A tribute to a dear friend- *Materialism, **Idealism, Conceptualism, Dematerialization
The focus of this article aims to answer my dear friend who asked me if I am an author, a jewelry designer, or an artist, and if I am then what kind of artist I am? A modern artist, a conceptualist, dematerialize...
This sincere question from a friend, who just passed away, leads to my quest. Admittedly, my motive here is purely egocentric, based not only on curiosity but also out of guilt, because I never answered my friend.
What was I thinking when asked the above questions is mission impossible to nail it, because I can't truly differentiate now between what happened then, what made me to not to answer back then and what I'm thinking now, writing this article, what might have happened? Furthermore, that will be foolish and unfair to try and filled the cracks of time with biases and perception of what happened back then, because it's all long gone, and the remains of our memory, as we all know, are just a vague reflection of subjective biases and agendas; bits of this and that with which we choose to reassemble the puzzle of our life, eliminating pain and discomfort, holding on to the good and pure, hence comforted by the notion of control. Who knows? And perhaps I didn't answer simply out of an arrogant habit of mine, to listen to the whisper of rebellion persuading me to keep declining in giving in to the temptations of the others and myself to be labelled/boxed/defined/belong to; with the good would come the final comfort zone of a quest to belong, however, the price to pay would be too high: to fill the gap of loneliness with fear to disappoint the expectations of the others and for myself. Or perhaps the real motive of not answering my friend was due to a fear of being forced to keep performing according to the expectations, which were defined by others of myself, or perhaps is due to a deeper fear of succumbing to internalizing the outer expectations, thus losing the freedom and integrity of existing as myself, hence seizing to exist. Probably all of it, yet mainly because my friends question lead to many others, for that I am indebted to my dear friend...
...and more so, because I never thanked my friend who made me think, as always.
This is a tribute to my friend.
My effort in this article focus to examine the interaction between 1.conceptualism, 2.applied art, and 3. dematerialize. The methods are various medium ( A. Tangible, A. Intangible).
When is the art was born? Is it born the instance the idea is originated in a brain-mind of the creator or is it pending to be defined as art until it morphs into the physical realm, attempting to establish sort of communication, consciously moving from a dialogue to a monologue, fearless of the consequence of a venue of communication, from monologue to dialogue, communication, a dialogue- as art defined by many? And if so, how can I capture a unit of time, a moment, in a physical realm?
Seems a debate that aims to find the difference between the mind vs. brain has been going on since before Aristotle ( The Mind vs. Brain Debate What is Consciousness?). Descartes (a version of dualism) identifies mind with the consciousness and self-awareness of itself, with an ability to distinguish itself from the brain, but still called the brain, the seat of intelligence. In yogic science, the brain is simply a physical manifestation of the mind itself (The Mind vs. Brain Debate What is Consciousness?).
In respect to the subject of this article, Conceptualism, Dematerialization, and Applied art, I have been making several attempts throughout my life, debating with myself and others, exploring various venue of expression via different materials. Specific examples:
--Tangible, such as 1) Metals: silver, still, gold, platinum, titanium, 2) Precious and semi-precious stones, 3) Glass, 4) Wood, 5) A copy of a copy of a copy, 6)Hair, 3) Rock, from hard as granite followed with soft rock of a grey cloud, as well as 4) Minerals, exploring different properties of this biogenic substance, which produces by life processes, i.e., either constituents or secretions, of plants or animals, echoing my quest to keep exploring subject matter: LIFE.
-- Intangible: 1). 3D, 2) Writing ( published my first epistolary in 2014, second edition in 2017), 2) Sensory ( visual, audio, smell, touch).
Specific examples: projecting an image of a copy of a photo of my glass sculpture, mixed with digital manipulation, with an image of the 3D sculpture/s, in a different sequence, and size.
Here the focus was to explore the fine lines, admittedly a blur for me, in understanding issues such as What exactly art is? When it ceases to exist? can art be objective, outside the concept of the artist, the creator mind/brain, without explanation of the concept? And if my brain is living in a jar, outside my body, is the concept of my art, created in my brain/mind, is still art, or perhaps my brain in the is the art, as dematerialization, as a concept, as an applied art?
For many years I find myself preoccupied with the above, especially nowadays, since the ever-evolving revolution of technology. And accordingly, in recent years, technology becomes another path I am exploring with my art. In one of the studies, for example, the focus was to explore the tangible and intangible concept, and what result can be defined as art? Also, what is the value, the price, I am to ask the visitor who wishes to purchase? What will be the variables the arts are to consider in pricing their art? How can an artist survive without compromising their art, dignity, principles, to survive and keep creating? Perhaps the patron of artistic creation can provide the artist with necessities, going back to medieval and renaissance eras? Seems the examination of variables involved in art appraisal ( political, psychological, ethical....) are well beyond this article.
For example, I once conducted a study about the above relationship: an idea originated in my hade was transferred via pencil on a paper napkin, followed by a sculpted image in solid wax. Next, I transformed the wax image into a rubber mold and poured inside melted silver, creating a miniature image. That lead me to experiment with the same image with a glass, following this fascinating property. The next steps involved a software, a 3D printing, projector, a camera, attempting to explore the properties of mediums respectfully to hardness, durability, visual effect ( clear, opaque), weight ( heavy, light), and size ( smallest to the largest, to mention few.
In conclusion, the vast majority of result objects were either melted, smashed, and/ or combined morphed into a different object trying to remain true to the original concept on a napkin paper I sketched many years ago. Very few objects I decided to keep as a manifest to tangible expression to reflect the concepts I have been exploring.
Final notes
Well, my effort to answer my friends' question if I am a conceptualist focusing on applied art, a jewelry designer, an author, a sculptor? I would reply I am a thinker, as my father fondly call me Pochemuchka ( =Russian) for Why?
...my friends question lead to many others, for that I am indebted to my dear friend...
...and more so, because I never thanked my friend who made me think, as always.
mortally yours
Note/Index:
*Idealism: In philosophy, idealism is the group of metaphysical philosophies that assert that reality, or reality as humans can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial.
**Materialism: is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental aspects and consciousness, are results of material interactions. In contrast to materialism, idealism asserts the primacy of consciousness as the origin and prerequisite of material phenomena. According to this view, consciousness exists before and is the pre-pre-condition of material existence. Consciousness creates and determines the material and not vice versa. Idealism believes consciousness and mind to be the origin of the material world and aims to explain the existing world according to these principles ([Accessed 5 Jul. 2018]).
References
En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Idealism. [online] Available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism [Accessed 5 Jul. 2018]. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism
The Mind vs. Brain Debate (What is Consciousness?). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/the-mind-vs-brain-debate-what-is-consciousness/ Retrieved from
http://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/articles-and-news/the-mind-vs-brain-debate-what-is-consciousness/
The Mind vs. Brain Debate (What is Consciousness?) - The ...
www.cuyamungueinstitute.com
by Christina Sarich, The mind vs. brain debate has been going on since before Aristotle. He and Plato argued that the soul housed intelligence or wisdom and that it could not be placed within the physical body.
Anna Aizic a k a Hannah
email paizic@hotmail.com
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Website https://paizic.wixsite.com/anna-aizic
Art of LIVING https://rb.gy/robww6
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