THE CHAOS SERIES
Explaining some of my psychology behind this painting I posted to Instagram for some of my fellow artist friends to view.
To be fully appreciated for all of its healing and beneficial properties, art must be motivated by non-commercial purposes, unrestricted in time and without deadline, unihibited, unfiltered, private.
This acrylic painting is in the "Chaos Series" from around 2009-2011 RDG. It represents art where the opposite of real life experiences and reality are being projected in words, size, and embedded symbols.
The larger words represent the more immediately relevant opposite area of that desired.
JOY in a time of mourning.
GAIN in a time of complete financial decimation.
Words also represent a belief system of ideals being represented again as opposites of reality.
GAIN - A belief that ones purpose in life is to be dedicated to an employer in surrendering plans, friends, family, children, goals and ambitions in exchange for the provision, longevity and security, that was once believed to be returned by the employer.
The word LIFE sitting off to the right of an embedded womb with embryo represents an unfulfilled parental desire.
The artist uses black embellishments to highlight and separate key features, hide and obscure symbols and provide misdirection.
This particular painting is 36x36x4 on canvas. Was officially the final painting in the chaos series, even though three more paintings followed, including an ocean landscape painting of the same style.
Painting in particular can be very helpful for slowly digesting and processing through complex emotional noise envading as a mass jumble of related or unrelated events.
It is unique in that it provides a neutral void where your focus can be directed in a rested state, despite utter chaos bombarding your thoughts due to outward demands, requirements and expectations that only time itself can address.
As a man who can call himself, "a friend of God" a title given to Abraham and Moses in the Christian Bible. I equate art, painting in particular, to being the closest someone who doesn't have a relationship with God can come to obtaining a temporary "God like" spiritual enivronment within.
The place creating art takes me, is a place of positive neutrality, where despite my environment and circumstances, I can be me entirely and uninhibited, expressing that visually through words, symbols, images, textures, shapes and colors.
A hidden language I can fluently read, write and translate publicly in a season during which others might attempt to abuse or manipulate my transparency for their own objectives. If I were to openly express the same thing in any other public forum, I would be vulnerable.
When I began the "Chaos Series", every possible area of my life and entity were under attack and scrutiny. The proverbial "bottom has fallen out" had occurred. There was no single area at time that wasn't shattering in my life, from religious ideals to financial security ideals. I'd been brainwashed to believe and place my hope, confidence and trust in institutions that had turned against me, failed to fulfill their promises and turned their back.
Painting gave me a place of focus that had no other requirement than to create, consider, dream, ponder and challenge all that presented itself as some form of truth.
One aspect of God that many analytical types are incapable of connecting to is, "creation".
God, is and was the greatest artist. Always creating, always doing something new, always original.
I've been debated by some well meaning religious teachers and preachers for challenging their view of a god that stopped creating new things. In their narrow view, god can only repeat things that god did in the past. Their small and limited view of god, was that when God's son Jesus and his disciples season on earth ended, everything supernatural and creative ended to. The god they believe in went into retirement.
The God I believe in, the God of the Bible, has never stopped and never will stop creating or doing new and original things. Everything I read in the Bible that God did, were original, first time creative events, most never repeated again, at least not in the same way.
As an artist, i have never sat down to create, regardless of the media kind, with the intention of repeating or replicating something I previously did.
I may try to replicate a partiular kind of look, style, media technique, but I am not a photo copy machine, nor do I want to be one. Even a copy machine image is not an original, despite its quality. A photo copy, or any kind of reproducation lacks originality, and introduces new flaws and artifacts that do not exist in the original.
It's unfathomable for me as an artist and friend of God, to imagine a god sitting on a throne in heavenly retirement. The Bible does not reflect such ignorance, nor does the nature of God historically, nor my real world experiece or observations.
Science similarly is majorly flawed, as is making science ones belief system.
The smartest scientists i've known was a man who created nuclear radiation hardening and another was an astro scientist. Both were experts in their fields, both realized the limitations of scientific theory and had amazingly depth in their understanding of God.
I find that when I compare Art in how it gave me insights to the nature of God, its important to similarly discuss the limitations where science did not.
The Chaos series are paintings, but the elements of creating always makes me turn my attention to the creative nature of God. The Bible indicates that humankind are made in the overall "image of God". I find it intriguing that the word, "image" was chosen. In essence, we all encompase aspects of being a "self portrait" of God. Not merely in form, but in knowledge, creative abilities, spirit.
Science can generally only replicates in limited ways something that previously existed in some form, or attempts to explain what already exists or existed. Generally based on observation, experimentation and theory.
Art isn't limited to the same principles. A scientist can tell you the properties of the media I chose to create with. A scientist can try to explain my techniques used to create A scientist can create a subjective theory to try and explain what compelled me to create.
But A scientist generally doesn't create, within a few fields of exception.
When A scientist needs to create something, they often require the assistance of a mechanical engineer (an artist) or computer software needed to pre-visualize (artificial intelligent artist).
In the present age, its rare that a "scientist", sits down at a desk with a bucket of bolts, chemicals and tools with the intention to spontaneously create something.
As far as God goes, there is also no greater scientist, engineer, architect, chef or anything else. Art however directly gives humans a place when objectively looked at, that allows us to experience the amazing nature and image of the God we are designed after.
I think any kind of creative process brings us closer to being able to see the nature and at least a small glance into the motivation of God.
Not the "god", some would like to associate as a self realization experience, but the God that created time, the universe, molded atoms, molecules and matter into form.
Life is an awesome image of God's original creative work. It can't be replicated whether you accept the theory of evolution or creation, or seed planting. No one else has pulled off turning non-life matter into a living organisim.
Nor is evolution observered anywhere else in the known universe even in its most insignicant form of bacteria or a virus. Let alone any evidence of genuine evolution occurring on present day earth. Archaeological evidence does not support the scientific theories for the origins of life either. This means evolution is based on faith, not fact. There is however historical evidence in art, written documentation and archaeological evidence to support the Biblical narrative.
Art takes me beyond the simple place of accepting everything i've been told, whether in the educational system, culture, politics, scientific theory or even religious indoctrination. All of those are manipulated, controlled, repressive.
Art allows me to explore myself, process aspects of my being in an unfiltered and private way. I hold the key to its languages.