Drained to the Drop: An Unexpected Limitation

            While it may sound silly I have lived my life by one of Bruce Lee’s fundamental philosophies, yet I don’t recommend that the world take up a martial art unless their mind has truly matured into a moral being. No way as way, no style as style, no technique as technique, and above all no limitation as limitation. With that said I’ve done my part for the better sake of humanity, even if small over time all humane efforts will add up to achieve our telos. What have I done? I have written about morality within our contemporary society, and begun to pinpoint the faults of the overly voracious immoral man to try and encourage the establishment of a mindset that is far more humane than our current humanity. Unforeseen was the reality of my future, while I hate to say it, “I have reached the extent of my limitation”, unimaginable, not really for I am living the limitation as we speak. After all if the universe is infinite, then there are an infinite amount of possibilities, making nothing impossible.

            In those moments were I gave my dissertation of society, I was pushing my passion and spirit to unparallel levels of use. It’s like this, if you drive a car at a hundred and eighty miles per hour for a month, soon after the car will get beat down to the point where you will need to replace the entire engine, if you ever hope to drive a hundred and eighty miles per hour again. The relation between machine and man is horrid but relevant, unknown until now it is apparent that I have used up so much spirit and passion to the point where I have been left a crippling infinitesimal amount. However, I am no machine, and my mind and body is not something that can be so feasibly replaced as that of a car’s engine. I almost destroyed myself by completely burning out, hopefully like a weed my spirit and passion will grow back once again. Weeds that rise up through the cracks of cement, is the forest saying you can never kill me.

            If you are fortunately unfortunate to come across these writings, remember if you kill evil you have become it, it’s about balance, however we must find a way to create a peg leg of evil, in order to balance between right and wrong. For the type of evil we currently have is far too dominatingly sinister. I’ve only open up the mouth of humanity, now it’s your obligation to figure out how to make it talk.

Thinking Has Been Shot By Effort

There are theorist who oppose science for the horrors it brings and is capable of bringing unto the world, then their scientist who claim to be in the right whose thoughts are based on the reasoning that the theorist have no concrete reasoning. Yet, what must be noted is that both parties are going forth in the world in order to bring about a better environment for people to live in, that is the general idea, even if it only is an idea which now merely seems to be used as an excuse for maladaptive behavior. Both groups oppose each other to such an extent, partly due to probability of an imbalance in the mindset. In argumentation scientist have a hard time dealing with similes’ and metaphors’, which is often the point that cannot be breached, as were some theorist believe the world is perfect as is and needs no change. It is not to say that some have gotten close to the balance between the scientific mind and the theoretical mind, however only about two or three people in this life time have probably gotten so close, evidently not enough to make a change.

            However, realistically trying to put the scope of things into perspective, there is an inherent desire within everyone for the world to be place of good, in some way whether it be something as mundane as more choices of clothes or no extreme starvation. Reaching a goal in life requires a set amount of effort depending on the caliber of the telos. Inversely, to reach great morality or great immorality requires incredible amounts of effort. If one analysis the type of evil Hitler was able to inflict it is safe to say the whole process did not come about because of work during one weekend, it was a life time commitment of arduous toil and struggle. Even Gandhi’s non violent protest required a relentless amount of effort to conceive and execute. Effort is the pinnacle reason of why our humanity has not gotten stronger, if at all we have any humanity.

            One must see that the payoffs of being morally humane for the better of mankind are more or less felt with the heart, in contrary the benefits of being evil are far more desirable for their immediateness of physicality. For example, rob and kill twenty people eventually you can buy a car, help twenty starving children, they get to eat and you feel satisfied with yourself. Now these are extreme cases, there are smaller yet strongly connected ones, like seeing someone get stabbed but you choose to walk away and not get involved, because you fear for your life. Then there is the aspect that our world has been tailored to commit evil deeds without a strong reproach, with the logic that evil deeds small or big are committed by others, meaning my participation won’t make any difference. To this point still keep in mind effort, committing great evil still requires much effort, meaning much of the population is on a rather neutrally passive level of morality. Obtuse passivity arises from the lack of willingness to think about matters at hand, for sadly they give too many headaches that are not desirable, therefore making thinking undesirable. Since the inane are in the majority those who seek an understanding of matters find themselves in obstacles that border the involuntarily narrow minded. Everyone wants a better world, but it is left as an idea. Another notion we cannot abrogate is the opposition that effort has nothing to do with the matter, rather the ubiquity of mindset is to not have any consent for matters that do not directly and immediately affect one-self. Is the terminus of man the congruent truth that we are all infinitely obsessed with an embracing marked by the uncouth of being a ragingly timorous narcissist?  

The Way of Painting: Intertwined Learning, Experience, Spirit, and Society

If the student upon entering the confines of the Art Institution does not possess a strong constitution that is gained through traumatically tragic personal events, the student’s way as a painter or to be will result in personal destruction. Attending Art School is for the avid learner who seeks to put his life on the line in order to experience firsthand the horrors that are inflicted upon the pupil. While the analysis of the Art institution may seem critical and harsh, the closer one gets to the truth the harder the mind takes hold of the information, the farther away from truth the byproduct of lies helps to keep the mind at ease only to rot it over time, these ideas are not finite for this is to use the way as no way.

Within the rudimentary aspects of an interconnectedness of a learning struggle between teacher, student, and peers coexist an infinite array of discussion named the critic. Through the procession, the instructor manipulates the flow of discussion geared specifically to the teacher’s way of thinking, always trying to keep the path in check; however the path is faulty for it relies too much on scientific methods that bring us away from humanity. For within the critic it is no easy task for dilettantes and professors to describe and pin point the faults of a painting. It has been heard, but it is not taken seriously that painting is another language, not to be left just at that notion for it is not a spoken one but one that entails a different level, for it is a visual language. If many things are lost in the translation of German to Chinese, just imagine what is lost in translating painting the visual into English, meanwhile noting all the dialects of a language which adds a further struggle in the great talk. Yet, the instructor of the institution when confronted by the critic in order to not lose face, he resorts to the understandable for an insolent excuse of clarity that he arrives at by utilizing science to measure something against its own measure. All the meanwhile the truest way to describe and discuss a painting is through the use of poetry for it is a more versatile language of flexibility derivative of the soul. Unfortunately most instructors find poetry is not a clear enough method to bring ideas across to students. Advocates of communication are traitors against communication that don’t allow true expression that is difficult to understand. As an interlocutor of the institutional critic of art the most commonly popular areas dominated by the scientific mind revolved around the use of color, composition, texture, proportions, and size. Discussion of emotion, spirit, truth, or lies was handled by a bewildered gaze and quick disregard for they are all topics in relation to painting that are far too humanly difficult to understand for the hypertonic molecule’s of students  and teachers. Man is petty in art school he wants answers to questions even if they take him into no depth. For the scientific mind that only sees components of a painting the picture plane is on the surface, but for the human mind the picture plane is in the imagination.

When the painters spirit becomes weak as is often the case when the artist has lost a battle against a painting, the institution demands to see work, however the painter cannot bear to make work at the moment. Resulting in the abdication of painting and embracing of post modern work that concentrates on installation, video, and performance. For the weak spirited this path becomes ineluctable, truly a tragic result of the art institution. The more art expels the pre-established, the more it is thrown back on what falsely claims to get it by. Post-modern work only helps to promote the barbaric culture it is against. In regards to performance art the much lauded play acting of modern artist, their exhibitionism, is the gesture whereby they put themselves as goods on the market.

While there are many inimical dangers in Art School, the most inane idea inflicted upon the student is the hope to make money from art. The truest works are the most ephemeral, yet teachers will promote to students the idea to create works that have a long life expectancy. As soon as artworks make a fetish of their hope of duration, they begin to suffer from their sickness unto death. Almost hand in hand with making money is the encouragement of working larger by instructors.  Only the artist knows what size is right for him, when money dictates size the artist has already failed by betraying the work before he has even made it. Size is inversely related to the spirit of the artist, an artist must judge for himself how much spirit he has for a painting, if the painting is too large and he runs out of spirit, that artist will be painting without soul. That artist that paints without spirit because the work is too large will become susceptible to the negative energy of the painting, placing that artist mind in great danger.

Foolish professors will advocate seeing as many artists as possible in order to obtain a larger scope of the world of painting. However it must be warned that in trying to see every film, read every best seller, see every art show, there is a catastrophe at hand. Trying to see everything in the hopes that you will have a wider perspective on life only makes it more unimaginable to find one’s way. The world becomes like a gigantic department store were one looks out for a guide, the population simply waits for their leader. In a world that gets warmer but the people only get colder one must become a critical thinker in order to see that the leader they find will not lead them to their demise even sooner than expected. A crab has eight legs and two claws, yet if there is no hole made by an eel or snake; it will have no safe place to live, because its mind moves in every direction at once. One only needs to study one painting every six months. When you study one single blade of grass you will know about every blade of grass. The earnest student must learn through the personal experience that is painting, and adamantly read text in regards to art, he may see many works, but commit himself to study only one at a time. When the artist is stuck and can go no further he must remember that doubt itself becomes a form.

Never be stumped by trying to create the new when faced by adversity in Art School. Painting is not a T.V where you can be in a new channel at the click of a button. The Egyptians used one method to arrive at the figure for over three thousand years before evolution of painting took place. It was not about a constant struggle to find new spirit through innovation of artworks. There was merely a byproduct, of long and arduous reflecting process of trying to meet and immerse themselves in the spiritual mind of their community within their life time. If your only thinking of the problem of trying to create a new original work. Then you mentality only sees objects, and as mere obstacles. You’re no longer thinking of art, but are halted at the gates of whether or not you can actually think.

            Spirit is dealt with great blithe by the Institutions of art, teachers will tell you to deal with spirit on your own time, and discussion about the matter ceases to exist. They are cowards that fear they might be brought into a religious conversation because of spirit. The spirit of painting does don’t stem from religion for spirit is energy, and energy is the movement of life. A student once looked up and asked his teacher, “are the leaves moving or is the wind moving”, the teacher did not look up but said, “no what is moving is your mind and body”. At this moment man does not know benevolent energy for he has hardly experienced it, but we are experts in negative and neutral energy. Meaning that all the paintings up to date are composed of their own levels of negative spirit, since we are ourselves mainly composed of negative energy. An admonition too many young scholars of art is to not try and do “good” with a paintings based on malignant spirit, simply let the painting be. Remember a tree needs to lose its leaves many times in order to grow taller that is true creativity, the rest is the idea.

Social Relationships

            Perspective, were always hearing “It’s all about how you look at things”, which means to imply in the most general of senses, looking at a glass of water from underneath, through a camera, through a window. Moving past the literal and into an abyss that we call the mind is more related in terms of mind sets, like the stock quote “put yourself in his shoes”. After years of hearing what perspective is, all of a sudden it seems pretty straight forward, however if you’re a human being and have lived life you know the world is anything but straight forward. We know people’s perspectives about the world can be molded, shaped and influenced through the media, but that’s a given, not knowing that is like not knowing the moon exist. There is no need to go half way around the world and study indigenous tribes for It’s not what’s new to the way we see things, but what have we not been seeing clearly to this date within our surroundings.

            Someone who undergoes very traumatic circumstances in his life has the potential to develop an unimaginable wisdom, for the time being let’s not get into the negative physiological aspects as viewed by society, you will see how that won’t really be relevant. When one is involved in a circle of friends and spends time with them getting a couple of good laughs here and there, on your way home you might reflect slightly upon the day and claim it to have been a great day. The question is now, are things really great? What just happened, I call this situation the “Altered Unnoticed Perspective”. The AUP theory can explain why tragic events often get addressed in a rather dilatory manner like, global warming, starvation, sex trafficking. One can say AUP(Altered Unnoticed Perspective)is a mind force that takes shape in the form of a double edge sword. Essentially before spending time with your friends you may have a preconceived notion about the things that are horribly wrong in the world, but come five o’clock in the afternoon you meet up with your mates and everything all of a sudden is rather jolly, your inner mindset is now content and you no longer have an eminent desire to help the world. That moment, were you believe things to be alright is a moment were your perspective has been skewed, blindfolded, almost neutralized. The problem is we are in a world where we are becoming ever more isolated, it’s not going to be advocated that we should not hang out with our friends; anyone can say “that is not a desirable idea”. In the meantime our greater problems as humanity will take a very long time to get resolved yet were somehow content with the popular perspective of saying people are lazy or they just don’t care.  Remember AUP, there may be many kinds of perspectives out there, maybe next time you won’t be so quick to write of the world’s problems with a stock phrase.

Pleasure is a Joke

            I don’t understand how anyone can live with themselves knowing that because of their failure to act millions of people are dying of starvation, sexual exploitation, and probably far worse. Saying those kinds of horrible actions will always exist no matter the time, but merely for the sole reason that mankind is evil at heart and will always corrupt, is nothing more than a dam pretext to not do anything about the situation. Are we really going to keep making the same old excuse to try and make ourselves the victims that we are too busy trying to stay alive to eat another day, and is that really the case for all? I'm not saying its right or wrong, only history will decide that, I'm just asking, how can we be so concerned with personal pleasure and actually say we enjoy it? --We are truly united by our isolation of every man for himself. We’re indirectly killing by not doing anything, not excluding myself at all. Were only pretending to "Care for the World" in order to save face among our people. For those who say they do care, there message becomes escape into a fantasy.

            We have a unique ability, the power to go ubiquitously cold, meaning our minds can turn off human compassion in order to spare ourselves the agony of dealing with the misery of others, which we avoid as if it were contagious. Not really realizing we are beyond contaminated. It’s not who is narcissistic? But who are the people who are able to mask it the best in order to get ahead in the world. The poor are suffering in a black hole of misery, and the middle class are not far behind, what are the rich doing? Their absolute best at trying to teach us how to take advantage of those who have fallen in order to amount to voracious quantities of money, and claiming the unjust as just, as some insolently made up law of nature. However, probably knowing better than anyone, that we have already all fallen as the human race, that’s what helps them sleep at night. Simply knowing that everything is maliciously corrupted, so adding their personal touch makes no difference in their mind.

            Were living in absolute fantasy, and what is unpleasant is dealt with great aversion and quickly eradicated from our feeble minds. Even after reading this, won’t we all go back to watching movies, reading magazines, drinking at some bar, eating cake, drinking our little coffees, pretend to have an intellectual conversation about your favorite bands, most likely check your friends latest facebook update. After which we will justify our pleasure, by foolishly pretending to help the unfortunate, with what a couple of dollars here and there. Saying I give and gave what I could, inhuman is what we are, knowing dam well we could have given way more. What I’m talking about is not money! Because we have to break the spell and realize money is worthless, so how can we fix the world with nothing. It’s like throwing pebbles into the ocean to try and change the currents, even if we throw boulders at most only our coastlines will be effected. I strongly hope most of you know these are analogies and metaphors as they will be. When fixing a house we don’t simply buy a new door knob, we have to remember about the foundation. Give someone five million dollars it doesn’t mean they will get any smarter, if anything they will be in danger of being converted into the malevolently rich. Now I’m not saying I’m the guy who’s going to save the world, because if were realistic it probably won’t happen until the next five to ten thousand years. One thing’s for sure I’m not going to falter in the face of adversity! Money is what got us in to this inhuman problem in the first place, so it sure isn’t going to hold the key were looking for, the foundation is my solution for the moment being. Its despicable thinking that many already knew this, but chose to ignore or forget, were not going to fix the world with dollar bills, we have to change the mindsets of the people. A true benevolent mind set is the key. However, for now this is the limit of my solution, for I cannot even begin to imagine how we will change the minds of every single person in the world, so that they will earnestly care for one another. Oh! And by the way, for my entire fellow narcissist out there, this is going to hurt, but you love yourself so much and only care about your happiness because you actually hate yourself. You hate yourself so much and feel so worthless a human being that you make it your goal in life to put yourself on the highest pedestal possible above all the others to try and pretend that your existence is actually worth living……Sometimes the truth must be said, there is no such thing as the greatest, think about it, what is really the “Greatest” your inability to find an answer is because there isn’t one. There is only All of us.

Why Balance Between Reality and Illusion Is Important

The epitome of art in contemporary illusionistic consumer based America has come down to a faltering ability to distinguish between reality and illusion, ultimately and ironically, we are in an unprecedentedly unknown battle against “Balance”. If you are a hypersensitive molecule of a human being who cannot take a single ounce of criticism, you as we all have become a victim of our own rage which inhibits mental movement and flexibly, hindering our abilities to seek an understanding. We all have concepts and almost absolute notions between what’s real and an illusion in our minds, I know it’s going to sound strange, but our perception of reality should not stem from the individual, rather be seen as the collective reality within the mind of our society. For the, mere reasoning that the “Individual” is nothing more than an illusion, rendering most of  his perceptions of reality a falsification, “what the heck is this fool talking about I’m no “Illusion”, and how does this relate to art?” Inevitably in order to understand, we must first use the mind of society to distinguish between the eclectic definition of reality as truth, and “Illusion” as lies.

Reality is truth, and truth is what is real. If this idea can be grasped then you will no longer perceive “abstract” paintings instead you will be able to recognize reality when you see it. For the concept of “abstract” has long been defined as something that is unrecognizable. However, the truth in “abstract” paintings like De Kooning’s, Pollock’s, and Rothko’s is inextricable, but in order to know, one must be aware of the definition of “Illusion”. Illusions are imitations and false trickery essentially lies. Meaning a painting that is trying to heavily imitating the real world is unfortunately bogged down with the element of Illusion, which is more commonly seen in classically traditional works of the Salon as it was prominent during the impressionist era. In the short run abstract works were a revolt against illusionistic paintings; yet do not eradicate from my words a claim to only paint in terms of truth. We must not abrogate balance in our creations of illusions and truth’s, for if you are riding a bike leaning only on one side, you will suffer a horrible crash.

It’s natural that in art we have turned to elements of illusion for thousands of years, the reason being our primary source of pleasure is derivative of illusion. For example, when looking at the skin of a beautiful woman once touched it tends to lose its effect, however before you touch the skin you fantasize ever so tragically about textures and feels it might posses. Meaning having touched the skin of a beautiful woman a physical reality sinks in as opposed to the infinitely imaginative. Other forms of common infantile fantasy based pleasure are photographs, movies, advertisements, magazines, ect. We must ensure that illusions do not replace real life experiences for we are a culture obsessed with the pleasures of illusion, our voracious appetite for fantasy will surely unbalance the existence of mankind. Anyone who knows and can see truth finds all the amusements accepted by this society unbearable.

If you are lost in a forest, how will you get out? Look at the stars, tree patterns, rivers, or desperately try to get a signal on your I-phone? Well before you do all those things you must first be able to distinguish between your left and right side that is called “Balance”. Balance is a truth that exigently demands to be kept within and outside the human body and mind. With that idea must come the acceptance of our limitations in terms of perception, for we only perceive the world through the human eyes. It must be known that everything we see is a real-illusion containing one or more of each element. Case and point, a glass of water with a pen inside, when looking through the glass the pen is distorted, that is the real-illusion. In terms of painting line is a real-illusion, but more of an illusion for it is not seen in nature, in nature line is created through the unification of blocks of color. Everything perceived through are vision essentially is a real-illusion. Even a metal table, we perceive a solid object that occupies space, but in reality there are billions of atoms united for the time being that take the form of a table, however we perceive the table through human perception not microscopic perception, making that table a true table to us as a society. There is also the problem, of wanting truth and being given truth but not being able to recognize it, for we have only seen glimpses.

Dead End Mind Sets To Avoid When Looking At Art

The Idea of the open mind must be questioned once again, especially considering that our world is in such turmoil, precisely how can we claim to be open-minded. Through the art institutions, galleries, museums, parties, and sidewalk conversations, it appears we no longer seek to go further within the mind in trying to understand works at hand. Instead we are a society that holt’s our believes simply on the desideratum of what we like and dislike. When seeing a work we don’t connect with, if we had open minds, instead of making a split second decision of there’s too much blue, therefore that’s the only reason I need to move on. Shouldn’t we try to deeply reflect on multiple reasons of why some artworks just aren’t our cup of tea?

            Lack of interest in our disinterest was not an ideology born from thin air; it stems from dead end mind sets. Minds sets derivative of science’s dominance, conformatism, and viewing conditions. Yes, it’s a horrifying thought; those are elements of society that are deeply rooted within each and every one of us, if anything how can they be negative in the way we see?

            Let’s have a mental battle against our ally science, when a work is difficult to understand as they often are, we will look at the work somewhat physiologically because it’s the easiest answer. For psychologist the reason artist make work, mostly is based on sublimation, where art allows the artist to act out unacceptable impulses by converting those behaviors into a socially accepted form. By that reasoning we could say Jackson Pollock was an angry man and his works are simply an expression of his convoluted emotions of rage, and anybody who paints figures is obviously acting out sexual impulses. From there we would move towards the more practical methods of how the artist actually painted the painting, which more than often is the case. Trying to use the subconscious only helps to bring you to a wall of perfunctory ideas which are in danger of sealing the viewer off from arts spiritual essence. Meaning we are far too involved in trying to get facts about a work, there’s too much satisfaction in getting a couple of facts that are far too general, but all too commonly tend to be the final insolently based judgments’ of artworks.

            There is a real fine line between the ideology of self preservation and science, its speech tends to be cold and next to emotionless. Which is why during classroom critics analyzing student’s artworks scientifically allows their peers to save face. The classics in stock comments and questions are present in their suffocating boredom where any thought of enlightenment has no chance to be born. For example, the brush work got muddy; the colors are too bright, make it bigger, use bigger brushes, and when science talk fails an awkward moment of silence prevails. Artist are afraid to have opinions about others work, because they know artist are very touchy, saying something along the lines of , “this work is the embodiment of weakness and timidity”, wouldn’t go over very well. However if statements that are hard to bear are true to how you feel then it’s an evident step towards humanity. Considering the idea of self preservation is an idea against humanity itself, were your amicable and friendly towards the outside world, but to friends and family you’re cold and hostile.

            Through conformatism we compare, but you can’t really compare artworks, because in doing so, the viewer is living through a nullified culture. In the way that you set a standard for what are great artworks, but in doing so you are creating a level of greatness that seeks to equalize the works at hand. The main point is artworks cannot be compared, because they seek to annihilate one another by merely existing. Each artwork is fighting for the spot that truly balances the viewer’s mind, which tends to be misinterpreted as enjoyment. By comparing similarities of works you are actually betraying them, to truly let the work be its own master, you have to point out the differences of the artworks.

            Viewing conditions, everyone should know seeing a work on the internet, picture, or projections will never compare to seeing the real thing, unfortunately it’s something that must be repeated. Every work is unique to itself; at the same time every work requires a different way of observing. One would not eat a watermelon in the same way you would eat an apple, so you wouldn’t look at a Rothko in the same way you would see a Barnet Newman. Both of those artist realized there is a specific way in which the work must be seen for the spiritual resonance of the painting to be evoked onto the viewer. Rothko claimed the optimum distance to see his works was 18inches, as were Newman claimed the viewer had to walk by the painting. It’s important to note those methods are not limitations to see the work, but a starting point that will allow the viewer to get the most out of the work. Distance is one thing, but light is by far the most important in terms of seeing artwork. The absolutely best light to see work under is the suns, primarily at sunrise when the sun is unveiling its passion. No matter how good a light bulb might be, human manufactured light that is constant will never compare to the radiating waves of light emanated from the sun. When looking at a painting and there is no sun it’s as if the painting is sleeping, and you’re wearing sun glasses to see. Exactly, why you will never be able to truly see a painting inside a museum, they wouldn’t dare expose a painting to direct sunlight as it might fade the colors; instead they voraciously try to extend the life’s of artworks in order to keep making a profit. With the idea of the necessity of sun, we must ask ourselves have we actually seen any paintings. If that’s not a terrifying notion then were truly doomed.

            

Acknowledging Your Own Strokes

Far too often the emerging artist is told his strokes lack ability, either to small, too big, flimsy, repetitive, ect. However, those who are judging the strokes of an artist, on such a critical level, only to end up saying how the stroke should be are betraying their student. If there is anything De Kooning has thought us, it’s that a stroke has to be measured by its own measure. Unfortunately, it’s the current conformatist minds set to try and emulate the powerful brush strokes of what we consider the great artist. The calamity at hand is a stroke that will always fall short, no matter how similar it may look. For the sole reason that the strokes of Van Gogh, De Kooning, Pollock, Rothko, Auerbach, Bacon…..posses the unique spirit of those artist. Even if you want to get on technically scientific side, one could argue it’s hard to match the grip, arm weight, swing, arm length of the previously mention artist.

            The telos should not be to match or copy great strokes, but to accept the inherent stroke you posses whether it be weak or strong. For spirit is not something that can be thought, if yours is weak keep cultivating it and it will grow like a flower. When that happens your brush stroke will become immensely powerful. Let’s take Van Gogh for example, when he was starting to get involved in art, from what we see it’s easy to say the man had a rough time. I say, because his strong spirit was at odds with the conventional brush techniques he was urged to learn. It was not until he was true to himself that he was able to expel a stroke that would convulse in great emotional agony. He needed strong texture strokes that would make the sky cry, so he reached deep inside of himself and pulled them out. 

At the same time it’s important to note his strokes are small in size, however just as potent in power if nothing else to De Kooning’s strokes. It is said De Kooning was a chain smoker, whether the moral aspects of smoking are right or wrong are of no relevance to the work, indeed it’s the characteristics involved in the action of smoking that’s important. His large strokes are the visual incarnation of running a cigarette across an ash tray, but on a canvas.

            I was going to end it with an analysis of how Francis Bacon creates, in his paintings the same intensity as the first stroke you make when painting a wall, however true thoughts do not always understand themselves.

            Only those who are beyond cold will not able to see spirit, therefore will call Frank Auerbach’s method grotesque. What Auerbach does in his process of painting, scraping, and repainting not only takes courage but will power to find the strokes that are just right in energy. One may say, many artist approach painting this way, but I would claim only Auerbach has made it his own. Most likely Auerbach realizes that his individual strokes alone do not posses great spiritual resonance. Very ingeniously he adds small strokes of spirit relentlessly on top of each other until they fully develop into a magnificent ominous force.

Why White Paint is Dangerous

            To include white in a painting is to include a blatant out lie. From a western perspective of the symbolic meaning of white, we will tend to associate it with purity, cleanliness, truth, and innocence. Even more scientifically as light, and in terms that white is good for the lungs, meaning white creates visual breathability. In the long run we are claiming to create a white that is pure in a painting, which is a gigantic calamity of an illusion, because a society that is consumed by insidious malignant behavior appears very questionable in their ability to know what is pure, let alone create it. Even if you are a person that partakes in nothing immoral as we would assume it to be, in doing nothing but trying to live, you are doing nothing to help people those who are starving to death.

            White paint alone without use is now on trial. In terms of color theory, when we perceive white light we are actually seeing all the colors at once, but white paint is the absence of all the colors. Which is why Cezanne is of outmost importance not in terms of having led us to cubism, but most importantly from having rescued color from the opaqueness of the impressionist. White should be acknowledge as the destructor of true color, white is inexorably deceptive death. If anything black is now symbolic of life, painting wise, black can be arrived at with the combination of many colors.

            I’m not establishing an admonition to never use white but seeking to bring a better grasp, which might never be fully understood. The white devil in contemporary paintings can be successfully human if it’s at a two percent ratio, and carrying a large amount of spiritual resonance. Another approach would be a fifty percent ratio of white which should be balanced out with a fifty percent ratio of pure untainted color. As soon as white has become the dominant force in a painting, it is easy to say that the painting is nothing more than an illusionistic lie of which our gluttonous society is ever more fond of. In almost all the paintings featured in the 2012 April edition of Art Forum white was incredibly present, same month Chelsea shows between 20^th and 25^th street contain paintings relying far too much on that agonizingly insolent white being brought across as professional. If anything I’m pleased by the fact that I did not remember any of the names of those falsified minds.

            When everything is bad it must be good to know the worst, however were far too concerned with the “black and white”. With an unknowing internal struggle of our artist against white, there are those who are caught in between, and those who have made one good punch line. Being absolutely appalled by white it is by no coincidence that I stumbled upon a show called a Setting for White which is the name of the only successful painting in the show in terms of white. Kees Goudzwaard creates what seems to have a 50% ratio and 2% ratio against a very bright orange that keeps white from dominating the painting. While the painting is balanced in those terms which can be appreciated as a great accomplishment, the overall feel is somewhat stale.

 And while most of the pieces of Mr. Damien Correll our next artist on trial are fairly weak, his still life with skull is truly note worthy. The white within is muted and kept under control by a forest green that lets it go no further in its deception. 

 It is tautology to go any further, so we will end it with Joan Mitchell, who never really quiet got there and was caught in between a hairline nexus of enigmatic brushstrokes of colorful emotion and pitiful opaqueness.