This juxtaposition of separate works, the end result of so much robust personal history collide to illustrate unique visions of how each artist perceives the world at large; from something entirely small, seemingly inconsequential and too personal to ignore, to the possibility of reinvention and rejection. This need to repel Categorization that bombards us every day like so many digital vultures pecking at the qualitative bunk of class structures, wealth, competition, and the misery of the poor. In order to free yourself from this malaise of our current era, where every detail cannot escape the inevitable mark of rank we must free ourselves, break away, but not entirely…just enough to become intra-active.
The complex tonalities of Mr. Arnautoff’s lyrical explorations compels us to truly listen, if in fact we are truly aware, like so many years before when he discovered Oedipus by Harry Parch. As we listen, and choose to resist the temptation to categorize we may reach a place where the current state of affairs, the affliction of the “disembodied mind” becomes rendered whole once again…further examination as the strings vibrate from complex, often painful contortions of the hand and wrist reveal the brilliant eloquence of unique rhythms that hide a much deeper mystery behind waves of passion and clarity.
Mr. Williamson captures the enduring impact of lasting personal ties, reinvigorating the eternal image of his mother through color and broad strokes, eyes wide, seeking. This vibrant portrait compels us to consider the psychological make-up behind the image, whereas the complex abstractions of several panels create a lavish quilt that evokes the psychological connection to unsere Familie. Ideas when feeling becomes articulated through personal connections extend far into the realm of abstraction. Sensing the rhythm of the quilt through the extraordinary use of color, where crucial blocks remain excluded or emphasized creates an extraordinary tapestry from the seemingly ordinary. In the realm of art the perceptive mind plays a far more substantial role, to make complete perhaps the mind body dichotomy that has plagued western thought with seemingly endless transgressions against the true nature of existence.
This eternal investigation that reveals what we are truly capable of denies the systematic breaking apart of our psychological make-up in order to categorize it. Existence frozen in an instant that identifies the past and present of all human life, as in The TattooedBaby by TV Tommy Vision where the significance of birth, the individual, and raw experience become expressed through text and tattoos. The iconic image of the bowling ball by Mr. Spitzack as it hangs suspended, captured through broad organic prints of red and black, emphasizing the primary if not primacy of where our sensibilities should lie as we hurl the ball at the unsuspecting pins standing ready to accept the inevitable…
In the realm of exploration discovery continues to endure, and in the realm of art everything becomes possible, if not permitted. Nothing remains free from the fascination that stems from our paradoxically finite existence, no matter how many veils of disbelief seek to subvert the truth by promising eternal rewards. Spirituality exists right at the end of so many unsuspecting noses.
These artists – Michael Williamson, Charles Spitzack, Phillip Arnautoff, and TV TommyVision assert the physical inevitability of who we are through explorations that reveal the desire for a new iconography, and hence new a found freedom that resists convention, and in some cases denounces it with renewed vigor; a tattooed baby, tonalities devoid of beats, cut and pasted panels of abstracted clothe, a bowling ball suspended in space. From the tonalities used in the complex expressions of rhythm to the tonalities revealed through color it becomes a matter of adherence to life affirming ideas; mind and body become irreducible, healed from the torments of a qualitative world and in defiance of the destructive force that seduces so many…
