WHAT IS ART... PICTURE THIS

Dec 23, 2019 - 03:18 Leave a Comment 3104 views

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious,
the source of all true art and all science.
Albert Einstein

What is art? This is a question many have asked and continue to ask. Is it just a matter of saying art 'is in the eye of the beholder?' Maybe, but what is it that makes it art. We ask this about beauty too. Is art, like beauty, only a subjective interpretation of what is perceived, or are there criteria that make some art good art and other expressions not so good? If so what are these criteria?

Below, I have included a dialogue on the relationship of form and essence, and how that might provide some insight into the question of what makes art, art.

However, first here are some thoughts to the following comments related to the subject creativity and its expressions.

“The true use of art is, first, to cultivate the artist’s own spiritual nature.” – George Inness

“The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke.” – Jerzy Kosinski

“Great art picks up where nature ends.” – Marc Chagall

Art is a line around your thoughts.” – Gustav Klimt

“To be an artist is to believe in life.” – Henry Moore

“Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.” – René Magritte

“The richness I achieve comes from nature, the source of my inspiration.” – Claude Monet

“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” – Edward Hopper

“Before I start carving the idea must be almost complete. I say ‘almost’ because the really important thing seems to be the sculptor’s ability to let his intuition guide him over the gap between conception and realization without compromising the integrity of the original idea.”- Barbara Hepworth

“I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.” – Frida Kahlo

“If the artist has outer and inner eyes for nature, nature rewards him by giving him inspiration.” – Wassily Kandinsky

“It is not so much where my motivation comes from but rather how it manages to survive.” – Louise Bourgeois

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams

“The works must be conceived with fire in the soul but executed with clinical coolness.” – Joan Miró

“To my mind one does not put oneself in place of the past, one only adds a new link.” – Paul Cézanne

“I shut my eyes in order to see.” – Paul Gauguin

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” – Auguste Rodin

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

“Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse

“Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dalí

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent van Gogh

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” – Pablo Picasso

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” – Andy Warhol

“I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child.” – Jean-Michel Basquiat

“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.” – Oscar Wilde

“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” – Edgar Degas

“There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.” – Helen Frankenthaler

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” — Pablo Picasso

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” — Michelangelo

“Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work.” — Chuck Close

“Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn’t show up invited, eventually she just shows up.” — Isabel Allende

I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me.” — Roy Lichtenstein

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“Creativity takes courage.” — Henri Matisse

“If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘You are not a painter,’ then, by all means, paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced.” — Vincent van Gogh

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” ― Sylvia Plath

“There is no ‘right’ way to make art. The only wrong is in not trying, not doing. Don’t put barriers up that aren’t there — just get to work and make something.” — Lisa Golightly

“I think creative blocks come from people’s life journeys. If you don’t know who you are or what you’re about or what you believe in it’s really pretty impossible to be creative.” — Rainn Wilson

“I think it’s important to remember that making art is a process. It is never finished. The occupation itself is one of process, exploration, and experimentation. It is one of questioning and examining.” — Mel Robson

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou

“All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate.” — Julio Cortázar

“Routine kills creative thought.” — Scarlett Thomas

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." Pablo Picasso

"Painting is a blind man's profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen." Pablo Picasso

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination." Albert Einstein

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The below excerpt is taken from Elysium's Passage: The Summit, the second novel in the series.

To provide a brief discussion of creative expression within the dynamic of essence and form, I have included a dialogue excerpt below from :

‘As your mind cedes more of its territory to your heart, you will have greater clarity in life. It often takes a lot of practise and courage to conquer the illusions of the ego-mind; few do, but in the end, it will be worth it.

'And so we remain confident that you will make many significant discoveries about yourself as you continue to examine yourself. Then, the unexamined life Socrates said was not worth living, will be worth living.’

‘I hope so,’ I said. ‘I’ve always relied on my mind’s calculations to survive, even if the results weren’t always what I hoped for, particularly among some of the women who made it feel like life wasn’t worth living.’

‘Calculating life,’ Eli said, ‘particularly when it involves matters of love and the fragility of relationships, is like trying to create a picture by building the frame rather than painting the picture. You can calculate how to build a picture frame, but that’s not the same thing as painting the picture. Painting comes from somewhere much more profound and far less predictable than what you do with a hammer and saw.

‘When you calculate relationships with only your mind, it never works. But the heart doesn’t need to calculate anything; it just paints because it loves to paint, just like it loves to live. And yet both picture and frame are meant to be a relationship, just like your heart and mind. Likewise, essence and form; I could go a bit further with this analogue and say...’

'I could go a bit further with this analogue and say...’

‘That’s okay Eli,’ I said smiling, ‘I get the picture… with or without the frame.’

‘Maybe you do,’ he said, ‘but allow me to stretch the canvas out a bit further; there may be a bit more to this.’

‘Like what,’ I asked.

‘It all depends on your frame of mind,’ he smirked. ‘There’s always more to see if it’s a big frame.’

‘That was rather lame, Eli, even for you.’

‘Actually, there’s some wisdom in Eli’s play on words,’ Mo said. ‘When you’re not in a proper frame of mind, it’s difficult to paint a beautiful picture. That’s why it’s good to meditate before you paint. Let the mind settle down and allow the heart to paint you the picture you need to see. Though it may not always be a pretty picture, it will speak the truth.

'Rather than fixate your mind on the outer frame, allow your heart to paint the canvas within. The mind will eventually join in since it never likes to be left out. As long as it doesn’t get in the way of the heart, it may add some context to the painting.

‘But still, you have to be careful it doesn’t take over because, on its own, it will always try. Of course, I’m speaking of the separate ego-mind here. Without the heart, it has no creativity, and yet it will talk incessantly if you allow it to, even though it hasn’t a clue what it’s talking about.

Neither does it know what it’s doing, where it’s going, nor what it is. That’s why, in its insanity, the ego-mind tells you to listen to it rather than the heart. It says the heart will cause you to act stupid and behave irrationally, but in the end, you’re the one who appears outwardly stupid and inwardly irrational for listening to it rather than your heart.

‘The only way it can get its bearings is by cooperating with the heart since it has no internal guidance system of its own. It just thinks thoughts indiscriminately to come up with whatever ruse it can before it will admit it’s lost without the heart’s moral compass.’

‘That may be true,’ I said, ‘but let’s not minimize the mind; without engaging the rational faculties of the mind, the heart would lack the analytical grounding it needs to function properly.’

‘No argument there,’ Eli said, ‘it’s never a case of being just the heart or the mind, but the union of both heart and mind. That’s wholeheartedness and, therefore, wisdom. Union of the mind with the heart makes the mind more rational, not less, and the heart more intuitive, not less. That’s why the best bridges are often the most beautiful, just as the best poems are often the most coherent.’

‘I’m not sure how well bridges and poems illustrate your point,’ I said, ‘but still I think I understand what you may be saying: we function with rational bridges to make it over the stream so we can get to where we are going, but it’s the poem that makes the trip worthwhile.

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SUMMARY OF ELYSIUM'S PASSAGE

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The Summit is the first in a series of five Elysium narrations regarding a young British philosopher named James Phillips who finds himself living in an altered state of reality while still remaining on earth.

After experiencing a near-fatal fall while climbing to the summit of a remote mountain in the Andes, James awakens in a new dimension. He soon encounters two mysterious beings who provide him with a very different perspective on the nature of his existence. Over the next year, before his body recovers from the coma, he is challenged to re-examine his understanding of life’s meaning and purpose far beyond anything he previously believed or could believe.

An engaging and sometimes surreal adventure with intimations of impending romance, the narrative explores the most important questions about life, death, reality and our ultimate destiny.

The Plains of Elysium (Champs-Élysées) was described by Homer, Hesiod, Virgil and many other poets as the paradisiac afterlife realm reserved for heroes. As the title suggests, this is about a journey through a passage that leads towards Elysium’s exciting realm of existence.

To read a sample press review at: https://www.prweb.com/releases/2018/05/prweb15515775.htm

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READER REVIEWS

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The following comments are excerpts from among the first readers including a number of Amazon five star reviews. To read the full reviews, go to READER REVIEWS on www.elysiumspassage.com or directly at https://digitalbloggers.com/arts-and-entertainment/reader-reviews

"A delightful mix of fantasy, reality, conjecture and humour; Mr. Meyers draws the reader into the story with a gentle narrative that captures imagination, leaving one anxious to get to the next page drawing you into his exceptional world.”

"Quietly, gently, and without imposition, the Author unfolds the pages, creating an intricate, interlocking bridge spanning the chasm between mind and heart. Renewing, refreshing, restoring. In my bereavement, it was vigil and light…"

“Excellently written with an exceedingly deep understanding of this world and the next. The characters are very well written and engaging. I can't wait to complete this book!"

“Takes the reader on both a philosophical and spiritual journey, a journey that at times is both disquieting and tranquil. James, a British Philosopher can be irreverent and caustic, traits that should have left me cringing, but instead made me laugh out loud. Elysium’s Passage is a fun, enlightening and remarkable book.”

“This is a masterful fantasy, becoming a real possibility, as the reader is drawn into the story. The Summit leaves you anxious for the next book in the series, yet also leaves you totally satisfied with the world you have just visited. Genius! An exciting, yet calming, experience that is not to be missed."

"There was hardly a page on which I did not find at least one sentence worthy of hi-lighting for future reference. In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed the main character, James, whose personality and passionate verbal exchanges with the other characters, kept me coming back for more. I am reading the book for a second time while I wait for the next one in this series to be made available."

“N.G. Meyers has clearly put a great deal of research and thought into what the afterlife may look like and I like his perspective. It’s an altogether welcoming and exciting vision. The book gives one a great deal to think about and a reassuring confidence that the end of our lives is truly the beginning of life in the next. I highly recommend it."

"I am really enjoying your book, it’s fantastic! It is so incredible and diversified that I can’t really explain it other people, so what I say is just read this book. Thank you so much for the blessings that you’ve given the world!"

“The humour interjected into a serious discussion makes me laugh out loud. Totally unexpected....l may be in the presence of at least a master, if not a genius. A fair ride into reality... seeking that which is unseen, yet absolutely real.”

“An engaging story of adventure embracing man's deepest desire to search for meaning and purpose, N.G. Meyers takes the reader on an adventurous thought-provoking journey. This book has substance. It is a perfect blend of adventure and fantasy combined with spiritual philosophy. It ignited my imagination. The author magically weaves a good story laced with wit and humor together with deep philosophical wisdom. This book has it all!”

“An evolution in thought is triggered by many fresh philosophical themes which could inspire readers to re-think their reality and former ideologies that have dictated their lives… the author fires readers’ imaginations to view what could be possible when spirit vacates the body.”

“This is the book spiritual seekers have been waiting for. For me, it granted a great read as well as increased inspiration to live every day with a heightened sense of purpose. I highly recommend it.

“The Summit is capable of hooking readers and luring them to search for Book 2 to discover more about Dr. Philip’s surreal trek into the mysterious unknown universe. This thick book is well worth the read and to share…”

“Mind-blowing statements and speculation (‘…everyone is a non-physical thought form conceived in the Mind of God, preserved for all eternity because God’s thoughts never die…’). Many will find Meyers’ journey up the Mountain intriguing—and possibly even life-changing.” (BLUEINK REVIEW)

“In its effort to grapple with fundamental questions about the meaning of life, it raises questions that have echoed throughout the ages, including about where we come from, where we are going, who we are.” (CLARION REVIEW)

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AUTHOR'S (ATTEMPTED) INTRODUCTION TO SERIES

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PENDING PUBLICATION OF ELYSIUM’S PASSAGE SERIES

Amazon in 2024

THE ASCENT: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE SUMMIT: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

QUANTUM LEAPS: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

SURREAL ADVENTURES: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

MYSTICAL ROMANCE: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE ELIXIR: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

THE RETURN: Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage

1. The Ascent is the first novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage that’s foundational to everything that happens in the following narratives that embark on an adventure that will surprise and delight the reader like no other book.

It all begins with an extreme adventure of climbing a remote and challenging mountain somewhere in the Andean Mountains. Just as James, the protagonist, is about to reach the mountain summit, he falls into an abyss that leaves him in a coma for almost a year.

After being airlifted by a forestry helicopter and flown back to London, where his body remains for almost a year. Eventually, he learns it was not him but his body that was rescued. Several days later, without understanding what happened, he continues to climb to the summit in an alternate dimension of higher consciousness.

Fortuitously, he meets two adventurers on the summit ridge who are no longer of this world. After that, his surreal life leads him to several new adventures in the subsequent chronicles that include a rich mix of adventure, romance, and fantasy, along with profound discussions of philosophy, spirituality and the afterlife.

2. The Summit, the second novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, carries on where James, the narrator and protagonist, is taught more about a multidimensional reality that he finds difficult to comprehend.

Not only does he find he’s not as clever as he imagined, but his off-world companions on the summit demonstrate that much of what he believed about life was not just parochial but wrong. At first, he finds this difficult to comprehend since their teachings are contrary to his limited understanding of non-material reality.

After being tricked into teleporting off a ledge where he was trapped, James becomes aware of the new reality that makes him capable of far more adventures than could have ever been experienced previously in his physical body back home.

Now, if only he would win over the only woman in this life who matters, the nurse on the other side of the veil, who continually demonstrates her unconditional love toward his healing.

Warning: This book may also open the reader’s eyes to a much vaster reality than most might be aware. As with the other Chronicles, there are discussions of philosophy, the spiritual afterlife and what might seem like fantasy.

3. Quantum Leaps is the third novel in Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, where James, the philosopher-protagonist, teleports back to London to visit his body and make contact with the special nurse taking care of it in his absence. Immediately, he feels an inexplicable spiritual bond with her for reasons he remains unaware of.

Now aroused by a renewed interest in matters of love, the beginnings of a relationship begin to emerge as he attempts to reach across the chasm of their worlds. But it’s not until the fifth novel, Mystical Romance, that he encounters her in a way that he finds difficult to believe.

However, before that can happen, there is much about his failed relationships that must be resolved before he is ready to move forward in his new life in Elysium’s Passage. It is during this time he christens his comatose body as the fall guy since it took the fall for him down the abyss so he could learn the lessons he’s now learning.

That will be the next focus of his life, where in his next Surreal Adventures, he is given virtual lessons to release many of his past beliefs about life.

4. Surreal Adventures is the fourth novel in the Chronicles of Elysium’s Passage, which finds James, the protagonist and narrator, escorted by his companions to a remote South Pacific Island, where he is left to reflect on what he’s learned.

During the next forty days, he battles the demons of his past as he works through some rather painful issues from his early youth. Here, in a tropical storm, he encounters an eery suspended spectre of the one he loved yet still resents for abandoning him as a child.

After this, he achieves peace of mind and is ready to return to his lodge to join his off-world companions on the Andes summit. However, just when it seemed things couldn’t get any stranger, a sixteenth-century sea captain sails his ancient ‘ghost’ ship onto the beach. Together, they sail off on a mystical ocean voyage to a couple of virtual islands supposedly in the South Pacific, where he witnesses and, at times, participates in several important life lessons.

Near the end, these encounters help prepare him for a new challenge within the interior of a mountain, where he falls deep into a dark tomb of fear. After being rescued by a mysterious stranger wielding his Excaliber, he continues on to where his life is about to be transformed in the following chronicle, Mystical Romance.

5. Mystical Romance is the fifth chronicle in Elysium’s Passage, which will surprise the reader with a romantic twist of how love is expressed in higher realms. From this lofty perspective, everything about intimacy is understood as within, so without.

After escaping his tomb, James, the narrator and protagonist, makes his way through a maze of tunnels until he arrives at a large oak door, which he opens with the golden key he had been given. There, he steps into Elysium’s Passage’s Great Hall, where his life and recent achievements are celebrated now that his eyes have been opened to perceive a fascinating interior world of wonderment… and romance.

To say more might risk diminishing the multitude of delightful surprises as circumstances begin to open to The Elixir, where James is about to re-enter his earthly body’s existence.

6. The Elixir is the sixth chronicle of the Elysium’s Passage series that prepares James, the narrator-protagonist, to awaken and return to his body in London. Before that can happen, however, his off-worlder friend presents a mysterious equation enshrouded with a light code frequency that will stimulate multidimensional DNA strands within him.

Much of this narration is centred in London, where his nurse unknowingly becomes involved in how the Elixir’s equation finds its way from a taxi cab driver to higher echelons of science. There are many twists in how she unwittingly brings the Elixir to the attention of mathematicians and physicists, after which they eventually discover how to code the equation into a laser ray to stimulate his fall-guy body into full consciousness.

Ostensibly a new Adam, he is destined to return humanity to a higher multidimensional existence. How this happens is filled with intrigue, as is his shocking return to his earthly body.

7. The Return is the seventh and last chronicle in the series where James, the narrator and protagonist, has re-emerged from Elysium’s Passage as he readjusts to life in the third dimension. Many of the events experienced in the previous novels are tied together in an exciting, fast-moving, action-packed narrative over several countries.

At first, it seems all memories have been lost, with his fall guy’s brain not being aware of what happened to him while in his coma. As a consequence, it takes a while for him to be convinced he had been out of his earthly body for almost a year.

Through some rather unexpected events and evidence, along with his girlfriend’s urging, he is brought to an awareness of much of what occurred. It takes a while for his mind to catch up with the changes made in his heart during his stay in the alternate realm. But after experiencing several harsh realities, he discovers what he became within while out of his body. Gradually, he comes to understand the many challenges that lie ahead for him in fulfilling his future mission on Earth.

This book is filled with adventure, romance and personal intrigue that ties together all six previous narratives of the Elysium’s Passage series.