How can any knowing be unmediated? The term knowing seems to require mediation, some sorting out of the mass of sensory stimulation each moment brings and the billions of nascent evocations that result in a never-ending flux and complication. Even to say "I" is a forceful mediation. But overall, despite our using different words, I think we are essentially saying that we act in faith of our impulse. WC
--- On Fri, 12/19/08, Michael Brady <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Michael Brady <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Neurology and "Art" > To: [email protected] > Date: Friday, December 19, 2008, 12:52 PM > On Dec 19, 2008, at 1:38 PM, William Conger wrote: > > > The rest of us just take orders -- as impulse -- from > the only > > Ineffable, that which is beyond belief and therefore > true. > > I concur with almost all of your post, William, except this > remark. > > I do not believe in the Ineffable, in the whispering of a > Muse or > inspirational breath of a god. I believe in intuition, the > unmediated > knowing that each of us has. I firmly believe as a > practical matter > that thinking about the outcome of a work in a large, > strategic, > overarching way--thinking about the teleology, the > "artfulness" of the > work--leads to a poor result, to a calculated outcome, to a > staged or > contrived piece, or to a "marketing" option. > Instead, all that > interest in the end result should involve no more than > tactics, > planning, organizing, reviewing one's work (like > looking at the daily > rushes on a movie set). > > I trust my instincts, the sum of what I bring to the > canvas. I trust > my skills in drawing, painting, color, design, structure, > etc. I trust > them so much that I don't think a lot as I paint about > the greater > significance of the painting. I just want to get to some > point after I > start putting marks on the white canvas. I trust my > knowledge of how > to start and to proceed, how to choose a starting point, > how to > develop the painting, and how to know that it's not > going well and > abandon it or repaint it. I have no doubt whatsoever that I > will lose > my way, or worse, lose my style. > > So I reiterate: I don't believe in the ineffable, > unless it's really > the inevitable fact that I will paint only as I can, and > not as anyone > else can. > > > | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | > Michael Brady > [email protected]
