Art (referring to visual art) is a highly regarded human activity and is still evolving. Thankfully so, as some of my favourite art includes styles and platforms like comics, photography, videography, abstract or digital art etc, are considered to be the 'newer' styles or platforms as compared to the traditional art.
"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." Aristotle
To my observation, realism or abstraction in visual art are the two most diverse considerations in art. The appeals on realism or abstraction appears to change from time to time in relation to era, perception and fashion. For the classical period starting around 500 BC till 50 AD, ancient greece & romans embraced realism and naturalistic art. For Byzantine era (50 AD to 1400 AD), it was more abstract, iconic & symbolic with some realism. For the renaissance period till romantic period (1400 AD till 1900 AD), it was realism, naturalistism and golden section compositional influences. However, I find that the romanticism period had a hint of abstraction with their chinoiserie or 'fanciful imagery of imagination'. Afterwhich was the start of modern art with impressionism followed shortly by many different classes of abstraction with diminishing traces of realism. For majority of contemporary artists nowadays, aesthetic, representative or likeness is no longer a necessary pre-requisite consideration; communication of ideas or concept far outweighs all other considerations. In fact, just like Picasso, they're not restricted to painting or drawings alone, objects, materials of all sort can also be used as 'tools' of visual arts communication. Pablo Picasso, Genius of the Century, was among the earliest to 'break' the classical art traditions with this revolutionary thought of: ideas communication. He's also been accredited with the 'Founder' of modern art, abstract art, graphic art, cubism, collages, innovative(found art?) sculptures etc. In his art of varous styles & platforms, he always '... start with something. Afterwards you remove all traces of reality....', he was an extremely flexible artist who used different styles and platforms for expressing his ideas & thoughts.
"People keep speaking of Naturalism as the opposite of modern painting. I would like to know if anyone has ever seen a natural work of art. Nature and art are totally different and can never be the same thing. We use art to express our idea of what nature is not." Pablo Picasso
As ancient world did not have connections like people of today, they had lesser communication across different culture and thus had unique views on what Art was. Presently, we have the universal English language, better accessibility/transportation and perhaps World Wide Web to thank for our ever the ever shrinking globe. But in those days art was rather localized. Different culture, geography bred different appeals in Art. Broadly, there were: Western, Islamic, Indian, Chinese, African and Americans (native) Art or Art forms. Each of these centers of early civilization truly developed a unique and characteristic style for their day, luckily, some of them are still in practice.
Western Visual Art
Ancient Greeks and Roman had great painters and realistic artworks with sfumato was first witnessed around the time of 5 BC. Besides visual realism, Plato and Aristotle influenced on the principles of western aesthetics. In the later period after the Roman Empire, Judaism-Christianity in turn further influenced the Western Art. And art works depicting Christianity or Biblical passages were the main focal point from 300 AD till 1900 AD. From the early iconic religious paintings (Byzantine period) to convincing realism of the Renaissance, Baroque, Roccoco, Neo-classic & Romantic period. Western visual arts was realistic based arts. Even during the late Romantic (1900 AD) period, realism remained in fashion and trend. 1826 AD marked the invention of photography, it grew to be a popular and cheaper means to replace art (especially in portrait painting). That freed artists from the the need to paint realistically. Subsequently, photography liberated art to develop into impressionism, post-impressionism, modern, abstract, expression & contemporary etc…
Islamic Visual Art
In order to prevent believers from idolatry, animals or humans were rarely allowed to be painted. So what is left to express creativity was to refine non-representational art that depict forms & patterns without iconic images. Islamic Calligraphy, like Chinese Calligraphy, is considered to be a highly regarded Art form.
Indians Visual Art
Indian Art form is highly symbolic. Many evolved heavily about from special spiritual or philosophical states by audience. Dance is often depicted in art, as dance is an accepted way of religious culture.
Chinese Visual Art
Not the oldest art around but still actively in continual practice. Early Chinese Art was simplistic depiction of nature (early 5000 BC) until the influenced by Taoism and Buddhism into religious art works. But at later stage around Tang Dynasty (about 600 AD), Chinese Art developed into an independent art form without too much religious implications – shanshui paintings. Freed from constraints & restrictions, Chinese Art (inclusive of Calligraphy) was able to develop into a high form known as ‘spirit’ kind. In fact, Calligraphy is still thought to be the highest and purest form of ‘painting’. One special note of Chinese Art is that many shanshui paintings incorporate calligraphy as well as poems. Tang Dynasty also fostered the growth of Chinese Opera. Drama became art form mixed with artistic expression on clothes as well as painting on faces.
African Visual Art
Their art existed in many forms and styles, and with fairly little influence from outside Africa. Most of it followed traditional forms and the aesthetic norms were handed down orally as well as written. Sculpture and performance art are prominent, and abstract and partially abstracted forms are valued. Face painting is one of the most popular and widely accepted art form. Similar to Chinese Opera face paintings, face paintings were mostly symbolic or abstraction that served deeper beliefs and superstitions.
Native American
Although not unique to Native American, Functional Art is what Native Americans prized. Majority of their works evolve around rugs, textile, baskets, earth wares, statues, weapons and common household items. Art is also intertwined closely with folklore, beliefs, myths and spiritual realm; take for example - The Spiritual Totem.
A brief tour in history around the localized art regions of yesteryears helps me conclude that human has, since long ago, been creative beings. And expressing this creativeness is one our human’s psychological needs. This need for emotion outlet, some would call it, will always exists but the reasons for its existence is anyone’s guess. Since the early Neolithic times, the pictorial etchings, cave drawings, stoneware, ceramic, brass/metal sculpture, sound/music making, inventing of simple tools are evident of this creativeness; even if it was out of necessity to survival.
Balance, Black & White, Day & Night, Yin & Yang, In & Out, Consumption & Creation are evident all around us. Just as we consume, we need to produce. Most artists would be able tell you the fulfillment, joy & peace when they touch on their creative self. It is not just an emotional euphoria they seek, but to express something even deeper down within them. What is it then? Just try to engage seriously in any expressive activity and one may just achieve that 'what' feeling (emotion/spiritual high) or mental state...
There are so many ways or combination of ways one could express creativity from within. I’ve listed a few that casually came to mind:
Physical Expression
Games, sports, driving, martial arts, dancing, performances, acting..
Audio Expression
Singing, performing instruments, deejaying, musical composing..
Visual Expression
Drawing, painting, photography, film making, digital works, communication designing..
Functional Expression
Sculpture, pottery, flower arranging, inventions, interior, designing, architectural
Consumables Expression
Clothes designing, product designing, culinary, cooking..
Literature Expression
Poetry, script writing, story writing, song writing..
Intellectual Expression
Abstract art and derivative forms, critics, journalists, poems, story writers, philosopher..
General Expression
Sales, advertisement, resourceful business..
So which of the above activity fuels you automatically? That activity that you enjoy so much and unwilling cease doing would be a good clue. Most likely, you’ve been hard-wired since young to perform in that area. That’s one good reason to start at the earliest age possible to master one skill. Examples includes ballet dancers, musicians etc. On the other hand, we, humans, are so adaptable we can learn, adapt, change or even compromise and still function extremely well in our ‘non-intended’ field. Parents do play a bigger role than we like to believe I suppose..
My parents had always been supportive of my visual art journey despite their doubts on the finiancial viability of such profession. Back tracking, my earliest drawings were during the age of 7, when the cartoons fascinated me (Remember Ultraman? Aquaman? Superman & Superheroes? Animation movies like Snow White & The 7 Dwarfs? The Black Cauldron? Jungle Book? etc) Personally, I hope to see more hand drawn animation as opposed to CGI animation. After many drawings for a few years, I developed a strong interest for naturalistic landscapes and thus painted started to dab in oil medium at 11. Luck has it that I managed to sell some of the oil paintings just for fun. It seemed like one thing led to another, my uncle loan me his film SLR camera when I was 15 yrs. Even as I enjoyed making pictures, I didn't felt that it was artistic enough for serious consideration then. The next exposure/medium I had pleasure of using was the airbrush when I was 23. I airbrushed my own bike and a few others for fun while still serving in the Army. Although I was keen to maintain bike airbrushing as a service after Army service, I eventually scraped the idea after much deliberation. I had reservations about it's financial returns, as I've just established a new family with financial commitments. After that, there were little visual expression activities, as financial accumulation became my priority. I didn’t know what I was missing then, as I didn’t know the significant of creative living.
Just before I turned 27, by determination & chance, I got engaged with audio activities like designing & building loudspeakers, subwoofers, sound system (Pro Audio, High Fidelity, car audio etc); design lightshows and deejaying. Somehow with deejaying, I began to feel more and more in tuned with my innermost creativity. What a blessing! When I turned 29, I was divorced by my wilful ex-wife and left with nothing but devastion. Lost of many things held dear at once soon led to depression but (thank God) there was a silver lightning beyond.. In my depression state, dramatic emotions made me follow my heart, I joined Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore at the age of 31 in the year 2003. A reputed University like Lasalle had a comprehensive course curriculum. A thorough exploration of various mediums was in order, and I enjoyed the wide-ranging syllabus during college, my artistic urges were totally revived and set ablazed (still blazing..hee). Before graduating with a Diploma in Interior Design in 2006; I began to realize the connection between various aspects of arts, designs, music, photography, performing arts etc... Following that, I furthered study watercolour medium as Lasalle college did not cover this elusive medium. Right after graduation, I began working with watercolour medium by enrolling in lessons from Mr. Chia, Chairman of Watercolour Society Singapore. About the same time, I restarted photography exploration, intending to dive really deep this time.
“Art is in the artist, not in the medium!” Hal Gould, living Fine-Art Photographer & Director, Camera Obscura Gallery.
Reading, experimenting & improving technical skills was one side of the story. Other aspect/areas to explore and improve includes: Critical Eye & Selection, Composition, Design & Constraint, Abstract Concepts or Ideology and many others. With my basics skill sharpened in college, I was ready to explore, observe, self-taught and evolve independently from college. Nature through photography became my next great teacher.
“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature…” Frank Lloyd Wright, "the greatest American architect of all time", America Institute of Architect
Nature & beauty are all around us; I believe sometimes we do need continual renewal of our observation sights if we began to find our native land boring. Immersing, involving & savouring as closely to the source or nature, is what works for me. I feel the emotional charge while exploring, traveling on foot, touching, smelling, hearing and yes, observing over time & experiencing the landscape/event are crucial before I press my shutter or sketch my first stroke. Sometimes while exploring nature, I refuse to produce; just relaxing in the presence of nature, slowing down internal pace has tremendous spiritual/healing benefits. Why rush in such idyllic scenery? I’ll rather rest the soul, and attempt another day. The rest could also mean more emotional content or more personal interpretation for future artworks.
"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures." Henry Ward Beecher, 19th century Congregationalist & Reformer
Being a huge admirer of the medium photography. I find this medium’s hard or soft lighting, various lens & film signature, shutter speed & filter effects have advanced leaps and bounds from the first generations of photography. Possibilities of this medium are endless especially if used in conjunction with post-production. Traditional art medium pales in comparison from this perspective. If there’s a disadvantage for artists on photography, it would the incomplete benefits of referencing from non-original photographs. Just how much do you know the subject in the photo? How intimately can you feel towards the subject?
“It is my intention to present - through the medium of photography - intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to the spectators.” Ansel Adams, 20th century photographer.
Direct observation has been known for ages to be superior to referencing from photograph(s). I implore fellow artists to experience subjects first hand as much as possible. My experience while shooting subjects on location has taught me that the human brain is capable of recording much more information than any visual or audio tool alone. Like tasting the fresh air, being engulf by mist/rain, getting stuck in mud, endangered by mosquitoes and wild creatures are but part of the wholesome experience. Thus for me, to exhibit great emotional content in one’s work, one ought to include healthy doses plein-air painting, photography on foot or even live model/still life painting. Direct first-hand sensual approach!
“Every artist who….aims truly to represent the ideas and emotions which come to him when he is in the presence of nature is a benefactor to his race.” George Inness, 19th century American landscape artist.
Currently, my works are aimed at the realm of representative or naturalistic arts. To me, I find plenty of abstractions within most well-composed drawings, paintings or photographs. And I do not fancy ‘pushing’ them too far beyond their reality or recognition yet. Aesthetic considerations, to me at least, are still found in the abundance of Nature. For humour, here’s a quote on abstract artworks from the cartoonist Al Capp:
“Abstract art is a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.” Al Capp, 1947 American Cartoonist of the Year, creator of comic Li’l Abner
Just how serious should we take Al Capp? For clarifications, I do embrace abstraction, forms and idea exploration. But according to Pablo Picasso, it (abstraction) has to come from nature or something:
“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” Pablo Picasso, 20th century cubist painter.
If Picasso’s view authentic, how much ‘reality’ should the artist remove then? I would answer this with another question, ‘What is your audience for this particular artwork?’ Yourself? The avant-garde? The contemporary? The general public? Or the commercial market? One more decision to make, amidst the hundreds, even before the very first stroke.
As for what makes me ticks: “I feel the most comfortable producing realistic artworks with a slight twist of impressionism and abstraction.”
“Impressionism means taking inspiration directly from nature, trusting your senses rather than what you think you know.” Michael McClure, 20th century American poet, playwright, novelist & songwriter.
In Nov 2008, I began a sequence of artwork ‘Bonsai Beautiful’, which endured a period of 2-3 months. A brief and but thorough exploration on miniature landscape - Bonsai. A total of over six hundreds photographs, scanned film or digital alike, has been produced. Macro lens was used predominately with occasional 35mm prime lens and a 17-40mm zoom lens with various soft & hard lightings.
I had thoroughly explored the Bonsai in our local Botanical Gardens and I hope to explore even more Bonsai in private collection (Bonsai collectors kindly oblige). My aim then was to experience the quote by Ralph below, ‘some sort becoming a tree…’ by thoroughly acquainting with them. Braving weather over many occasions with the Bonsai plants were an intimate revelation. The photo studies were made of the plants on various lighting conditions/weather, numerous strobes/flashes with color correction filters were employed on occasions, classic Black & White films like Kodak Tri-X and Ilford FP4 were used in conjunction with digital SLR for their strengths in those sessions of pictorial creation. Out the hundreds, 30-40 photos were chosen and will be displayed on a dedicated blog. May God permit them to be printed into photo booklet(s) soon.
“A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely . . . but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw him at every attitude . . .” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century philosopher and poet.
Although most of the time I deliberate and compose my photos as much as possible in camera, I still find post-production extremely beneficial & rewarding. Editing and digital darkroom techniques especially dodging & burning are all but vital to express even more creatively. My favourite software includes, Canon DPP, Adobe Photoshop or Elements and Corel Painter (very personal style, brushstrokes & signature achievable).
“It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; beware of this stumbling block.” Paul Gauguin 20th century post-impressionist painter.
Over the years, I’ve slowly become successful in resisting initial attempt to segregating/classifying two-dimensional visual artworks; I know that many artists still do. For me, fine arts ‘painting’ could be created with traditional canvas & paints, digitally manipulated from photographs or combination of both. Of recent years, one popular method of expressive visual art involves printing the digital artwork on canvas. The thin line between traditional painting, photography and digital enhancement are blurring ever more. Wasn’t Leonardo a scientist as much as a painter? I find it conflicting if artist were still to use only the ‘traditional’ equipment of the past without considering the advancement of technology. Take another example of technology; Winston & Newton has of recent years created a series of slower drying acrylic paints, which also remain faithful to its pigment colours wet or dry. Now these advantages are indeed a great treat for acrylic painters (at least for me)!
“Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses - especially learn how to see. Realise that everything connects to everything else.” Leonardo DaVinci.
Finally, these has been my thoughts, written out for my benefit of clearing my own ‘maze’ before I get too lost in them or got forgotten… For the sake of Art, let me state one last query: Is the shrinking globe condensing the different cultural artistic views or values on art into something unified and wholesome? Or is ‘western’ art over-shadowing/influencing/affecting the other cultural art viewpoints? For example: Chinese Shanshui painting (whether in traditional materials or modern acrylic/watercolour mediums)– Is this art form and style respectable in the avant-garde or contemporary scene? If not, why not so? ;)
2010 Discovery
Recently, I came across a Photographic Literature Genius - column writer Bill Jay of Lenswork magazine. The Editor's remarks on his late mentor includes '....a tonic of frank honesty in a world of artspeak..' He also highly praised Bill's informative humour learnable from his writings...
Allow me to quote 3 of my favourites thoughts from Bill Jay -
"The role of the critic is to wait until the battle is over, then wander around the field putting the wounded out of their misery.."
"The best way for photographers to become rich and famous is to go into another field.."
"Warning to art-photographers: don't make the mistake of expressing yourself.."
These 3 quotes are but the tiny tip of a giant iceberge of genius! Do find Lenswork issue no. 83 @ Marine Parade Library, where the whole issue's a special tribute to the late Bill Jay's writings on Photography Literature. RIP, sir..
