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Layers upon layers

This image is all mouse. The Tablet PC is down.

Layers and layers
Larger Image.

I was thinking today about layers. There are heaps of layers in this image, as in most of what I do. The Earth Crosses are also to do with depth. The “vertical” line goes up and down. The life line in that direction is vastly different from that in the horizontal line. A line that goes “across” like that invariably is seen as the horizon, the earth edge.

In my work as a psychotherapist I always think “deep”. I want the work with my clients to go deep. But what is deep? My son once said, while pondering this with his fresh mind, it is “wide on its side”, nice! But it is not so. In the case of wide one end is equivalent qualitatively to the other. With the vertical line that is not so.

Deep means going into origins, not the past per se, though origins are usually in the past. Perhaps the future can draw us, and thus origins could be seen in the future as well.

Maori have a word: Whakapapa which is tied the notion of a layer, papa. Ah, a quote, from here, that expresses the exact idea I was looking for:

“Papa” is anything broad, flat and hard such as a flat rock, a slab or a board. “Whakapapa” is to place in layers, lay one upon another. Hence the term Whakapapa is used to describe both the recitation in proper order of genealogies, and also to name the genealogies. The visualisation is of building layer by layer upon the past towards the present, and on into the future. The whakapapa include not just the genealogies but the many spiritual, mythological and human stories that flesh out the genealogical backbone.

The layers of a painting give it its dept, they cover its origins, they influence the next layer, and the final layer is a relationship with a viewer. My Earth Crosses, flat and hung vertically I think of as a more transverse section with the top being the ether and the lower reaches the depths. The vertical line however is the yang to the yin of the earth. it is something only humans do, see into the depths of the soul and reach for the spirits of the sky.

Here is another Another version of this Earth Cross:

Layers and layers
Larger Image.

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No Tablet! No Pen.

My Toshiba M200, which has been the took for most of my work in the last few yours suddenly won’t work as a Tablet. No pen. Hope it is a quick fix but I can’t see how to do it. It is Queens Birthday here, so I can’t even take it in to be fixed. Any ideas?

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Reflections: Blog & Gallery

Presenting my work is more on my mind right now than making it. Not as much fun, but presentation floats to the top, unbidden. I am thinking about both the world and online. I’ll focus on the latter.

I have changed the name of this blog to “Walter Logeman: Art” with the subtitle In this moment… My art Blog” the reason is clarity. It is still the same blog, I am still “In this moment…” and it is still, as it says on the About Page:

Nothing but art, artists, art talk, art history, art philosophy, pictures and projects. Most of my work and work-in-progress is on this blog.

The clarity seems right because I am working on a Gallery. If you go there now (as I write this) you will see it is heavily under construction.

With the Gallery I can post exhibits, and show work that is complete. Series. Simple. More stable. I sometimes refine an image I have already blogged as I present them to other sites. I will focus on quality.

You can sub to the Gallery in RSS and watch progress and then see updates as they happen including my fumblings. Better still sub to this blog’s RSS, I will announce all Gallery news here as well.

The first things to be shown there will be my Earth Crosses, of course. Next FLAX.

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Creativity & Art

Here is a summary of J. L Moreno’s theory, the Canon of Creativity:

  • Creativity is innate, universal, it is everywhere. We all have it.
  • It is awoken by spontaneity, without spontaneity it is useless.
  • Spontaneity can be trained.
  • Spontaneity comes through warm-up, and warm-up is expressed through roles.

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Is that a good summary?

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There are lots of roles needed to produce art. Ability to manage time, money, resources. Knowledge of the culture, networks, marketing, techniques, organisation. I think of these as functional roles, and they can be taught, coached and trained, and yes they will help, but there is more…

Question:

What are the roles involved, what is the warm-up, say, when Marcel Duchamp exhibits “Fountain”? Or Pollock drips for the first time? Or Warhol mass produces every-day objects as art in a Factory?

Are these moments of newness simply a product of being functional? having lots of functional roles. Will inspiration come from perspiration?

I imagine great inspiration comes from another type of role… or states? Angst. Pain. Trauma, mania, love, hate, despair… attitude, belief.

Perhaps the central role is to be able to put ones madness to good use?

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So it is an age old question: Can art be taught? Or are we born with talent? Or is it circumstantial, luck, being in the right place at the right time?

Moreno, I am sure, believes we are all geniuses, and that we can train ourselves and others to be great innovators of our time. That is the sort of role training I want to see happen!

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