Coordinates of an Unknown Destination or Painting as a Verb

Map Series – Coordinates of an Unknown Destination – 2008 – 48” x 36” – Mixed Media

I consider this to be one of my most “successful” paintings. It was forged in the doing and re-doing of a canvas over a period of a month or so. It started with a finite plan and, in the process of painting, evolved into a wildly different image.

Once I “finished” it  and sat with it long enough to declare it done (or at least permanently abandoned) I shared a pic of the canvas with various friends and unexpectedly received an unusual number of responses.

James, a longtime artist pal, wrote:

“There really is a lot of interesting paint there, excitement, like molecules… what’s the word for air building the electrostatic charge that rips loose as lightning and a      blistering thunderclap?  Brought back a memory from about 8… was mesmerized      looking at a Christmas tree, the amazing rhythm of pine needles in the chaos of          branches, then suddenly aware of the subtle feelings running through me: the              charge of that discovery. Then the distraction – noticed the Christmas decorations –  yanked me out of it. The feeling was gone.

As I was looking at your painting, reliving that strange moment, Hanne leaned in for  a look over my shoulder and asked,

“What are the whites? Something religious?”

“Huh,” I said,  pondering the synchronicity. Said I’d ask. But see what I mean? The mind whispers a response to them.”

“A very powerful and gratifying response,” I thought. “Thanks!”

To my friend’s wife, Hanne, I wrote back that, “what others might see as crosses, I marked as X’s.” They had been cropping up everywhere in my work at the time. Upon reflection, these particular X’s transmogrified in my mind into coordinates in a peculiar geometry/geography radiating in an arc like points on a compass.

Also, I wrote back to Hanne that,  “X’s can denote arrival.  X Marks the Spot.  You Are Here!”

Looking back at that time, I see that I was reading (which is in no way to imply understanding) articles about string theory, particle physics, and speculation about time travel. 

James’ response to the piece startled me. Had I scraped out a glimmer of visual language that vibrated in some universal way?  Something Iconic?  It would be pretty to think so.

I never expect to, but I do get suspicious from time to time.

 

Optimal Experience

For me, an optimal experience of art making, similar to my experiences with meditation, can be a journey which I embark on primarily to connect to flow, to observe whatever comes up… and to practice ownership of it.

When I pursue this mode of art making, I may or may not start with an idea, a direction, or anything like a specific image in mind. My goal is to create an arena for myself where, through the practice of making art, I can enter what I’ve come to enjoy as a kind of altered reality where I can engage with the directive voice (inner voice? voice of the cosmos?) in a repeating cycle of listening, contemplation, action, contemplation.

It doesn’t always work, but, as in my meditation practice, with more and more repetition, I’ve become able to access the experience more reliably. Often, the resulting art is far less significant to me than the act of creating it. Often, the art is like a postcard from the trip: interesting, but only as a two dimensional memento of a 4th or nth dimensional experience.

At other times, though, I manage to create what I consider to be a more successful image, an image that becomes, for me, an icon or a portal, which, when later contemplated, can connect me back to a flash of that alternate reality. Coordinates of an Unknown Destination succeeds for me in that way.

About Flow: An Autotelic Experience

The following is cherry picked and paraphrased from wikipedia’s article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology): 

Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csiksgentmihalyi and his fellow researchers recognized and named the concept of “flow” around 1975 when Csiksgentmihalyi became fascinated by artists, especially painters, who became completely immersed in their work to the point of foregoing sustenance and sleep.

His use of the descriptor autotelic (from Greek: Auto, meaning self, and Telos meaning goal) rang a tuning fork within me. The article explains an autotelic experience as engaging in “a self-contained activity, one that is done not with the expectation of some future benefit, but simply to experience it as the main goal.”

The article further reports that “Csikszentmihályi suggests that time spent in flow makes our lives more happy and successful.”

And that:

      “People who have experienced flow, describe the following feelings:

       1 – Completely involved in what we are doing – focused, concentrated.

       2 – A sense of ecstasy – of being outside everyday reality.

       3 – Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to be done, and how well we are doing.

       4 – Knowing that the activity is doable – that our skills are adequate to the task.

       5 – A sense of serenity – no worries about oneself, and a feeling of growing beyond                  the boundaries of the ego.

       6 – Timelessness – thoroughly focused on the present, hours seem to pass by the                        minute.

       7 –  Intrinsic motivation – whatever produces flow becomes it own reward.”

                                                                           

The above seven point list pretty accurately sums what I experience when I’m creating art in flow.

What is your experience of flow?

Thanks for checking in!