A thought for the day.
As visual artists, there are many examples of styles and mediums across our art forms.
Be it the countless brazenly imaginative styles of the Japanese and Korean Mangakas and animators
Or the hauntingly realistic, yet beautiful painting styles of Italy and Northwestern Europe,
Or, be it the symbolic and otherworldly styles of the surrealists,
Amongst the MANY known and unknown styles of the visual arts, we EACH, just like the above-shown artists, bring something unique to the space. Thus, filling our world with ever more beauty and creativity. However, there is something that we will also always have in common with every other artist and artisan, big or small. Art, you see, is a form of communication.
The reason this blog was named “The Visual World” is because it was created to expose just that; that the world both makes up and is the vehicle for our vision. The visual world is in part our world; it makes up quite a chunk of the human experience, what we can see. But the other thing is, we can also “see” without the physical assistance of light, can’t we? We can “see” in our dreams. No light hits our retinas, yet we experience sight. I have a theory for this, not yet a definite scientific one, but a philosophical one to aid in the learning of skills necessary in our pursuit, that is; to draw from the imagination.
We know that sight is a relationship; it is a three-part relationship, to be exact. As it seems to me, currently most people believe the experience of “seeing” something happens as light hits an object, then bounces off toward our eyes, which collect the light’s info, etc, etc. However, without the form and shape of that object to guide the light’s rays to the eyes in the proper fashion, there would be nothing to see, just white light. An ancient philosopher, Plato, once believed that form was what constituted the unseen part of the reality we lived in, to put it very simply. I believe he was right, but perhaps not in the exact way he’d envisioned. I believe our visual reality could not exist without form, but at the same time, without light, we could not comprehend form. And without our eyes to interpret that light, the forms wouldn’t matter.
Now, if you’ve been reading closely up to this point, you might have noticed my emphasis of the word “interpret.” I used this specific word on purpose. One of the guiding philosophies for this style of art learning, is that Light is a Language. Light communicates form to our eyes. This is that three-part relationship; between light, form, and the human brain. Our eyes (through their connection to our physical/mental processes) already speak the language of light. Interpretation of form is mostly automatic and instant, apart from forms we may be unfamiliar with due to our life environments. Our ocular system not only sees shapes/forms, but immediately stores them for recollection; THIS might be why we even can dream. We have a visual memory, a library of light, form, and color; something like this is similar to a collection that our subconscious mind can pull from and “show” our conscious mind. So even those obscure forms we might only witness in certain conditions, even if not fully understood consciously, are stored in that library of visual memory. This process I’ve developed is a method to make this subconscious interaction into a conscious one. The doors of this mental treasure trove stand before us, tall as ever, but we are carving a key of our own, will soon step foot into this great library, and usefully take hold of its resources.
Light speaks to us, and it is not asking for a listening ear, but an open mind and focused eye. This language, unlike any other you’ve encountered, is basically universal. We are already fluent, and it is time we step into that.
A BRIEF POST-SCRIPT: I am aware of a recently discovered condition we call Aphantasia, in which there are humans apparently incapable of what is termed “visualization” (essentially voluntary hallucination). This appears to be real, but whether it is truly an unchangeable predicament has yet to be proven, and due to the ever-changing nature of discovery in our reality, it is very possible to have new insight that may change this. However, it is possible there are those of us who physically cannot imagine forms and colors. If this is the case, even more so, for the sake of those who cannot, we must cultivate and strengthen our own abilities in this area to tap the wells of creativity in the place of those who wish they could. We will pave the way, hoping that one day the bridges we build might still be of use to them in the future.
THE ANSWER IS NOT WITHIN YOU, THE ANSWER IS YOU