Rainbow Bones
Flow (II of IV)
Posted by Paul Ricciardi (Rock Hill, United States) on 24 January 2007 in Plant & Nature and Portfolio.
Abstract and nonrepresentational pieces of art, it could be argued, are the most powerful and yet least understood and appreciated pieces of art. When we look at a representational piece of artwork, our brain is using up most of its processing power to discern what it is we are looking at. IE, we sit there and our brain is computing that "this is a person, this is a beach, those are seagulls" thus we have far less of our brain's power available to simply feel the art. With abstract and nonrepresentational art our brain is free from having to interpret recognizable shapes and figures and is thus allowed to completely feel the art. It becomes less of an exercise in seeing and more of an exercise in feeling, less of an experience of being in a scene, and more of an experience of simply being. Should the viewer allow him or herself to simply view the art and feel it, allow him or herself to forget about making sense of it and simply let emotions take charge, that is when the abstract form has reached its peak. I'm trying for that with this series, trying for some sort of evocativeness that, when you the viewer, stops interpreting it and simply gets into my shoes and my eyes and my mind and you feel it, then, and only then, after the emotions have wrested control from the brain, will it click. I can't help but feel like I've fallen short of this goal, but in any event, I promised I wouldn't say much so I should shutup now.
