Presto Manifesto
Presto Manifesto
I consider myself a SCIENCE-ARTIST:
I write about quantum theories of consciousness, but when we make a personal quantum leap the language of science fails, and we must use the contextual language of mysticism, or the graphic depictions of art. Often I am trying to embody and convey the visionary experience of my inner world through symbolic, impressionistic or abstract renderings that resemble my inner vision as much as possible.
This interface is the locus of the jump from the linear to the nonlinear, from the ego to psyche (spirit and soul), and from "knowing about" to "knowing by virtue of identity with" reality.
WE ARE THAT. Art is the objective embodiment of the subjective imaginal reality in which we are all immersed.
Inspiration should be a verb, not a noun; it is a complex dynamic, a force of Nature and our nature. When someone asks me what “inspires” me and my artwork, I can’t imagine naming any one thing, or list of “things”. It’s like asking my favorite color. I can’t help but answer, ALL, “all of the Above and Below”.
What doesn’t inspire the artistic eye that doesn’t merely “look at”, but “sees through” to the imaginal depth of any given perception or experience? Rather than the impressionistic senses informing the soul, the soul informs the multisensory experience of being. Inspiration means life, the opposite of death. It implies purpose, direction, meaning, ecstasy, creativity.
Any moment can be as inspirational as the next. Inspiration can come from an internal movement or sensation, a love affair with color and form, the awe of an incandescent moment, even the pain of a soul on fire struggling to express itself or the zeitgeist of the times. All ways of looking at reality are imaginative. When we see soul as the background of all phenomena, we become aware of the animating principle.
The soul in depth psychology is an empirical manifestation of imagination, fantasy, and creativity which is always in the process of becoming--images forming, and dissolving, and forming anew. Imagination is the essence of the life forces, both physical and psychic. It is the hidden ground behind symbol, archetype, metaphor, image. These fantasies always permeate our beliefs, ideas, emotions, and physical nature.
Our imagination is not something possessed by our minds, but the fundamental conscious/unconscious field of our psyche, our soul. The imaginal field is not derivative, but the very ground of our existence, conditioning all of our experience. Our psychophysical self embodies our unconscious. It is where the personal encounters the transpersonal and finds “I AM That”. Imagination is the primary irreducible activity of the soul.
The image-making psyche or soul is the primary creative capacity, not only in art. Yet, perhaps, this is what is meant when it is said an artist has ‘soul,’ the capacity to draw on the inspirational mythopoetic taproot to Source, the creative field. Imagination is the basis of soul. In fact, to live the artistic life is to live immersed consciously in that aesthetically-nuanced Reality, to find it virtually inescapable.
INDIGLO MANDALA, Iona Miller, 2008
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Artistic expression offers self-indulgent permission for virtually mythical living. Anyone can broadcast their own reality. We now provide our own content rather than passively consume predigested media pablum and disinformation. Lack of talent or inability to play is no disqualifier; particpants are nominated and elected by themselves only. We may give wildly different names to these substructural alters than those from the normal classifications of art. Our multitudinous personae are cyborg hybrids spawned in hidden hothouses.
The artist is perhaps the main contemporary exponent of the chaotic/creative edge, especially those comitted to performance, underground, transgressive, sexual art or culture jamming. The thread of sexuality is woven through the whole cultural history of art. When order becomes too rigid, atavistic forces of entropy arise to dissolve that outworn system back into chaos for creative restructuring. This is nature’s way. And the artist’s way. Artists open us to radically new environmenments here and now.
Art gives form to the apparitions of our imaginations, and one of the most imaginative is the erotic form, expression of the erotic impulse, or raw libido. Both art and eroticism are forms of the epitome of human life, expressions of insight and deep feeling. Sexuality is one way of inducing ecstatic states that alter perception dramatically. It is simultaneously and paradoxically ordinary yet extraordinary. It embodies the very essence of dramatic tension, a finite act with infinite repercussions. Beyond this we find elements of complexity, death, spirituality and science, and most importantly the intellectual interwoven.
In Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan conjectured, "If men were able to be convinced that art is precise advance knowledge of how to cope with the psychic and social consequences of the next technology, would they all become artists? Or would they begin a careful translation of new art forms into social navigation charts? I am curious to know what would happen if art were suddenly seen for what it is, namely, exact information of how to rearrange one's psyche in order to anticipate the next blow from our own extended faculties."
Artists are the chaotic attractors of the social field. While conventional artists may enjoy great favor, the ‘strange attractors,’ including leading edge and extreme artists have a special role as catalysts in contemporary life. Artists have always drawn others beyond the limits of their ordinary awareness, confronting them with another reality -- mysterious, paranormal, occult and clandestine worlds -- initiating them into worlds of profound meaning without conventional boundaries.
The artistic life is a chaotic arc of inspiration upon inspiration, following the Muse. Artists walk what for others is ‘the road not taken" (chaos theory's bifurcation or forking of the way) sometimes going "where angels fear to tread." Their charismatic influence pulls others into their orbits, and the small effect of one personality potentially spreads its influence over the world, sometimes over history. It is a matter of applying leverage at the most strategic point to pump up small forces into macroscopic effects. The history of art is one of the richest threads of our cultural heritage.
ART AS META-SYN: Art can be therapeutic, both in the process of creation and for the viewer who reacts from personal associations. Art bares the soul, and provides a container for unbridled self-expression. High synergy is a differentiating characteristic of the nonagressive and secure. Beyond synergy is negentropy, the flow of creative connection. Symbolic art has both an emotional and cognitive content. Metaphysical art draws on the multicultural iconography, not only of the globe, but of the Beyond. At its best it embodies and reveal the indomitable human Spirit.
Any depth psychologist or therapist knows that the stories they hear from most of their clients fall into very few, quite typical tales. What we need are bigger stories to guide us in our complex world. We can enlarge our perspective from the individual to the global through “bigger stories”, such as those from our wisdom traditions.
Mythopoesis means literally, "myth-making," the natural expression of the visionary wisdom inborn to the human species (Lash, et al). It is a creative act of story-telling or narration, by which human beings "track" their experience and orient themselves to the cosmos at large.
Metahistory is a guiding narrative for human potential, rather than an interpretation of events. The cross-cultural metastory of the human species is an overarching view of past, present, and future. It opens a path toward participation in a story that leads beyond history, a mythos to guide the species.
ART AS META-SYN: Art can be therapeutic, both in the process of creation and for the viewer who reacts from personal associations. Art bares the soul, and provides a container for unbridled self-expression. High synergy is a differentiating characteristic of the nonagressive and secure. Beyond synergy is negentropy, the flow of creative connection with Source. Symbolic art has both an emotional and cognitive content. Metaphysical art draws on the multicultural iconography, not only of the globe, but of the Beyond. At its best it embodies and reveal the indomitable human Spirit.
KNOW BROW ART
http://knowbrowart.50megs.com
Neither High-brow nor Low-Brow, the Electronic Arts are "KNOW-Brow Art" born of our fusion with technology. In the middle of the forehead, neither high nor low is the Third Eye of inner or visionary sight. Electronic arts, by their very nature, require a great deal of technical knowledge to interface with computer-assisted media. Know Brow art respects and draws from both classical art and that of the underground or street. Digital Media include still frames, Flash, and desktop digital movies, often incorporated with other media, installation, and performance.