Making Art of The Broken
Kintsugi is a Japanese art form that mends broken pottery. When the broken pieces are glued back together with lacquer, gold is then dusted over the top to draw attention to where the cracks once were. Where it had broken, the journey that the piece had made until now. It gives you a sense of appreciation for what has come before, a sense of beauty for the wounds that an older object carries.
When I found out about this Japanese art form I thought about the trials and mistakes of one's life that shape a person’s character. It is too easy to judge others when we do not agree with their behaviour. What is hard is to look deeper and see that the journey they have been on is different from our own. Just as our life experience has shaped our own views. It too has shaped theirs and cannot be the same as ours. We all have our own truth.
Perhaps we can find beauty in the mistakes and imperfections of others, appreciate that we have our own disagreeable character to some, perhaps even to us, and that, like the Kintsugi pottery, we should dust a little gold over the top of where our cracks are.
The Great Artist
There is a Chinese story about a great painter who was commissioned by the emperor to paint for him the finest painting of an ox he had ever seen. The great painter agreed. Many months passed and the emperor was curious to see how the artist was getting on, so he summoned her to his palace.
The artist arrived carrying a box.
‘My painting is in that box, I presume?’ The emperor asked.
‘Yes sir.’
The artist retrieved a silk scroll from within the box. But it was blank.
‘You’ve done nothing thus far?’ Asked the emperor, who was starting to feel the blood rush to his head.
Saying nothing, the artist laid the silk on the floor and retrieved her brush and ink from within the box. In an instant she painted the finest ox the emperor had ever seen.
Astonished, the emperor asked why it had taken her so long. The artist opened up her box and revealed hundreds of ox paintings on rice paper.
‘Practice,’ she said.
Often talent is confused with hard work and endless years of experimentation and discovery. The price does not reflect how long an artwork took. It is not always the case, but a painting may have only taken a couple of hours and turn out to be a masterpiece. Likewise, it may have taken months and turn out to be a failure. Although our failures are a vital sign pointing us in the right direction.
Colour is Relative
Put a dull red next to a green and it looks bright. Put a bright yellow next to a bright orange and it no longer seems so bright. But if you decide hey i’ll slam a deep grey purple next to that yellow then it pops out like a blinding light. Try it sometime. Have you ever noticed the hills, mountains, buildings or sea turn purple when the sun sets? Or maybe you peered through the branches of a green tree with a warm golden glow from the sun and that distant mountain appeared far bluer than you remembered.
Colour reacts differently depending on what surrounds it.
The Function of Art
A friend showed me a video of a robot stuck inside a glass box. It was not in any way built to represent a human. But the industrial digger-like subject had some moves to show off for anyone passing by. A bit of a dance, so to speak. The thing was, that as it moved its arm, body fixed to the ground in one place, it continued to leak oil and it had the tedious job of cleaning up after itself. As time went by it slowly became more fatigued and struggled to continue its dance with the same snap that it started with. You couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. It's tired. Poor thing has to do the same dance over and over for everyone to see. And even worse, it’s programmed to do it. It doesn’t have a choice. Trapped in a glass box. Like a slave.
But the robot doesn't feel anything. It’s us humans that feel. That is what good art should do. It should make you aware of your own humanity. Your own feelings. Because we all have them. Even though we sometimes like to pretend we go through our day just thinking we're doing what we thought was the right logical, rational thing to do. But it is our feelings that drive most of our decisions. Whether we're conscious of it or not. Whether we are trying to suppress particular feelings from arising. Sometimes it is the avoiding of a feeling that drives most of our decisions in life. Or maybe it's not just sometimes, maybe it’s all the time. We don’t want to feel cold, we don’t want to feel hungry, or sad, or anxious, or afraid. But that’s what makes us human.
The artist behind the robot exhibition did a great job of making us aware of our own humanity. Can a painting make you hungry, sad, anxious or afraid? Of course. It can certainly make you feel happy, confident, and nostalgic. I guess that's what usually sells. Most people don't want sad on their walls. But look at the giant paintings of Mark Rothko (preferably in person if you have the privilege) and you will experience the fact that colour alone can carry a unique subjective emotional resonance within us.
What is the function of art? I believe real art should show us that we feel. It makes us notice our own humanity.
Active Vs. Passive Painting
His body felt like it had become stiff standing in one place for so long. Screw it, he thought. I’ll put the canvas on the floor.
So Jackson Pollock decided that’s what he would do. A jar of homebrew sitting half finished on the stool by his side. Now came the absolute necessity to move his body at once. The paint dripped off of a rock hard brush and fell onto the large canvas below. House paint that ran and ran and ran and ran. Pretty little patterns. Juicy little drops.
“Hey, that’s somethin’.”
He was a man of few words.
It might not have been much more than that but it sparked a revolution in the way that artists began to approach the act of painting. I imagine it gave many the permission to paint the way they felt as opposed to the way they thought they should paint.
The Bones of a Painting
What is the theme that runs through all great paintings? Whether they are from the abstract expressionists, Caravaggio’s graphic portrayals of biblical scenes, or Van Gogh? Good Notan. Notan is a japanese word defined as a combination of lights and darks; or the design or pattern of a work of art as seen in flat areas of dark and light values only. It’s worth thinking about.
Here are a couple great paintings of different styles to illustrate what I mean. First in Notan, and then in colour.
Caravaggio’s Calling of Saint Mathew
Van Gogh’s Almond Blossoms
I have chosen these two artists as an example as Van Gogh was heavily influenced by Japanese art, and Caravaggio loved the technique of chiaroscuro, which could be argued as being the same thing as Notan, only the Italian version, which became very popular during his time.
You can see that both artists have gone to the other ends of the spectrum on light vs dark. Caravaggio has used predominantly dark value to cover his canvas, where as Van Gogh has used predominantly light. Therefore creating a different mood for the painting. And you can see that colour is the cherry on top and holds all the emotion. But is it the light and dark abstract shapes that attract the eye and give the painting a feeling of balance? There is something about the unevenness of it all, either tipping one way or the other, that pleases us humans. Maybe it reminds us of nature in all its imperfect perfection. If it was completely balanced fifty percent this way and fifty percent that way, we would not find it as attractive. At least not to me. And I don’t think to most of us. But you be the judge.
Blotting the ink
reflection
of passing cars
in the puddle on the road
i’ll be home soon
for tea and biscuits
Down at the docks..
down at the docks
as snot drips from my nose
a crack of wind down the back of my jacket
the potter’s listening
to house music
There was..
It all begins with an idea.
a man at the docks
knew another artist
guy about 60
probably younger
nice to meet someone new
started a coffee shop
got a deal on the beans
he’s a tall boy for one years old, he said
how’s he sleeping
that’s what everyone always asks
he’s in the bed with us
i wouldn’t want him anywhere else
they keep you up at night, he said
my eldest did the same and he’s
the smart one now
you never know
never know