagery in their work, which reinforces the idea that by freeing the mind and letting go of conscious control, we allow ourselves to tap into and express the underlying fabric of the universe. These fellow artists have expressed very similar ideas about the mindset involved in this type of drawing or painting and the feeling that they’re
allowing something organic to emerge rather than creating something from their individual concepts.

Alan Watts said, “When you make something, you put it together–you assemble parts, or you carve an image out of wood or stone, working from the outside to the inside. But when you watch something growing, it works in an entirely different way; it doesn’t assemble parts. It expands from within and gradually complicates itself expanding outwards…like a bud blossoming… like a seed turning into a plant.” Dream Matter emerges in this way.

The process has evolved over the last several years; I’ve combined charcoal with graphite in several of the drawings, resulting in darker more mysterious works. I’ve also experimented with other mediums, and continue to explore new techniques that will allow Dream Matter to emerge in various forms.

It’s a process that morphs and changes just as the work itself does. It continues to fascinate and hold my attention, sometimes bordering on obsession. I’m often surprised when I look up and see a new face or form that I’d never noticed before in a Dream Matter that has been on the wall for several years. It seems to be a reflection of the way reality and perception morph in our everyday lives. It’s a journey of discovery that, for me, offers insight into our existence, the mind, imagination and reality, and I look forward to observing and participating in its continuing evolution.

Video / Twilight Zone

•March 31, 2008 • Comments Off

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The intro to the TV series The Twilight Zone makes a statement about the imagination that could be a part of my Dream Matter concept.

My work is a constant search into the deepest depths of the imagination, not so much my own imagination as it is the viewer’s imagination. I attempt to provide a visual field that will spark the imagination of the viewer.

Video No.2

•March 3, 2008 • Comments Off

Note No.2

•February 27, 2008 • Comments Off

(1) Imagination, is the heart of my work. I do not wish to mimic my surroundings or the works of other artists. You will not see forms that represent known objects…trees, buildings, people, sea shores, or flower gardens and if the viewer does see these types of forms, then it is their own psyche forming these images. I wish to dive deep into the imagination of the human mind and to do this I feel to use mimicry of known images is to stay stuck in the shallows of the imagination. Drawing a horizon line and landscape then placing odd objects in the environment was wonderful when the Surrealist did it…I am not saying that no artist should not do this again and again..but this surreal landscape is not for me..I must go further..maybe not further but a different perspective..a different viewpoint. If one looks into a room and thinks about the space in that room that seems to be the emptiness of that room…it is really not empty…it is full…as with the landscape..full. Slip down in your visual point of view and look from the level of the microscopic realm…you can go level after level to infinity. It is also the same outward further and further out into the cosmos..light years away…to infinity. At these points there are no horizon line.

(2) Some would say my work is too full..not enough empty space…but I do this because I am attempting to create a piece of art, even tho it is static in nature, will be ever changing. I am looking at this from the point of view of a person who would own a piece of my work. They would have to peer onto it over the years and if I can produce a piece of art that will reveal unseen imagery over the many years of ownership then I will have entertained the viewer with my work. Are artists not entertainers in a sense? The massive entanglement of line and form within my work is also a way to provide enough content for all the different psyche of passing viewers that would peer into the pieces. Each viewer will see different forms emerge from Dream Matter. I want to make sure that I have provided enough to meet the the many different mind sets that will be looking into my work.

( 3) I found the term “Veristic Surrealism” this evening during my search online. This term would apply to my reference in the first section of this post when I spoke of surreal landscape. I will have to study further into this term before I can post my thoughts. It appears so far that my Oneiric Realism concept may combine Automatism and Veristic Surrealism.This term seems to have come from Michael S. Bell, assistant curator at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco during his research into the Surrealist phenomena. ( Interview with Michael S. Bell )

(4) I found online a pdf of an exhibit in which Michael S. Bell is a involved in, which has a listing of what they have termed as Veristic Surrealists. PDF

Video 1

•January 26, 2008 • Comments Off

Note No.1 / Early Concept

•January 24, 2008 • No Comments

Since an early age I have been interested in the big question, why do we exist, what is reality, what is behind the creative force that is creation. My art is deeply tied to these thoughts, Most of my concepts that apply to my Dream Matter pieces came about after the fact, I did not form these concepts until the first two Dream Matter pieces were finished and framed. So, How did Dream Matter and this idea of Oneiric Realism come about? I think one has to look at what interested me during my life and the evolution of these topics into my life. I will list these topics that I feel made an impression on me in my life . 1. An early fascination with science2. Learning about Surrealism in my high school art class 3. Eastern philosophies 4. Mandala techniques that explored the inner psyche. 5. The audio lectures and books of Alan Watts. The big shift in my concept came about with the lectures of Alan Watts being played during the drawing of Dream Matter No. 2 and No. 3, while I peered into the image on the paper before me and wondered about it’s meaning. It was during the lecture Myself, A Case of Mistaken Identity and his talks on Taoism that I started to see a connection between my work and what was being talked about on the cassettes.

The statement; ” We are the universe, we are what the whole thing is doing.” Made me think that if we are the universe and we possess the creative element of the universe, naturally, then all one has to do is tap into it and allow it to flow forth. Alan Watts stated in his lecture that the universe has no pre-planned idea. It works as one does when taking a walk in the woods kicking stones along the way, with no set destination…Spontaneously.It is a learned spontaneity. This is not an automatic slopping of paint,ink and other medium onto a surface without mental control…this mind set is closer to the mental state of a zen brush artist. It is the flood light awareness, the big mind..that part of us that is hooked to all things.My Dream Matter pieces are the result of my efforts to tap into this creative flow within all things. In Taoism, they speak of Chi and Li. Chi is the energy of the universe and Li is the the force that organizes it.Li has been defined as “organic patterning.” Reading about the concept of Li is why I think I am on the right path with my work…My work has a very organic pattern within it..and these organic patterns grow and change during the course of working until surreal forms become present within my mind’s eye. Even after the formation of these surreal forms…they constantly change their mental formation..a similar experience as one has when looking for shapes of known images in clouds.

(NOTE I do not make Dream Matter…I allow it to grow upon the paper before me…allowing the growth of a dream like environment, where the viewer’s mind imagines surrealistic scenes.)(I can talk in words in an attempt to tell you what Dream Matter is but as Dream Matter evolves..so does my words,in an attempt to follow it..My words will always fall short in description of the imaginary world that grows from within Dream Matter…but I hope when you look into it and daydream … you will find what it is I try and tell you…an experience that is felt..and not one told…be silent, allow your imagination to have no bounds and feel that deep place within you that fully understands.)