Spiritual Visualizing...

As I have mentioned before, I am a themescapist - that is, one who takes abstract ideas and visualizes them, using those ideas as the themes for the rendering... while am well aware this is not how most others approach their rendering, I thought it might be instructive to explain more of how this theming works, the foundations so to speak on which I build my understanding of what art is and what it takes to present what I consider of importance in showing...

Most artists, as I think have also mentioned, are not very philosophical about their field - it is sort of taken for granted of that field, that they like being involved in it and what they choose to show... but, for me at least, having a formal grounding as it were helps solidify my renderings, and indeed aids much in that continuity of being creative - something which would be of interest, am sure, to others, even if they not agree with some of my foundational views...

The basis for my being a themescapist is that I see the artist as much more than a mere illustrator [not that there is anything wrong with that, only that there is more to art than that] - I see the artist as a 'spiritual visualizer'... this means that the material world is just that - it simply is, nothing more, and that the spirituality involves showing value to those aspects of the material, showing meaning to what otherwise is meaningless...

Spirituality means recognizing that life, too, simply 'is', a normal aspect of existence within the universe, and that whatever meaning is applied to it - is PERSONAL, something which one gives to oneself, and directs as such, as one's own 'captain of soul'... creating, as such, one's own destiny... one way to help in doing this is to understand what aesthetics itself is all about - the science of beauty - involving order, proportion, balance, harmony, and grace... this way, one can learn to discern those aspects of the utilitarian which lead one to appeal to them and desire them, even if only as visual aspects of reality which remind one of interrelationships with the world at large... that is, one could say, the purpose of it being within the crafts - and why those crafts themselves are used within the created realms of the renderer, the artist... this also involves understanding that there is a spirituality of productiveness, of the utilitarian aspect of survivalship for being human... productiveness is a form of practicalizing ethics, with the spirituality involved in the qualification of that productiveness - especially from the personal standpoint of the individual... productive ability is a moral value - and, like all values, a course of virtue is required in order to gain and/or keep it... this means recognising that all "work is an act of creating, and comes from the same source - from an inviolate capacity to see thru one's own eyes", as the philosopher Rand wrote... a businessman/woman, fully as much as an artist, or artisan, is an exponent of spirituality... moreover, since there is the key factor of integration involved, an artist or artisan, fully as much as a businessman/woman, has to be involved in the material of the universe... one could well say that Art, like any legitimate area of endeavor, has a life-sustaining purpose - and that its creation demands objective, reality-oriented thought, with the then embodiment of that thought in a physical medium... this further means that there is no such sense of opposing the 'spiritual' versus the 'material', that no rational area may be pitted against another - that ALL proper arenas or fields require thought AND action - that ALL exemplify the integration of mind and body, as is the naturalness of the universe... remember - there are no contradictions within the universe, and if one is perceived, then there is a need to check the premises, for one or more of those are in error...

As a spiritual visualizer, it should be clear that an artist, then, should show purposefulness - which means productiveness, either directly thru the metaphorical examplings, or indirectly thru passages of effects... this last would mean the showing of progress thru the various stages of developness of whatever was being shown... using metaphoric relatings, the moralness of being productive can be made visual - not propagandizingly so, but as a natural course of events AS SEEN IN THE UNIVERSE THAT IS THE RENDERING... this is emphasized because it cannot be stated too much that purposefulness involves, as Rand pointed out, 'remaking the earth in the image of one's values'... further, that this in turn implies the recognition that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS INTRINSIC VALUES, that the earth simply is, and as such simply is material to be used...

Why is it that VALUES are so important to an artist? For one thing, it has to do with that universe within which is shown in every work rendered... what is or is not within the boundaries of the canvas displays the morals of the artist... at first glance, this does not seem to be so - but consider the implications of the fact that what is included within is so because it is considered to be of importance, and what is considered to be of importance stems from one's value, which are the source of importances... if there is no such thing as intrinsic values, that the elements of reality simply exist and as such are there to be ascribed value by those wishing to make use of the components, then whatever is shown within the confines of any work of art is an expression of what the artist considers to be of importance, and as such, what is of value to the artist...

Now, there are values and there are values - a value, as said, is what one acts to gain and/or keep - and the only values worth pursuing would, therefore, be those which are VIABLE VALUES, values which pertain to enhancing the well-being of being human, values which aid in the flourishing of being human... this is the task of being a spiritual visualizer - to show these possible viable values and how the materials of existence can be utilized to incorporate those values into the reality of each person's life...

[DO NOTE THAT THE WORD 'VALUE' USED HERE IS NOT THE SAME MEANING AS WHEN URGING ARTISTS TO 'PUSH THE VALUES' - just in case someone has a wee bit of confusion]