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August 2008 
Out On A Limb On Transformative Art and Symmetry
MrTeacup
When artists set out to create something, intending it to be spiritual art or transformative art, the results often embody concepts such as perfection, balance and symmetry. Despite this common view of spirituality, I've always had a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that something was not quite right. In this post, I will try to make my thinking more explicit. First, a few quotes:
"The tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao."
"A successful work of art is not one which resolves contradictions in a spurious harmony, but one which expresses the idea of harmony negatively by embodying the contradictions, pure and uncompromised, in its innermost structure."
The former is, of course, the first line of the Tao Te Ching, and the latter is by philosopher Theodor Adorno. I juxtapose these two quotes on the page because I believe they express similar ideas, namely, that art that tries to embody perfection fails to communicate it. Instead, it communicates a preconception of perfection or symmetry that, as a communicator of spiritual concepts, misleads more than it enlightens, including the traditional Tibetan practice of creating mandala art in this category.
That's quite a radical statement. Surely I can't be saying that mandalas are unspiritual! No, in fact I'm not; I do think that the concepts of symmetry and perfection are important concepts to transformation. I'm saying that representations of symmetry and perfection fail to achieve transformation in the unenlightened mind. What tends to happen is that the audience's existing concepts about what is perfect and what is not get reinforced, because symmetry is beautiful and more than anything, we want to believe that our concepts, our ideas and our egos are perfect, beautiful and whole, not empty illusions. If transformative describes something that causes transformation, and the Western art tradition intends for art to be viewed and interpreted by an audience, then I must conclude that "spiritual" art of this variety does not accomplish its descriptive goal of transforming the audience -- it only transforms the artist.
The activity of creating a beautiful symmetry and embodying perfection is doubtlessly transformative, but like a mandala, it should be swept away when it is finished. To transform the audience, not just ourselves, we as artists should invite them to follow us while we embrace our contradictions.
Access: Public
I TOTALLY agree! And… I still don’t like Stuart Davis’ music. LOL I get what you’re saying, and I have found it to be true, and I dislike art that acts as a container for disruption or disillusionment or dissonance for it’s own sake. There is something pretentious and vulgar about it that really turns me off. “Look how spiritual I am because I can be at peace while containing all these dissonant themes!” Bleh!
I agree that symetrical art and other forms of harmony can be transformative for the artist, maybe it is the end result of transformation, the expression of the “I GET IT!!” sensation. That’s very fulfilling and feels like finding order. Objectification can do that. I love YES for that reason.
But I also love hardcore. I love it when it compassionately holds the space open for ME to fill with whatever is troubling me. Just the act of holding open the space makes it possible for me to vomit up the undigestible stuff and sort through it and come up with some solution. This is transformative for me. If I feel there is no space for me to do this in the land of the living, then I don’t feel like my process is welcome or encouraged. It is as if I am expected to be a finished product. Already arrived. This kind of compassion towards me while I’m in my puddle of muck is transformative for me.
In terms of visual art, I love Edvard Munch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, The Scream is great.
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?CID=75C2ED8366D14F11BF530A2E2FA83D30&startat=http%3A//www.allposters.com/GetPoster.asp%3FAPNum%3D818406%26CID%3D75C2ED8366D14F11BF530A2E2FA83D30%26PPID%3D1%26search%3DEdvard%2520Munch%26f%3Dt%26FindID%3D0%26P%3D3%26PP%3D5%26sortby%3DRD%26cname%3D%26SearchID%3D
But what about these two others that go with them, Anxiety
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?CID=75C2ED8366D14F11BF530A2E2FA83D30&startat=http%3A//www.allposters.com/GetPoster.asp%3FAPNum%3D1664363%26CID%3D75C2ED8366D14F11BF530A2E2FA83D30%26PPID%3D1%26search%3DEdvard%2520Munch%26f%3Dt%26FindID%3D0%26P%3D3%26PP%3D5%26sortby%3DRD%26cname%3D%26SearchID%3D
and Despair?
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?CID=75C2ED8366D14F11BF530A2E2FA83D30&startat=http%3A//www.allposters.com/GetPoster.asp%3FAPNum%3D1664356%26CID%3D75C2ED8366D14F11BF530A2E2FA83D30%26PPID%3D1%26search%3DEdvard%2520Munch%26f%3Dt%26FindID%3D0%26P%3D3%26PP%3D5%26sortby%3DRD%26cname%3D%26SearchID%3D
Look what he did with “The Sun”, what is usually a benevolent helper in illumining truth has become an ambivalent disenchanter which slices and dices the world, leaving it brightly bleeding.
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?CID=75C2ED8366D14F11BF530A2E2FA83D30&startat=http%3A//www.allposters.com/GetPoster.asp%3FAPNum%3D1664353%26CID%3D75C2ED8366D14F11BF530A2E2FA83D30%26PPID%3D1%26search%3DEdvard%2520Munch%26f%3Dt%26FindID%3D0%26P%3D2%26PP%3D5%26sortby%3DRD%26cname%3D%26SearchID%3D
There’s another one which I can’t find online which is a vivid polaroid of the moment of death when the loved one suddenly feels their withdrawal from existence. The look in the eye is absolutely right. He dares you not to fill the space with your own experience and associations, and this gives me permission to revisit it and hopefully reassemble it in some more manageable way.
Maybe I’m not groking what “transformative” really means. But this topic has hooked me before. I’m still working through it.
~Ww
Bummer. The links don't work. Oh, well. I tried.
~Ww