Concluding Comments Leading to a New Exploration: Yûgen & Japanese Nō Drama

How does a book on new elements in contemporary abstract painting lead to a study of medieval Japanese art theory with a particular focus on the concept of 'yûgen' and Nō Drama?

 Japanese Nō Masks

In the first entry of this exploration, I said: "...as I read the book, I will ask myself if it really is an authoritative book (as the publisher claims)...I will ask myself if it really does guide the reader through the key issues in the field...and I will ask myself if there might not be something missing, marginalized, or forgotten."

It is important to note that the more time I spend with this book the more I like it and the more I appreciate it. 

"Painting Abstraction" clearly focuses on the external elements in abstract painting...I understand this. But external elements are very often of little consequence.  More importantly is that each of the artists included in this survey is motivated and inspired by a wide spectrum of concerns, ideas, compulsions, and loves.

Each of the 'Rests' I interspersed throughout the entries is witness to an area of concern or dimension of experience that gets little floor time in the book...these are taken from a vast historical perspective and many points of view. This limitation in the book is not necessarily a criticism...it just a point of fact...that is what a book does: limits a subject. I simply wanted to interact with it, pushing and pulling as much as possible.

Placing these 'Rests' on a collision course with the artists in Bob's book was provocative, and set off an explosion of questions.

As one question led to another, I ended up in Japan...fascinated by the concepts of yûgen & Nō Drama. If you study this book, I would suggest a similar frame of mind: question everything...

In up-coming posts, I will look into yûgen & Japanese Nō Drama in detail. I have come to think that both of these have everything to do with contemporary abstract painting.

 Rainer Maria Rilke, Herman Melville, and Abstract Art Today

"Somehow I too must find a way of making things; not plastic, written things, but realities that arise from the craft itself. Somehow I too must discover the smallest constituent element, the cell of my art, the tangible immaterial means of expressing everything..." To Lou Andreas-Salome, August 10, 1903 (Epigraph from Letters on Cezanne)

And then there is Dore Ashton on Melville and American art from her 1962 book, The Unknown Shore:

"The critics who turned back to Melville were justified.  Melville's  peculiar mysticism that led him to dedicate a book to a mountain and to speak of "delicious poetic presentiments" lingers in America today.  Melville longed to thrust beyond the boundaries of his vision and suffered constant melancholy defeat.  "Deprived of Joy I find cause for deadly feuds with things invisible." His wonder and despair of the human condition persists in present-day romantic artists: "Far as we blind moles can see, man's life seems but an acting on mysterious hints." Hidden in this phrase are the intuitional, mediumist principles which project the notion that art is a way of probing for answers to the riddle of the cosmos--the view of art that still dominates American painting." Dore Ashton, The Unknown Shore: A View of Contemporary Art, 1962, p. 64.

What do these two quotes have to do with "Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting?"

Ask this question as you read the book.  In fact, use all the "Rest" entries in this project to spark further questions.

The last entry for this project will give a few hints as to where it led me...and a few hints about the next web project.

To be continued. 

 The Act of Painting: An Artist Reference to Chapter Six

Bob Nickas says: "The book opens with the the hybridization of the image, and concludes with the hybridization of the object (p.11)."

Here are the artists Bob chose for this category:

Bernard Frize

Wade Guyton

Charline von Heyl

Jacqueline Humphries 

Nathan Hylden

 
Nathan Hylden, Untitled, 2005, collage, 8 1/2 x 11 inches

Jutta Koether 

Michael Krebber

R. H. Quaytman

Anselm Reyie 

Josh Smith 

Rudolf Stingel 

Kelley Walker 

Christopher Wool

Heimo Zobernig

Go to Part XIV 

 To Find Nature herself...

"To find nature herself all her likenesses have to be shattered and the further in the nearer the actual thing." - Meister Eckhart

Go to Part XIII 

 Elemental Aspects of Painting: An Artist Reference for Chapter Five

Bob Nickas says: This chapter "deals with the elemental aspects of painting, with form, space, and scale, including artists who work in very prescribed small formats and others who have produced monumental works...(p.11)."

Here are the artists Bob chose for this category: 

Tomma Abts 

Varda Caivano

Katharina Grosse

Bill Komoski

 
Bill Komoski, 2006; acrylic paint on canvas; 94 x 74"

Chris Martin

Katy Moran

Olivier Mossat

Peter Peri

Clare Woods

Go to Part XII 

 There is no such thing as a good painting about nothing.

"We assert that the subject is crucial and only that subject matter is valid which is tragic and timeless. That is why we profess spiritual kinship with primitive and archaic art." . . . . . by Mark Rothko, Adolf Gottlieb, Barnett Newman. From "Statement - June 7, 1943"

Go To Part XI

  Found/Eccentric Abstraction: An Artist Reference for Chapter Four

Bob Nickas on Found/Eccentric Abstraction: This chapter "brings together artists for whom abstraction is an assisted readymade. These artists avail themselves of a preexisting repertoire within abstraction - circles, stripes, dots - and in doing so play with notions of anonymity. They may also incorporate common or found objects, or quotes from signage, advertising, and design."

Here are the thirteen artists Bob chose for this category:

Richard Aldrich

 
Ricard Aldrich, Aerial View Painting 2006, Oil and wax on panel

John M. Armleder

Monika Baer

Francis Baudevin

Agnieszka Brzezanska 

Mike Cloud 

Daan Van Golden

Chris Johanson

Tony Just

Marta Marcé

 
Marta Marcé, Flowing Shift, 160 x 122 cm, Acrylic on canvas

Monique Prieto

Alexander Ross

Sterling Ruby

Amy Sillman

Go to Part X

 On Objective and Subjective Attachment

"Ni Tsan's bamboo painting transcends objective and subjective attachment.  He is free from the imitation of objective actuality and also free of subjective projection." Creativity and Taoism: A Study of Chinese Philosophy, Art, and Poetry - Chang Chung-yuan, Harper, 1968, p. 224

Go to Part IX 

 Color and Structure: An Artist Reference for Chapter Three

Bob Nickas on Color and Structure: This chapter "...looks at two fundamental aspects of painting, particularly how color can become a building block - color as structure - and how structure can be seen as something beyond composition, as intrinsic to the content of a picture, or even as its central subject (p.11)."

Here are the artists Bob chose for this category: 

Joanne Greenbaum 

Mark Grotjahn HERE & HERE

Mary Heilmann 

Daniel Hesidence 

Allison Miller 

Odili Donald Odita HERE & HERE 

Ann Pibal

Ann Pibal, B-Line (v.2), 2007, acrylic on aluminum, 13" x 19 1/4"

Bernd Ribbeck 

Ruth Root 

Alan Uglow - I particularly like Alan's gestural work! His canvases seem to express the same emotion.

Stanley Whitney 

Jens Wolf

Go to Pat VIII 

 Kandinsky: The Inner Evaluation of the Elements of Art

"Here are the beginnings of abstract art, the justification of whose existence, apart from the external question of form (as one observes predominantly in the case of "constructivism") necessarily demands the inner evaluation of the elements of art.

"This assertion is of decisive importance; inability or spiritual unpreparedness to follow it rules out any possibility of making the leap into the new world."

Wasilley Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913 See Mark Harden's discussion of this painting HERE.

"When the formal element in art is assessed exclusively by cold, external criteria, works of abstract art appear dead (so too in "life").

"But when these criteria, are augmented by inner criteria, which we may take as our principal basis for judging the formal element, in the broadest sense, those same works of abstract art respond to the effect of warmth and come to life."

"Content consists of a complex of effects organized in accordance with an inner purpose." 

Kandinsky, Complete Writings on Art, ed. Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter Vergo Da Capo Press, 1994, p.511-518. 

Go to Part VII 

 Rhythm and Opticality, An Artist Reference for Chapter Two

Bob Nickas on Rhythm and Opticality: "The second chapter brings together a number of artists for whom rhythm and opticality provides a way to animate the otherwise flat surface of the canvas, to create movement within the composition by means of a dynamic handling of line, form, and color (p.11)."

Here are the thirteen artists Bob chose for this category: 

Karin Davie    

Philippe Decrauzat  

Zylor Jane 

Alex Kwartler   

David Malek   

Anja Schwoerer 

 
Anja Schwörer, Ohne Titel (BP 1109), 2009 Gebleichte Leinwand 185 x 145 cm

James Sienna 

Esther Stocker 

Philip Taaffe 

John Tremblay 

Dan Walsh 

Zieher Smith

Go to Part VI

 The Hours of Love and Research: Odilon Redon 

"Immortality is nothing but the bloom of the rare flower whose seed is at the heart of all beauty; it is praise, admiration, the springing up of the divine seeds contained in a little bit of matter. People, through the flow of time, make the flowering more or less beautiful. The issue is only to leave to them works which they see, which they love, consult, scrutinize with anxiety at the hours of love and research. Supreme strength which attracts and uplifts them and which they develop afterwards, drawing out of it a new life, which they will put into new works." Odilon Redon, To Myself: Notes on Life, Art, and Artists, p.122.

 
Odilon Redon, Ophelia, pastel.

Go to Part V

 Part III: Hybrid Pictures Artist Reference

Bob Nickas on Hybrid Pictures: "This formulation (hybridization) is at the heart of the subject of abstraction precisely because it's these hybridized pictures that not only create bridges between representation and abstraction, but also open up abstraction to almost limitless possibilities (p.11)."

 
Chris Finley - Chelsea gallery crawl, 2008

Here are the thirteen artists Bob chose for this category: 

• Kristin Baker 
• Lisa beck 
• Jules de Balincourt
• Tomory Dodge

Tomory Dodge, Boredom Shot, 2005 oil on canvas 16 x 18 in. [40.6 x 45.7 cm]

• Jacob Feige
• Chris Finley
• Wayne Gonzales
• Alex Hay
• Carrie Moyer
• Elizabeth Neel
• David Ratcliff
• Wilhelm Sasnal
• Chris Vasell

 Go to Part IV

 The Spirtual Court: What He Achieves in His Heart...

"When I sense the vigor of Chang Tsao's  painting, I see no longer a painting--I see Tao. When painting, he leaves behind mere skills and measurements and his thoughts vanish into the creative night.  The things brought out are not from the consciousness of the eye and ear, but rom the Spiritual Court.  What he achieves in his heart is made known by his hand."  - from Yü Chien-hua, History of Chinese Painting, Vol. 1, p.139.  Found in Creativity and Taoism: A Study of Chinese Philosophy, Art, and Poetry - Chang Chung-yuan, Harper, 1968.

Early Spring by Ku Hsi (ca 1000-1090) - courtesy SJSU Image Library

"Creative activity in the highest sense has its origin in nonbeing, or the void.  The great Chinese poets who, by self-cultivation and meditation, penetrated to the void, have produced truly great works. They owe a great debt to the ancient Taoists who taught that the contemplation of the utmost in quietude will lead to the hidden recesses of creative power and that it is from this realm that beauty is manifested to the objective world. A high level of self-cultivation gives them that absolute freedom and serenity which makes for natural reflection, without preconceptions and distortions." - Creativity and Taoism, p. 184.  

Go to Part III

 "Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting" by Bob Nickas- A Web Project

Introduction to the Project:

This web project is a meditation on "Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting" by Bob Nickas. The concept is quite simple. I will provide references for all 80 artists featured in the book. And then, as I read the book, I will ask myself if it really is an authoritative book (as the publisher claims)...I will ask myself if it really does guide the reader through the key issues in the field...and I will ask myself if there might not be something missing, marginalized, or forgotten.

Out of my reading of the text and my examination of the illustrations, I will intersperse related content bearing upon the questions raised. In most cases, I will not make the connections explicit. Instead, I will offer juxtapositions and contrasts, trusting the good reader to do the hard work.

As such, the project could form the basis for a good discussion. 

All entries related to the project can be accessed in the Category List under "Painting Abstraction - A Web Project"

The Publisher says:

• In recent years, abstract painting has developed a rich complexity that, now more than ever, rewards intensive viewing; this authoritative book guides the reader through the key issues in the field.

• Profiles 80 of today's most vital contemporary abstract painters. 

• The product of years of research and countless studio visits, Painting Abstraction is a major statement on the last five years of this exciting new wave of creativity in painting. 

With 250 color illustrations, this is a large and heavy book, much too heavy to carry a long distance.

Go to Part II

 The Art Story Foundation

According to their Web site, the purpose of The Art Story Foundation is to "Educate, inform, and introduce people to modern art through speaker series, educational workshops, and online educational resources". 

The foundation is the brainchild of Michael Zurakhinsky.

 Michael Zurakhinsky, Founder & President

Michael Zurakhinsky is a graduate of Manhattan College, with an MBA from New York University. His background includes extensive experience in web technology and finance. A passion for art education has been his motivation to create this new, interactive web site for the public. 

Although it is still at an early stage of development, their web site is a real delight. It's mission "is to make modern art more accessible and digestible to the general public by providing information that is easy-to-understand, professionally designed, and logically presented. Modern art requires much from the viewer, but a large time commitment should not be a prerequisite." 

"The Abstract Expressionist movement is the first movement covered by this website. With time, this website will grow to include more movements, artists, and educational tools to inform our audience. 

"The Art Story Foundation is an educational 501(c)(3) non-profit organization."

Enter the web site HERE.

 Arvo Pärt: 24 Preludes for a Fugue - Films by Dorian Supin

I reviewed this film for the first time in January 2006. I have watched it at least twice since then. For anyone interested in the creative process, it is a 'must see.'

  


"Love each sound!  this is how a composer must understand music.  This knowledge opens an entirely new world.  How to reach that understanding is probably a secret and requires much work..."  Arvo Pärt.

 Van Gogh's Starry Night: Essay & Student Paper

Essay: Van Gogh's Agony' by Lauren Soth (from Art Bulletin, June, 1986): HERE

Student Paper: 'Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night: Insights from Poetry , Art History, and Astronomy' by Vincent S. Stassi: HERE

  Perspecives on Art and the Mirror to Nature

It is clear from exploring the concept of "The Mirror to Nature" that it is a much abused and misunderstood concept. Although, it was the dominant aesthetic theory of the eighteenth century, its many and varied uses today offer scant recognition of this fact.

 
Elizabeth, Duchess of Hamilton and Argyll, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

Isaiah Berlin describes the eighteenth century conception of the mirror of nature thus:

"The dominant aesthetic theory of the early eighteenth century was that man should hold a mirror to nature. Put like that, it seems rather crude and misleading; in fact, a falsehood. To hold up a mirror to nature is merely to copy what is already there.  This is not what these theorists meant by this phrase.  By nature they meant life, and by life they meant not what one saw, but that towards which they supposed life to strive, certain ideal forms towards which all life was tending...the highest artistic genius consisted in somehow visualizing that inner objective ideal towards which nature and man tended, and somehow embodying this in a noble painting. That is, there is some kind of universal pattern, and this the artist is able to incorporate in images, as a philosopher or the scientist is capable of incorporating it in propositions." Isaiah Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism, p. 26

"The purpose of painting is to convey to the questing intellect or the questing soul what it is that nature seeks after. Nature seeks after beauty and perfection...by inspecting nature we observe the general lines upon which she proceeds.  We see what it is that she strives to produce. We know the difference between a stunted oak and a fully-grown oak; we know, when we call it stunted, that is is an oak which has failed to become that which it was intended by itself, or by nature, to be. In the same way, there are objective ideals of beauty, of grandeur, of magnificence, of wisdom, which it is the business of writers, philosophers, preachers, painters, sculptors - composers, too - in some way to convey to us." p.28

Berlin goes on to quote Fontenelle: "A work of politics, of morality, of criticism, perhaps even of literature, will be finer, all things considered, if made by the hands of a geometer."

Thus, the Enlightenment valorized the formal, the noble, the symmetrical, the proportional, the judicious.

NOTE ALSO: 

Hamlet:
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this
special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature:
for any thing so o'erdone is from the purpose of playing, whose
end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as 'twere the
mirror up to nature: to show virtue her feature, scorn her own
image, and the very age and body of the time his form and
pressure.
Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 17-24

Sir Joshua Reynolds from Seven Discourses On Art:

"He who thinks nature, in the narrow sense of the word, is alone to be followed, will produce but a scanty entertainment for the imagination: everything is to be done with which it is natural for the mind to be pleased, whether it proceeds from simplicity or variety, uniformity or irregularity: whether the scenes are familiar or exotic; rude and wild, or enriched and cultivated; for it is natural for the mind to be pleased with all these in their turn. In short, whatever pleases has in it what is analogous to the mind, and is therefore, in the highest and best sense of the word, natural.

"It is this sense of nature or truth which ought more particularly to be cultivated by the professors of art; and it may be observed that many wise and learned men, who have accustomed their minds to admit nothing for truth but what can be proved by mathematical demonstration, have seldom any relish for those arts which address themselves to the fancy, the rectitude and truth of which is known by another kind of proof: and we may add that the acquisition of this knowledge requires as much circumspection and sagacity, as to attain those truths which are more open to demonstration. Reason must ultimately determine our choice on every occasion; but this reason may still be exerted ineffectually by applying to taste principles which, though right as far as they go, yet do not reach the object."

Also see: THE MAGIC MIRROR - Naturalism and Truth in the Theatre

And, from BECKETT'S GODOT: "A bundle of broken mirrors" by Robert D. Lane, 1996: 

"When Hamlet said that the dramatist was to hold up a mirror to nature there was implicit in the statement the idea that the reflection would be accurate and would be determined by universal and absolute natural laws which would reveal the stability of human nature underneath the appearances of humans acting out various motives, anxieties, hopes and wishes. The mirror metaphor is one that can be used to tease out different attitudes held over time by our writers and thinkers. Hamlet's mirror reflects stable meaning to the discerning eye - we have objective knowledge (often screened by appearances or dimmed by our various weaknesses), a medium of transfer (in this case dramatic literature), and a subject. The idea seems to be: if the dramatist has a steady hand, and the mirror has no Hubbell flaws, then the report received by a careful observer will be accurate and meaningful."

 Casper David Friedrich: The Hot Point of Romanticism

Casper David Friedrich is a pivotal figure in Romantic art, perhaps in all of Western art. If Isaiah Berlin is correct that "the romantic movement was...a gigantic and radical transformation, after which nothing was ever the same," then Friedrich is the hot point of that movement in relation to visual art. Friedrich was a revolutionary artist of immense strength, courage, and honesty.

CDF: "I am not so weak as to submit to the demands of the age when they go against my convictions. I spin a cocoon around myself; let others do the same. I shall leave it to time to show what will come of it: a brilliant butterfly or maggot." 

 
The Abbey in the Oakwood 1809_10

Dr. Henk Van Os says: "Friedrich has been ‘in’ for years. For many he has become a cult figure. This has to do with the fact that the experience of nature expressed in his paintings has been shared by many in recent decades. No other painter has so consistently made it visible that man does not naturally form part of the landscape. He stands not in, but facing nature, and can only penetrate to its meaning and beauty through solitary contemplation. He can share this silent vision with at most a single companion. The common experience of the grandeur of the vista creates friendship in the Romantic sense: a unique relationship with another person nurtured  by a shared experience of nature.

"It is only when his works are juxtaposed with traditional landscapes that it becomes clear why at the time so many critics could not or would not understand Friedrich’s work. It is unique, but the historical dimension of that uniqueness only becomes evident when  his paintings are shown in context." Read full article: Caspar David Friedrich and the German romantic landscape by Prof. Dr. Henk van Os

Also, see Casper David Friedrich: The Complete Works HERE.