“A planned life cannot be lived – only endured”
Taoist saying
Taoist saying
Painting philosophy
A picture of the universe or an abstract painting? |
Chaos and order
Most people are not comfortable with chaos in their life. You could say that one of the reasons for the success of the modern bureaucratic welfare state is that it promises to deliver a solution to the fear of chaos: order! Every time some turmoil happens most people demand that the state implements regulations, control and planning so that it will never happen again. And then if you look at my paintings and think about it, you will realize that they are actually full of chaos. So why create abstract expressionistic paintings exploring and celebrating chaos when many people actually are trying to avoid chaos in their lives? Why should anyone value and even consider buying celebrations of chaos? If you look closely at my paintings you will see that very often some areas of the canvass are “chaotic” while others are “calm and orderly”. So lets start from what we actually see in my abstract paintings to get a better understanding of the conflicting words “Chaos” and “Order”. |
When we see “Chaos” in a painting we see an area of concentration, intenseness, unpredictability, impulsiveness, irregularity, randomness, changeability, inconsistence. What we see surprises us, we wonder how it was made. We get curious and start to investigate its make-up and constitution. It is the unknown. We cannot easily get our mind around it so it thrills us. It is mysterious, strange, and unidentifiable - and needs discovery. We are enchanted and captivated.
The area of “Order” is all what the area of “Chaos” is not. It is calm, uniform, regular patterned, predictable, unsurprising, monotone, structured, standardized, homogeneous, deliberate, organized. It is the “Known” – the comprehended. It can be figured out by our mind. Grasped, reasoned and categorized. It calms us in the sense that it does give us anxieties.
Modern societies and modern lives are aiming for Order and the elimination of Chaos. Since Newton modern man believed that the universe was an ordered, mechanical system created by God. But since the Quantum Mechanics of Bohr, Planck, Heisenberg and Schrödinger we have realized that the opposite also exist: the typical condition of the Universe is tumultuous and impulsive. Unpredictability and explosive energy as a cornerstone of our Universe! If we with gigantic telescopes look deep into the universe millions of light years away we see incredible colors and forms in eternal change. If we look inside our Earth in the form of mountains walls squeezed up into the air we also see gigantic abstract paintings. Even if we have a very close look at a tiny stone we will see beautiful abstract patterns. Or a tree. Or a leaf. And if we look deep into our own bodies with computers and tiny lenses we also see unimaginable abstract paintings (see for instance W.A. Ewing: Inside Information (German translation: Der Kosmos in Uns). So it seems that the whole universe is constantly fluctuating between order and chaos. It is first recently we have discovered the chaos side of everything.
The area of “Order” is all what the area of “Chaos” is not. It is calm, uniform, regular patterned, predictable, unsurprising, monotone, structured, standardized, homogeneous, deliberate, organized. It is the “Known” – the comprehended. It can be figured out by our mind. Grasped, reasoned and categorized. It calms us in the sense that it does give us anxieties.
Modern societies and modern lives are aiming for Order and the elimination of Chaos. Since Newton modern man believed that the universe was an ordered, mechanical system created by God. But since the Quantum Mechanics of Bohr, Planck, Heisenberg and Schrödinger we have realized that the opposite also exist: the typical condition of the Universe is tumultuous and impulsive. Unpredictability and explosive energy as a cornerstone of our Universe! If we with gigantic telescopes look deep into the universe millions of light years away we see incredible colors and forms in eternal change. If we look inside our Earth in the form of mountains walls squeezed up into the air we also see gigantic abstract paintings. Even if we have a very close look at a tiny stone we will see beautiful abstract patterns. Or a tree. Or a leaf. And if we look deep into our own bodies with computers and tiny lenses we also see unimaginable abstract paintings (see for instance W.A. Ewing: Inside Information (German translation: Der Kosmos in Uns). So it seems that the whole universe is constantly fluctuating between order and chaos. It is first recently we have discovered the chaos side of everything.
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The Chinese Taoists are talking about the everlasting play between Yin (order) and Yang (chaos). That one of them cannot possibly exist without the other! In many Indian religions Chaos is identified with Gods or just with the “Life-force” - Shakti. Pure living energy! “Vitality” penetrating matter. Giving life, imposing never-ending change. Destructive as the Goddess Kali.
So one can say that modern abstract paintings pondering with Chaos and Order are actually adding nothing new to the paintings of the Universe. Their play on the canvass between Yin and Yang is reproducing that of the Universe. So abstract artists are just painting in parallel to the Universe. However we are living in a time, which has gone mad because it tries to eliminate Yang (turmoil) out of our lives. |
Microscope picture of the inside of the human body or an abstract painting? |
We can now return to our initial question: Why do some of us like to experience Chaos in art? An answer might be that the paintings are reminding us about what we are loosing by all the meaningless efforts of deleting Yang: namely enchantment and fascination! Perhaps also a reminder of our own inner chaos of thoughts, feelings and sensations! And finally maybe the beautifulness of chaos in our life, which state and society are denying and rejecting, is brought to our attention.
The striving of Modern life’s after an all-dominating Yin makes it monotone. Therefore many people are seeking extreme experiences. Art gives us a reminder about the lacking of Yang. It attracts and puzzles us and we get sucked into its presentation within the art. The turmoil of Yang gives us something, which the calmness of Yin never can give us. And we should not forget that this is also true the other way round. Yin and Yang needs to live in fruitful tension and this is what is aimed at in our abstract expressionistic paintings.
So in other words our abstract expressionist paintings try to put Yang (Chaos) back into our lives so it can live in agreement and tension with Yin. On the canvass we are trying to reproduce the play between Yin and Yang. Let them illuminate each other. Let them stay in tension and harmony with each other. Seeing if we can find order within chaos and chaos within order – the Yang within Yin, the Yin within Yang. We are exploring how far can we push Yang (Energy) before it becomes explosive and destructive - and on the other side we playing with how far we can let Yin (Stillness) dominate before the canvass become lifeless and predictable.
So you could say the abstract expressionistic painting is a reminder to us: how are we playing with the forces of Yin and Yang - Order and Chaos - in your life? Are they living in fertile tension or are they trying to destruct each other? Life then is similar to a painting: a challenge of bringing opposites in harmony.
The striving of Modern life’s after an all-dominating Yin makes it monotone. Therefore many people are seeking extreme experiences. Art gives us a reminder about the lacking of Yang. It attracts and puzzles us and we get sucked into its presentation within the art. The turmoil of Yang gives us something, which the calmness of Yin never can give us. And we should not forget that this is also true the other way round. Yin and Yang needs to live in fruitful tension and this is what is aimed at in our abstract expressionistic paintings.
So in other words our abstract expressionist paintings try to put Yang (Chaos) back into our lives so it can live in agreement and tension with Yin. On the canvass we are trying to reproduce the play between Yin and Yang. Let them illuminate each other. Let them stay in tension and harmony with each other. Seeing if we can find order within chaos and chaos within order – the Yang within Yin, the Yin within Yang. We are exploring how far can we push Yang (Energy) before it becomes explosive and destructive - and on the other side we playing with how far we can let Yin (Stillness) dominate before the canvass become lifeless and predictable.
So you could say the abstract expressionistic painting is a reminder to us: how are we playing with the forces of Yin and Yang - Order and Chaos - in your life? Are they living in fertile tension or are they trying to destruct each other? Life then is similar to a painting: a challenge of bringing opposites in harmony.
