Kandinsky
It is common to think of colors as “warm” or “cold”, “exciting” or “relaxing”. The Russian-born painter and musician Wassily Kandinsky spent years painting abstract compositions, looking at the work of other artists and making note of the effect color had on him. [1] However, he had an advantage that many of us do not possess. Kandinsky was a synesthete.
Synesthesia is the condition where a stimulus to one sense provides a multi-modal response. For example, if a person sees the color yellow, he or she might hear a tone at the frequency of middle C. This phenomenon is very well presented in the book The Man Who Tasted Shapes by Richard Cytowic. [ Cytowic, R, The Man Who Tasted Shapes. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (1999)]
Kandinsky developed theories of color and form, which not only had specific meanings for him, but were direct links to a spiritual plane. [2]
Meditation as calibration
Those of us who wish to express our inner feelings do not have the advantage of the involuntary pairing of a sound with a color, for example. I am fascinated and mystified by the process that non-synesthetic abstract expressionists painters use map their feelings to color and form.
I think I may have an answer for myself. Perhaps some kind of targeted meditation would work. Maybe the people who stand for extended periods in front of a painting in a museum, are meditating in some way. Would this process work if I were to look at prints of paintings in art books, or would it have to be in a museum?
My current process
My experiments over the past few days have consisted of three basic steps: 1) drip or spread liquid latex over a 4×6 or 5×7 block watercolor paper surface and let dry; 2) paint the background using a wet-on-wet technique and let dry; 3) peel off the masking material and paint those forms. I am not entirely happy with this process. Painting with drips is for Jackson Pollock or other people who have 40×60 gallery space, not a 4×6 inch piece of paper; preserving the white space should be a result of looking at a painted area and then deciding how to proceed, if visual feedback has any bearing on self expression.
Below is today’s experiment…
4X6 cold press 140# watercolor paper
i wonder. One meditate for a reason, to calm the mind, to be more compassive, to find something on to be focused, or just to make something different. Now could be the art a way to find the truth? and not only being a decorative and expressive way to say something. When i mean find the truth ,im talking about something trascendental, something that could change your live( inner live). That metaphisical idea of the painting is something complete new for me.
I don’t know if meditation is exactly the word I am looking for. Maybe not, as meditation usually means – as you say – clearing the mind. The question I have is HOW does one reveal one’s inner truth through a visual medium? If it is possible to clear one’s mind while looking at someone else’s artwork AND being aware of its effect could be a way to utilize that same effect in one’s own work. What do you think?
I see. Undoubtly one reveals ones inner world and thoughts on a creative image( an image not always figurative, realistic, but one that you did following your intuition). Personally i draw more about topics that are always at my head. By the other side, if its possible to clear ones mind looking at someone else art work, i think, it depends of the artwork. Im sure that not all the artworks will clear ones mind. Others could have the oposite effect.
What is your process of creating art on paper of topics that you think of in your head?
Thanks.
Jack
I draw lines in a paper. Just lines without sense. Then i begin to watch the relations between the lines and what objects that can i create with they ( being aware of the images that appear in the middle of the scrawl) . Almost always the pictures that i find are things that are currently in my life. Things that i am always thinking.
I think I know what you mean. My next post uses something like your process, where an image emerges – if I read your response correctly. I suppose you guide the image that appears by how you feel at that moment…
Thanks for your input!
Jack
And I assume that you are aware of the link between synaesthesia and autism, with autistic people reporting that words or numbers have specific colours or tastes? I know that you don’t have to have an autism diagnosis to experience this; I’ve known other people, especially linguists, attach colours or other sense data to words. And is that a letter g I see in your painting? Although at first I saw a number 9.
Yes, I think I heard of an autism-synesthesia link. I also heard that infants are synesthetic. Perhaps the neuron pruning during development eliminates multimodal senses in most people.
The ‘G’ or ‘9’ was supposed to be a spiral.
;>)
Typical of me to make a symbol out of a shape 🙁 That’s my left brain taking over. Interesting though that it was an intentional mark on your part – I had the impression you were proceeding less consciously with your mark-making. Your theory of neuron pruning getting rid of natural synaesthesia is attractive…
It was a sloppy spiral anyway, ha, ha, ha… Actually, I had Joan Miro in mind… Very sloppy on my part. Still trying to disengage the mind.
ah yes. Miro. Do you have Alain De Botton’s new book, Art as Therapy? It is wonderful. I am so enjoying it…
I’ll have to check out that boom. Thanks for that.
J
book, I mean.