Photo by Roger Hyland
How do you see the world? Is it ugly, beautiful, evil, good, exciting, depressing? A mixture? None of these? The mind’s eye is a strange expression. According to wiki (the fount of all knowledge!) it refers to the human ability for visualization using the imagination.
When you look at an object, or a place, do you see what is there – or beyond this? Can you see what it means, or meant; its place in history? Does it evoke the past?
Recently, I spent an absorbing few hours catching up on programmes I recorded on Sky Arts (a brilliant source of material) which began with a film about my favourite artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) the Dutch pioneer of abstract art. Mondrian is my favourite artist. He sought through his work to find essence and truth using horizontal and vertical lines, to create a new kind of beauty through geometry. His art is about structure, distillation, order and emotional connection and he wanted his art to be part of a greater whole. Not surprisingly he saw architecture as living art. On arrival in New York in 1940 he commented, “They told me New York was a hellish place, where you grew old before your time and gangsters made the law. That may well be true. But that is not the New York I saw, the one I loved and thought of as my own.” He saw beauty in the lights, the sounds, the skyscrapers and the vibrancy. The film, called Dans L’Atelier de Mondrian (in the studio of Mondrian) shows the artist’s studio as a working art installation and moves me to tears every time I see it. Mondrian lived in poverty most of his austere life and did not receive critical recognition until he was in seventies. (A familiar story for so many creatives, regrettably).
The next film was a documentary called Hitchcock on Grierson, which offered further insights into the ways other creatives have seen the world. It’s always interesting to see what one film director thinks of another and how he was influenced. I admire much of Hitchcock’s work but knew little about Dr John Grierson, who I discovered was a prolific, influential and pioneering Scottish film director and producer (1898-1972) who used documentary to express his distinctive way of seeing the world, utilising stunning shots to find patterns in objects not usually considered art, such as scaffolding and cranes, and seeing beauty and meaning in geometric shapes and structures and feats of engineering. It reminded me of Mondrian, and also the French composer (and one of my favourites) Edgard Varese (1883-1965) a visionary who had been dreaming of new sounds and electronic music a generation before it was technically possible, and whose astonishing blocks of dissonant sound are incredibly beautiful. Listening to his music, it is not surprising to learn of his fascination with architectural structures.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8FcxVKIAwo extract from Octandre by Edgard Varese
Reflecting on the way that these contrasting but connected artists saw the world, I was also reminded of doing art classes at school, and learning about seeing the light and shade in an object like a pot or a piece of cutlery. For a long time, I just didn’t get this. I couldn’t see it. Then, one day, I did and it was like a revelation which has never left me. Like being let in on a wonderful secret.
Finally, I watched a deeply moving and hauntingly beautiful film called The Way of the Morris. http://www.wayofthemorris.com/
Written and presented by Tim Plester (who was also co-producer and co-director) it is a personal, heartfelt journey, both physical and spiritual. Every shot was like a painting or photograph, with amazing lighting and stunning landscapes. Subtlely observed, like Grierson, this film used documentary to convey something profound about community, ritual, and the human soul, and what tradition and shared history can mean to us.
To see beauty is a gift. I’m a natural pessimist. I get angry about injustice and passionate about causes I believe in. But I can get emotional about beautiful landscapes and wild birds; about music, art, film, and literature.
In the 1940s, Mondrian wrote: “Art today is condemned to a separate existence, for present day life is essentially tragic. But in some distant future, art and life will be one.”
How do you see the world? Consonant or dissonant? Can you find beauty easily? And has your view changed over the years?
Links:
https://creatabot.co.uk/2013/08/13/the-vision-and-the-voice-part-1-by-jane-ayres/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind’s_eye
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/198800.html
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Edgard+Var%C3%A8se
To find out more about Jane’s writing and publishing experiences, visit her blog www.janeayres.blogspot.co.uk
Her recent e-book, Beware of the Horse, is available from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beware-of-the-Horse-ebook/dp/B00BEJTDUE/
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