It is a
human thing to find shapes in things. Abstract art survives and
thrives because of this. It also relates directly to primitive art,
and to ink blot tests.
All kinds of shapes, figures, and faces, appear in my work that are
not intentionally put there. People are always commenting on this.
The most shocking example was in "Vulnerables", a painting of baby
birdlets in an exposed nest, surrounded by bright, domestic flowers.
Although, as artists do, I had stepped back many times in
contemplation, it was not until hung on the wall, that the flowers
took on the terrible, ugly shapes of human heads.
Painting countless rocky, stream beds, it is always surprising to
find them full of faces, none put there on purpose.
"For me a form is never something abstract; it is always a sign
of something. It is always a man, a bird, or something else. For me
painting is never form for form's sake..." (99)
Joan Miro
If someone looks at a picture for a short time they will see the
most obvious aspects. If studied for a longer period of time other
images will be seen. This is in order to fulfil the mind's need to
escape boredom. The person who contemplates or studies the picture,
is perhaps "profiting from the Gestalt disintegration brought about
by prolonged inspection." (100)
"Any true work of art requires the cooperation of all the
essential layers of the mind - ...Accident is a shrewd helper, and
the unconscious is a powerful one. Art has always profited from both
- but only as assistants." (101)
Rudolf Arnheim
99. Herschel B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art, (Berkeley and L.A.,
Cal., University of California Press, 1968)p.432
100. Rudolf Arnheim, Toward A Psychology of Art, (Berkeley and L.A.
Cal., University of California Press, 1966), p.296
101. ibid.,p.p.177, 178.
