High Abstraction © Jack Fisher 2013 I have been deliberately and rationally developing what I call High Abstraction. Evolution of this idea came through a dialectic between my art work and my ideas/statements. The result is a visual experience where the process and the product are commensurate with the concept. My version uses a multilayered approach and considers line versus color. The process consists of a personal level, a reactive level and a consolidating level, mimicking a dialectical, as well as a hermeneutical process and I take that metaphor a step farther by making the three stages symbolic in their nature. The consolidating level has all the power and adds a step I consider “signature” in its strong impression and overall setting of the final appearance of the work. By realizing the canvas surface as an act of seeing, non objects have been isolated by their definitions in a non spatial environment devoid of suggested relationship or narrative but nonetheless charged with meaning by other conventions. Line, suggestive of information, when it outlines and object can be said to contain, outline or define it. Black line does this best since it lacks its own emotive or evocative input that any color would suggest. A step farther, a thick black line becomes an outline turned definition, becoming a context. This idea plays a role in my work. But it should be pointed out that my shapes are not objects, they are non objects. To summarize we have definitions becoming contexts that hold non objects. The non object does not resonate an innate meaning, rather it carries its own sense of meaning provided externally; the placement on the canvas, for instance, despite the non-relational context, offers a semiotic connotation. Other non-objects affect the space of the canvas by affecting its context, therfore an inductive atmosphere takes place. The result is more of an eidetic vision of non objects that never were than a representation; offering a meditation on the sense and the essence of seeing. PROCESS -THE SEEING OF ART SHOULD DEVELOP THE ART OF SEEING I begin with an expressive design, sometimes starting from scratch and sometimes from a text or background or anything that occurs to me that seems relevant at the time. Since the purpose is to get the ball rolling and since many layers will be applied the beginning is only part of a process and not overly important. But from the start and all the way through the process a personal sense of semiotics always guides my thinking about the work. This sense ensures a composition that holds an abstract meaning, resulting in a work that can often be appreciated as well, or at times better, upside down. From that beginning a pure design can take place; I spent years working on the design phase and feel very comfortable with it. I believe that many artists stop at this point, which is understandable. This phase yields a perfectly “lookable” work and going past this phase means destroying a good aesthetic in search of something much better that conveys more. The next phase is a wash phase where the design is washed with very drippy colors watered down to create spontaneous lines creating a sort of net or organic grid over the whole work. Usually the net or grid phase takes several passes of wash, the composition being studied between each phase. This phase leads to an overly busy, but also very attractive surface and creates a unique aesthetic. At this point a sense of complexity and truth is developing, but the hand of the artist is not evident enough and the surface does not evoke a sense of power. The final phase fills color into the grid or net that has been created and this phase is a stage of simplification and rationalization of the whole. This phase uses line and color extensively and results in an irrational, but promising composition having islands and adjacent shapes of color. Solid lines must be added and I usually prefer black because it accomplishes several things as well as being the color that epitomizes line. Sometimes letters or words seem appropriate and I supply them, worrying more about their visual than abstract appearances. My earliest association with line equated it with information. That association makes sense and outline equates with definition. But as definition and information become dominant, as they do in this process a sense of mystery and a carving of shape and space takes place that I find fascinating. A sense of floating often occurs as the black lines expand and dominate and I often exploit that sense to attain my goal of creating a novel visual experience. At times the finished product lacks a complexity or the attraction I want. This finds remedy by reworking the surface and reestablishing the definitions, often subtly varying them to match the new context. The definitions self adjust according to demands of the composition by expanding line until it becomes context and then adjusting that context using its own boundaries or by adding elements. I leave it to the viewer to relate these observations and constructs to their experience in seeing the picture. I had briefly abandoned my exploration with the expanded line after seeing some works where the black background is used with pleasing, but trite effect, until I could distinguish my thinking clearly from such usage and assure and idea-based presentation and process.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 03:08:20 +0000
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