i feel that i have embarked upon a dialectic (in the Hegelian sense) of knowledge, as i have independently concluded concepts within a variety of subjects. these concepts, however, are in initial phases of being developed in the sense that, even though they may hold true, they need to go through the process of questioning that occurs with deepened research. i dislike the idea of merely �dabbling around� in my interests, flitting about amongst their attractive novelties. i want intense study, and see that this is what my purposes require. i want the growth that will form from these planted seeds of awe.
i am consistently overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information i hope to learn. i nearly faint when browsing a bookstore, for i�ll go and find this little idea i�ve had and that little kindled interest � all displayed before me as having already been manifested extensively in volumes of books. on a recent trip, i picked up the following:
Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff & Mark Johnson � as i�m interested in gaining some insight on the function of metaphor in language (for my own application in an artistic context)
Doubt and Uncertainty by Tony Rothman & George Sudarshan � covering new, unresolved problems in physics, particularly as they relate to eastern thought and mysticism, and...
The Sacred Depths of Nature by Ursula Goodenough � which covers fundamental concepts in microbiology, and i am interested in the structure and motion of cells, molecules & microorganisms as they correspond with larger life-patterns�
(i am now in the middle of 8 books� jeez. i like to keep reminding myself of them and hassling myself about them as if i'm a stern teacher enforcing impending assignments. not that i'm not motivated, but i wander astray with distractions sometimes...)
as far as my purposes, my target is the exploration and formation of NEW ideas. if one is to engage in forward-thinking, one must educate themselves as thoroughly as possible in what has been covered up to the present. to advance, obviously, we must be familiar with all that has come before us. i don�t fancy myself as someone who would offer specific theoretical breakthroughs for science or other academic arenas, nor is that my aspiration. i am wholly interested in these emergent concepts as applied to art; interested in innovative and progressive means of communicating them utilizing combinations of new and traditional media.
i believe it is through such combination that progress is made. comparitive study of different topics, analogous relationships, correspondances, conceptual metaphors, lateral thought: all catalysts for the synthesis within the dialectical process. as Werner Heisenberg stated:
�It is probably quite true generally that in the history of human thinking the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet. These lines may have their roots in quite different parts of human culture, in different times or different cultural environments or different religious traditions: hence if they actually meet, that is, if they are at least so much related to each other that a real interaction can take place, then one may hope that new and interesting developments may follow.�
i sense again the strong need and pull for education, for in order to produce art with real cultural relevance � truly modern art that leads us into the future - one must somehow have a finger on the pulse of the world. this art must reflect both subjective and objective realities, and thus requires one to be always in contact with both oneself and others, collectively� to be in a vantage point providing insight of both. art is essentially a portrait � which calls for a known biography, an acknowledged natural and cultural history � because what is being expressed is a representation (re-presentation) of various aspects of the world.
i�ve seen that, while political and social topics are addressed in some art, it has largely sunken into a mire of subjectivity, imploded into personal struggles. introspective expression has been found in amazing works throughout time, of course, but art � and particularly fine art � seems to have lost its function and place as a cultural nerve center. additionally, aesthetics in general have been vastly relegated to use in marketing design... feeding the machine of capitalist-driven consumerism, pop entertainment, and mass media - all, of course, inexorably linked. but i hold hopes that the power or aesthetics can be regenerated and redirected towards the conveyance of awareness-increasing ideas. one philosopher, Herbert Marcuse, who i recently encountered through a book which caught my eye entitled The Aesthetic Dimension, began to speak of the revolutionary potential of art in the few years before his death in 1979. he said:
�Art can be called revolutionary in several senses. In a narrow sense, art may be revolutionary if it represents a radical change in style and technique. Such change may be the achievement of a genuine avant-garde, anticipating or reflecting substantial changes in the society at large. Thus, expressionism and surrealism anticipated the destructiveness of monopoly capitalism, and the emergence of new goals of radical change. �
�Beyond this, a work of art can be called revolutionary if, by virtue of the aesthetic transformation, it represents, in the exemplary fate of individuals, the prevailing unfreedom and the rebelling forces, thus breaking through the mystified (and petrified) social reality, and opening the horizon of change (liberation). In this sense, every authentic work of art would be revolutionary, i.e., subversive of perception and understanting, an indictment of the image of liberation�.
�Art breaks open a dimesion inaccessible to other experience, a dimension in which human beings, nature, and things no longer stand under the law of the established reality principle. Subjects and objects encounter the appearance of autonomy which is denied them in their society. The encounter with the truth of art happens in the estranging language and images which make perceptible, visible, and audible that which is no longer, or not yet, preceived, said, and heard in everyday life.�