DIRECT EXPRESSIONISM (working definition)
Any work of art or process of artistic creation/interaction in which
the mode of encounter deals primarily with perception itself.
All art is
perceptible in various ways and the process of perception is deeply
rooted in how we construct and experience reality. This form of
expression is unique in that it seeks to penetrate and bring about an
awareness of perception's most essential moment to moment operations
within the realm of individual consciousness. Thus one gains insight
into the actual processes of perception in which one is continually
constructing reality from.
The artist(s)
engaged in such art enters into expanded states of awareness in order
to contact directly their perception of the medium so that they may
arrange the medium into a transformable context of perceptual
communication.
This is not simply
creating tricks for they eye such as in "optic art", rather
it deals more essentially with perception and consciousness as a
whole, in its primary processes out of which mind, the self, and the
world originate. Thus the originality rests not in contacting meaning
or form in a new way, instead it rests primarily in contacting
perception in new ways by creating out of an increased awareness of
it's original experience constructing processes.
Such art may also be
related with the increasing ability of science and technology to
understand and utilize subtle forms of matter. This subtle utilization
increases the ability to structure surrounding mediums more freely
and directly across time and space in order to express an
individual's (or group of individuals) state of perception or
consciousness more accurately, and subsequently/simultaneously
contact the art viewer more directly as well. This relation may
also be a reciprocal process, in that by bringing about and
encouraging new more "original" ways of perceiving, new
hypotheses may be formed to be then tested by science.
The expressive
element of this art may go unnoticed for many viewers. As the artist
contacts his perception deeply, the realm of self identity and memory
ceases to command his attention.
The expanded
awareness out of which the artist creates is not simply that in which
the creative use of the medium arises. It is also the awareness out
of which all notions of self and other arise as well.
The outcome of the
process then may appear empty to others as it is not created out of
the drive of a self to fit or manipulate particular conventions of
meaning or aesthetics. As the expression is increasingly devoid of
self and conceptualization, the expression enters a flow of self,
material, space, time, and universe acting as an undivided whole.
Such a creative
encounter deals not exclusively with creating order out of the chaos
of self, society, and mankind's conscious and subconscious
existential difficulties. It subtly creates order out of the cosmic
bath of the Universe itself.
Ultimately,
expression and perception are realized to be one as the artist
transcends identity, fear, and limitation by entering into
(realizing) the Infinite Creative Being of the Universe.
Verbal translation
of perception and expression as one:
To truly express
something, one must perceive it. (not necessarily knowingly)
For example,
to truly express yourself, you must first perceive yourself
deeply.
To perceive something truly, one must express it.
(this is a little harder to accept)
For example
you see a tree. You see a tree and say, "I know that tree".
Yet you know an image fitting a category. You do not perceive the
roots, the water flowing inside, the balance of trunk and limbs, etc.
Nor do you know the seed that brought the tree about, and where the
seed came from, etc. Once looked into it deeply either
contemplatively or through science, one comes to the emptiness of
that particular tree and all objects of perception in their
interconnectedness to everything else and their essential nature as
pure energy. Therefore, to fully perceive the tree, one simply
becomes the tree expressing itself as "treeing" or a human
being by simply expressing being.
These are not two
separated processes, in that they arise reciprocally together. For
instance, by expressing one's unconsciousness one may be able to
better perceive it, and by increasingly perceiving it, they may then
increasingly express it.
In spiritual terms, once one
directly perceives their inner reality as Unity, one may creatively
express from this perception. Or, if one expresses out of the
creative flow of the universe, they may then be able to perceive and
realize themselves as this flow or Unity, which is the Source of
their expression.
Ultimately, one sees the emptiness in
the perceived and the emptiness in that which is expressing (the
self, the other). The distinguishing of the Universe as Creation, and
self or mankind as creating, ceases moment by moment into Wholeness.
"The artist is
the man who sacrifices objective existence for subjective existence,
who chooses to exist in his work rather than in the world and in
history. If he sometimes shirks the norms of daily life, it is
because he vaguely believes that it is not his behavior in this life
that he can be reached and judged. And perhaps individuals who
believe this most clearly and bitterly are those who experience
themselves as alienated, dispossessed, or lost. For them true life
lies elsewhere, in the universe of the work which is disclosed
whenever the work meets the public......"
From The
Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience
“Like it or not,
if you look at your own mind you will discover it is void and
groundless; as insubstantial as empty space.”
Guru
Padmasambhava
