Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

This a statement that will accompany my exhibit of my white works at the Arta Gallery here in Toronto next month.....



WHITE - COLOUR WITHOUT EGO


WHITE, ABSENCE OF COLOUR, ABSENCE OF EMOTIONAL STIMULUS, ABSENCE OF ABSOLUTE EXISTENCE AND THE PRESENCE OF OBJECTIVITY.

THIS SERIES IS AN EXPERIMENT IN THE OBJECTIVE QUALITIES OF WHITE… I CAN NOT HELP BUT TO NOTICE HOW VIEWERS ARE EFFECTED BY COLOUR , TONE, SHAPE….AND ANY OTHER CONCEPTS OF VISION THAT WE LEARN….THE TWO KEY WORDS BEING CONCEPTS AND LEARN.

THE CONCEPTUAL WORLD THAT WE CLING TO BLURS OUR VISION TO THE WORLD AS IT REALLY IS…WE ARE NOT BORN NOR DO WE DIE WITH THESE PRECONCEIVED CONCEPTS OF VISION….WE LEARN THEM AND THEN HOLD ON FOR DEAR LIFE….LIFE IT’S SELF IS PART OF THAT LEARNED CONCEPTUAL WORLD THAT IS CREATED FOR US……

THE EXPERIMENT IS TO SEE IF I CAN USE THE ACT OF PAINTING WHITE AS A VEHICLE IN MOVING TOWARDS UNLEARNING SOME OF THE CONCEPTS THAT I SO DEARLY CLING TO…IT THEN BECOMES A MEDITATION OF CLEARING THE MIND ….OF DISCOVERING OR ….REDISCOVERING THE ORIGINAL MIND…THE MIND UNCONSTRAINED BY THE RESTRAINTS OF COLOUR

RESTRAINTS THAT CAUSE ME TO PAINT WITH EMOTIONAL, POLITICAL OR OTHER CONCEPTUAL INTENT….THERE IS NO PRECONCEIVED OR POINTED ATTEMPT TO LEAD THE VIEWER THROUGH A COMPOSITION TO AN END…..BUT TO LEAVE THE VIEWER WITHOUT SUBJECTIVE JUDGEMENT AS A MEDITATOR DOES WITH THOUGHTS PASSING THROUGH THE MIND…..LET IT GO ….DO NOT JUDGE….GIVE IT IMPORTANCE OR WEIGHT ….JUST LET IT GO…

WHITE PAINTED SURFACE
WITHOUT PRECONCEIVED NOTION
THE MOON APPEARS WHITE

interesting text!. I like your paintings. Have a great muestra, artguy!.
saludos,

Arcadia

good text

Good luck

I hope you get a good crowd.

Hi Kurt!

The show sounds exciting! I love the images of your white series which you have posted. I wish I could see them in person.

You posted that this piece of writing will accompany your exhibit. I hope you don't mind my doing this. You see, I have a problem. I work in copywriting and text editing and when I know that a piece of writing will be presented to accompany a professional exhibit, my natural instinct is to make sure all the punctuation, grammar, and spellng are correct. So, I took the liberty to correct a few errors, eliminate the all caps, etc. For instance, I changed "that" to "which," "can not" to "cannot," ended sentences with periods and inserted commas where ellipses appeared.

I know you didn't ask for this, so please excuse my obsessive desire to text edit a piece which will appear professionally in the public eye.

Thank you for sharing your lovely thoughts. I wish you the best with your show.

Below is what I came up with. Feel free to tell me to eat shit and die. Toss all of this out, if you are so inclined.

PS- I'm assuming it is correct to spell "color" as "colour" in your neck of the woods.
__________________

WHITE – Colour Without Ego

WHITE – Absence of colour, absence of emotional stimulus, absence of absolute existence and the presence of objectivity.

This series is an experiment in the objective qualities of white. I cannot help but notice how viewers are effected by colour, tone, shape, and other concepts of vision which we learn – the two key words being "concepts" and "learn."

The conceptual world which we cling to blurs our vision to the world as it really is. We are not born, nor do we die with, these preconceived concepts of vision. We learn them and then hold on for dear life. Life itself is part of that learned conceptual world which is created for us.

This experiment was to determine if I could use the act of painting white as a vehicle in moving toward 'unlearning' some of the concepts which I so dearly cling to. It then became a meditation of clearing the mind, of discovering or rediscovering the original mind, the mind unconstrained by the restraints of colour, restraints which cause me to paint with emotional, political or other conceptual intent.

There is no preconceived or pointed attempt to lead the viewer through a composition to an end. Instead, the purpose is to leave the viewer without subjective judgement as a meditator does with thoughts passing through the mind.

Let it go. Do not judge or give it importance or weight. Just let it go.

White painted surface
without preconceived notion.
The moon appears white

I guess Kerouac has influenced me more than I thought...part of the idea of writing it as I have was to break down conceptual existence not just by content but by the act of writng as well...Thanks DP...Judih also commented...my daughter is constantly putting punctuation to my writing....

Well, Kurt, as I said, take what you want from it or throw it all away. I usually don't offer edits or writing advice except in a critique forum. So, I felt sort of odd doing that but I also felt compelled since you said this would be shown to the public at your exhibit.

Stream of consciousness is a great writing tool. Did Kerouac use all caps, elipses and stream of consciousness writing? I'm a dummy when it comes to these things. I don't think I've ever read any of his prose other than maybe half of "On the Road" and I read that something like 30 years ago. I can't remember his style.

For creative writing (which is, of course, this forum,) any writing styles, tricks, formats, etc., would work fine. But, in my opinion (and, of course, this is just my opinion,) when you present your writing as part of a professional display or exhibit, it might be better to format it more traditionally so the reader would be better able to comprehend it.

By the way, the thoughts in the piece do reflect a breakdown of the conceptual through the act of writing, whether traditionally punctuated or not.

Thanks for accepting my compulsion.

Again, keep any of it or toss it all, that's your prerogative, of course. I'm not an expert writer, by any means. I've just been working in copywriting and copy editing too long, that's all. Maybe one day I'll let go of all this nonsense and be able to be more open to creative writing used in a professional setting.

I studied art at PNCA, in Portland about ten years ago, although I couldn't finish and get my BFA (LONG PISSY-MOOD STORY) I redirected my creative genes to conceptualize that white space (8.5X11inches 24 lb. paper, heavy weight, extra bright and smooth for imaging and contrast), and...oh, there's an idea...

I know putting together a show is daunting enough, let alone proper text and grammer checks in the thesis statement is also part of the exhibit.

Bohemian