Tired Eyes
A few posts ago I commented on the wealth on imagery that is available for us in today’s world. Spectacular images can to found on the internet, on TV, in magazines and in books.
Moreover we are bombarded by commercials to exhort us to buy things. Often these are beautiful things- stylish cars, elegant fashion, beauty products and exotic travel. We have magazines full of stunning photo shoots of fashion models promoting fashion hair, makeup and glamour. It becomes repetitive and boring.
https://www.discountmags.ca/magazine/british-vogue-august-1-2021-digital
In my daily routine I live in a comfortable home with a landscaped yard in a neighbourhood with scenic greenbelts and parks. I am so familiar with these places that I can be inured to their beauty and lose interest.
I feel like I am at a fabulous ‘all you can eat’ visual buffet, but I am completely satiated by the deluge. I have lost my appetite.
Repetitive Ennui
WIth overabundance and familiarity, images become repetitive and boring.
The visual brain/ memory connection can instantaneously recognize a familiar scene. Based on the need to quickly process threats or safety, our brain unconsciously dismisses an image as familiar and not worth engaging further.
As an artist, I need to be intrigued by what I see. I need to refresh my eyes. If I am not engaged with what I see and create, how can I interest a viewer? It’s my business to create intriguing images.
Mess Up, Mash Up
To reactivate my sight senses I sometimes create fun new images from by collage. Here are a few examples.
I took pictures from old magazines or calendars and used scissors and glue to rearrange the cuttings. This an iconic Lawren Harris painting that I cut into strips and recomposed.The collage engages the viewer to try unscramble the scene.
Magazines are full of beautiful images that we usually glance at an move on. I reconfigured these photos to engage my mind to interpret the mixture of familar and unfamiliar components. Our brains need some ambiguity to be engaged.
Pattern Recognition
Here is a photo of a rhododendron from my garden that is a common scene at this time of year.
I used a photo editor on my tablet to re- colour the photo into something more painterly. Our brains love to see patterns, especially patterns containing a degree of randomness or disruption.
Ambiguity
I think an essential aspect of painting is to keep the eye and the mind engaged. It’s not so easy to do when we live in a world that is over-saturated with imagery.
This drawing may be simple, but there is enough ambiguity to be somewhat intriguing, which makes it interesting.
