Artist groupthink: like going nowhere
Recently there was a reality artist TV series by Charles Saatchi, where he had a group of artists making art, with initially a given subject matter and then finally given the freedom to do their thing. One underlying matter that came across from the judges was the requirement of subject matter. ‘I look at it and I must get it at first glance’ or something similar: I think it was Tracy Emin. You can see that the judging was based on about getting it. You know ‘getting it’ is a mental activity. The mystics say that thinking is an action of the mind, like walking, seeing etc. of the sensors. If you can stop walking when you want too, or stop seeing by dropping your eyelids, then you can stop your mind, stop your thinking when you want too. When a thought appears: you put it away. If you do this often enough, you will see that the ‘spike’ of energy that is thought will cease to arise. But then what have you got left after thought has ceased. Now that is where the magic lies. That is where you will find the true home of great Art. In that quiet (but not empty) space is another way of seeing: seeing without thinking. Seeing without time by being only aware of what you are looking at, without making a judgment, without thinking. That is ART without a subject matter. It is only what it is because of its form, composition, color and whatever else that goes into making a painting, a sculpture, an installation. The object emanates something that will trigger a transformation. It is NEW without a past. It has no links to the frontline of art. It is not a result of
groupthink
That is where the NEW in Art can manifest itself . It is a place where spontaneity, chance, play and intuition will show you what’s new. It is a place where a mistake is made and you chase it for something new. Art that is created from that quiet space of only being aware, without thinking. It has no subject matter. It is without a past. Its future is eternal: forever it will be true to the viewer. It has no narrative to put it in its place, to give it time. It has no history. You cannot make reality TV with it. Initially it will be confusing as it has no place in the mind of viewers to put it in its place. It stands so far off the front line of art that it might seem impossible for the thinking/action oriented mind to comprehend. It is endless like this idea can be an endless poem describing the properties of non thinking art. Eternal art lives in that quiet space, with no past, no future, but always will be true, it will be unchanging in its ‘aura’ to the viewer, forever. And more forever, and more. And some more. It always is. Can you see it: thinking without time: by only being aware.
As J Krishnamurti says: enlightenment is not something that will come to you because of time of effort, years of crossed legged meditation. It is instant: if you see it, then you have it.
…And it has nothing to do with thinking.
(Siri , 1 january 2010)