This time ‘round on my installment of Muddy Colors I thought it might be interesting to share some work that I consider to be *powerful*.
Aron Wiesenfeld
Now I suppose I should talk about what that means for a moment and when I say “what that means” I only mean what it means to me. Not that it will or even should mean that to you. I’m actually quite positive that everyone who’s likely to look at this article has a very unique set of requirements to fulfill that particular label when it comes to art.
Denis Forkas Kostromitin
Powerful art to me has an element that is essentially indescribable (as I proceed with an article to approximate a description) but that I feel or react to on a visceral level. I *think* this likely means that the work is making a subconscious connection that I am not fully aware of enough to define verbally. As *artsy* as this may sound, I believe most of the artists I’ve known have expressed a feeling parallel to this.
Beksinski
Odd Nedrum
Denis Forkas Kostromitin
It is that work that you look at and it seems more than the sum of its parts. There is some element that exists in it that is beyond the simple elements of style and academic process. It has a life of its own and seems to exist as itself, rather than a painting or drawing of itself. As in, this is not a painting of a thing but the essential thing itself. If I were more of a romantic I suppose I might say that this painting is not an expression of fear/love/anger/hate but is somehow made of those things.
Nick Keller
Lu Jianjun
Golucho_Obras
Why do I think its important to find work that makes you react that way? Whatever work that you find powerful, compelling, intriguing, etc, my personal opinion is that as an artist, there is likely some aspect of that work that you want to see in your own art. I think we need to have that nonverbal communication.
Käthe_Kollwitz_Battlefield
Nicola Samori
When I first started on this endeavor, years ago (around 1850) I was consumed with process, technique and tools. I would ask “How do you do that?”. At some point I stopped asking that question (not forever, I’m still a fan of learning new processes) and started asking “How do I want to do this?”
I will say that the process of making works isn’t drastically different between most of the artists I’ve studied. Though the impact of the works can be decidedly different. I feel like it should be said… It’s not in the hand, it’s in the Mind/Heart/Spirit.
Forest Rogers
Curating collections of images that have that ‘unspeakable” element was and is still a part of my “seeking.” I guess you could say that I’ve become comfortable with the mystery that I feel in certain pieces that defy academic dissection.
Mike Mignola
Will I ever achieve this in my work?
I can’t answer that. I can only say that sometimes when I turn off my mental dialogue and sort of zone out when I’m working…. you know it if you’ve ever felt it… when you slip into that timeless space where the work… works itself out… it seems like I am close.
Katherine St Asaph
We come up with theories and processes, rules and guidelines that seem to help people learn and produce work, yet someone comes along that seems to break the rules and disregard the theories and make works that hit us like a maul.
Kieta Nuij
People ask me all the time if there’s some kind of magic involved in all this. I’m not supposed to say yes but saying no doesn’t feel… true.
If I ever find out for sure… I’ll let you know.
Gottfried Helnwein
Some pics are really disquieting, but inspiring!
That last one looks like a Gottfried Helnwein
Hey… Vicki here. I uploaded Allen’s article and I may have miscredited that piece. Looking through his works I can’t find it, but I will find out who it is and make sure it has the correct credit Philip.
Vicki-
Thank you so much for this. This is one of the best pieces I’ve ever read on Muddy Colors (except for the amazing Mr. Manchess, of course :). It captures a great deal of something I’ve been thinking of recently, of what art feels like, what it means, rather than merely what it’s of. That art itself should leave an imprint, not merely be a means of conveying. That it should be in some ways suggested or unfinished in order to leave some part of it to be completed by the viewer, by them bringing something of themselves to the work, that the mind gets ‘caught’ by something that it can’t quite explain (or at least mine does) where as something that is whole can be more easily categorized, understood, and filed away. I think the same is true of films, why the most compelling Sci Fi or Horror don’t tell you everything but leave you with possibilities, why Tarkovsky (say, Stalker) can stay with you for decades while many films are forgotten within a few months.
Wonderful work as always and thank you for sharing. Sarah
It is said that an artist has two parts, one part craftsman and one part poet . I have found when the poet overwhelms the craftsman the more meaningful images result. When the craftsman is hanging on by his or her fingernails, trying to create a body for a compelling poetic idea, that’s when the meaningful stuff comes.