To me, your experience and words on Miro were very touching on many levels. It was dear Miro himself who said " You may see a thousand paintings in your life and not remember one - but you may see one painting in your life that you will never forget".
As you may know, because of what I do, I have given much thought to human communication through art and I have come to the firm conclusion that its true value lies in its necessity as an incubator of future language.

Here I write about that and welcome any comments or questions.

The structure of human thought is born of language and the structure of language gives birth to thought. Each is the others building blocks and mutually conditioned in their formation through memory. Thought is made manifest by words and words denote definition. Definition becomes symbol and reality is obscured by that symbol. The symbol as definition is an illusion that, through its statement, implies an opposite. The implied opposite is the substantiation of dualism, and as such, becomes the springboard of human conflict.

However, there are thought processes that can arise outside of these conditions. They are often termed ‘intuitional responses’ or ‘original thought’ and such mental activity arises outside of the limitations of conscious intellectual thought patterns. Such thought is generally unrecognisable to the conditioned mind and therefore becomes immediately suspect as a form of neurosis, often met with confusion and/or derision.

The only areas where such mental processes are found to be acceptable are in the spiritual or religious domains. Here the ego-driven fear of the unknown and its institutionalised belief systems have always found acceptance. Although even this, as man evolves through scientific education and communication technology, is slowly but surely diminishing.

On the other hand there is one area where such expression dominates and continually gains ground with increasing power. This, of course, is the area of human creativity, commonly known as ‘art’.

In true art the language and expression of the conscious idea comes secondary to intuitive processes. It is this combination of imagination outside of the memory-laden intellect, and intuition beyond logical decision-making that may produce an indelible effect on our nervous system. Such imagery (often through its archetypal strength) becomes assimilated into our cerebral memory bank where it takes root and is assimilated into our conscious awareness. Finally, this new knowledge is assigned its symbolic status and becomes the most vital part of our survival kit as the language of the future.

Keith Morant

I took a look at what you wrote at the blog ... that is why I appreciate you, true, sincere, sensitive and humane!!! That is rare in money-making art world, but for me and you the key for it is work work work.
Yes I am able to talk, but I always feel that I can communicate better in sculpting. Although I can talk, I am not interested in just talking, I want to communicate. But all the things we feel deep inside us... either we do not dear to translate those feelings into words or we do not know how to translate those feelings in a proper and trueful way.
Feelings have their own "abstract" language, every translation of those feelings, will be less strong than the original feeling/emotion. Like a book written in Spanish and translated into English... Spanish means Spanish background, Spanish culture, Spanish way of living Spanish expression. If you are not Spanish... you cannot feel the depth, the width of the meaning of the words, the sentences, you can come close because of a good translator, but not into the heart of it.
Using another wordless medium like visual art or vocal art, you may cross the borders because it is from heart to heart, soul to soul, and then communication seems to be much easier. An arm around your shoulder or a warm smile communicate better than thousands words, and a smile takes less than a second... deep communication within an a second, which language can accomplish that? Art can.
So yes, I loved the thing you wrote, also the "simple" way you wrote it. To write about important things is normally complicated, you made it simple, I guess because you came very close to the truth.

Hi all:
I would go along with what the German philosopher Goethe said about how art is an escape from reality. We enter a work of art and a good piece takes us in but throws us back into the world feeling refreshed. Although I don't agree with all of what Joseph Campbell said, he has a good point about how the art viewer enters a work of art as if he or she enters a cathedral (St.Patrick's in N.Y. was the example). You enter sometimes with a great feeling of spiritual presence and visual joy and then you go back out into the noisy street with a new perspective.

Dear Paola,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on your blog.
The more I read and study the work of artists you have chosen to work with and write about and your own thoughts, it seems we share a similar vision, even though we express it different ways, we share a language that speaks volumes without words, like music. Different rhythms, different speeds, simple marks and complex patterns sometimes overlain with a ghost of colour, sometimes left bare as simple marks, but all composed, sometimes by instinct, sometimes by design into messages that cannot be explained, but felt. And they are enjoyed and words do come into their own to voice the experience of looking and feeling and sharing something that eludes explanation, yet has the essence of magic and a celebration of being alive.
In the 1970's when I was a student, I walked in front of a huge Morris Louis Alpha Beta painting. A great belly of plain canvas between two corners banded with poured stripes of colour, time passed in walking from one side to the other, yet when one stepped a long way back, the journey altered to being one of just your eyes passing over the surface, rather than the physical journey of walking close to its surface. Very special, beautiful work, never to be forgotten. Wonderful.

Paola,
Many of my artist friends have been talking about the exact same thing. We are all taking a good hard look at the art favored for prominent shows and reviewed in established art magazines. The era of shocking, mysterious, incomprehensible, and elite art is coming to an end. We can all feel it. There has always been throughout history a human need to make art, to share it, and to experience it. Great art for me, as you had said, is work that offers an experience - an experience that goes deeper than intellect, deeper than a surface shock, evoking emotions that connect to the human experience. When I look at an artwork, my immediate response usually tells all. The work, if successful, will draw me into it deeply, invite me to peruse its elements, enjoy it on many levels, and keep me rooted in my viewing spot. I hesitate to leave it, like a new lover. Work that has these qualities is usually work created un-self-consciously, with no agenda to report, with joy and a certain ease - not trying so hard. Great art is hard to find, and takes guts to make.

Hi Paola,
It took me some time to get to read it but at last I did and I like your point of view. First of all I love Miro. As you know I never learned art really, so I don't know the rules and so on, my point of view is emotional mostly, as almost all my work is. When I see Miro I smile, and so for me that is the main point. He makes me feel good, so I stay longer to look and feel. Usually I don't like to explain art, and I don't like art works that needs to be explained. For me, if it must be explained – it means that the artist didn't succeed to expressing his saying. And something else is, I think that if a work is good, it talks, and it does not matter if everybody else is "understans" the same thing, as long as it talks to him/her and make him/her think and feel. I think that is the greatness of art. It talks through the eyes and heart and maybe later your brain, with no need to have the same languish- (except for written arts.)

Well- just some thoughts I had while reading your words. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

There is the undercurrent of worry in your words, but I think they are sound. It reminds me of a situation I found myself in with my work around end 2005 and early 2006. I doubted everything I had done in my work and convinced myself that I had to rethink my whole approach to making art. I broodied over my position for the best part of a year and produced very little work. I thought that I should be making more "noise" with my work, but when I came out the other side I realized that the subtleties in my work say more than a brazen gesture. My decision was to get back to basics and make my work even more formal. I like to evoke emotion, images, journeys etc from simple manipulation of materials in color and form. This is how I speak to the world and this is how I do it. After this difficult period I produced the "Arrangement Series". It made me think of how strong many of my ideas from years ago have stuck with me and how sometimes it is easy to loose sight of them too.