LUCID PAINTING
By Gordon Onslow Ford
Civilization is entering a new era.
Modern Art, after having been eclipsed by prevalent art fashions,
is once again beginning to exert a deepening influence
on the way in which the world is seen.
The principal subjects of Modern Art:
the direct
experience of the wonders of nature,
the
interactions between space, time, matter and energy,
the
involvement with human relations, dream and poetry,
are now increasingly present preoccupations that are moving
into the deeper levels of consciousness of the Inner Worlds.
The frontiers of Modern Art
now lie in exploring the vast, minute and mysterious expanses
of the Inner Worlds of the shared unconscious.
Lucid painting comes from a way of life
aspiring towards an ever greater transparency of being
and expresses never seen before aspects of the Inner Worlds
that are on the frontier of the unknown for the painter.
The Inner Worlds
The Inner Worlds of the shared unconscious
become apparent beyond the boundaries
open to investigation by rational inquiry.
The Inner Worlds constitute the creative life force
that is inherent in all forms of matter.
The Inner Worlds exist in a hierarchy of levels
that become more inclusive,
greater/smaller in dimensions
as they involve through Inner World to Inner World
to the depths of the Mind Shared by All.
An Inner World of involution contains and surpasses
in depth and content
the Inner Worlds that have led up to it.
The Inner Worlds are invisible,
but aspects of an Inner World can become visible
through revelation, insight or spontaneous painting.
Each Inner World has its own kind of structured presence that houses
an interplay of basic elements, zones, lines of force, beings and auras
proper to the nature of the World.
Each Inner World, so it seems, is open to endless discovery.
As an Inner World is appearing spontaneously,
the painter, as an individual, disappears into the World.
The nature of the Inner World that is appearing becomes the subject
and, with attention, tends to become self-organizing and to grow.
Spontaneous Painting
The human eye is as yet young
and is learning to see faster and in greater depth.
Aspects of an Inner World can be caught through spontaneous painting.
Spontaneous painting comes into being at a speed
faster than rational thought,
faster than objects of the outer world can be depicted
or words can be written.
Spontaneously painting happens
while full attention is given to what is appearing
as it appears.
In spontaneous painting the painter, as an individual,
becomes an instrument of the Mind Shared by All.
A spontaneous line begins in one place,
makes its mark in the painting
and ends in another place.
In this way, a manifestation of an Inner World
is caught in motion as it appears
and is seen in the painting as being still.
One spontaneous manifestation leads to another
and so an aspect of an Inner World comes into view,
and, though never seen before, sooner or later
awakens nostalgic memories of a long forgotten home.
The original essence of an Inner World may well first be linear
and appear in black and white.
The play of colour with black and white eventually follows.
Here, the invention of the painter comes in.
In the Inner Worlds, colour and line play together and complement each
other,
yet each retains its own identity
in the sense that the one is not bounded or dominated by the other.
In this spirit an aspect of an inner world comes into view.
One has the impression that nothing is hidden.
All that there is in the painting is visible and inevitable.
When the spirit of an Inner World has been well explored
and has entered consciousness,
Spontaneous painting can speed up
and there is a leap to a deeper world
and so the adventure can involve from Inner World to Inner World
towards the Instant, that mysterious omnipresent point
where speed and time no longer seem to apply.
The fastest lines possible are the line, the circle and the dot.
The spontaneous world of line circle dot 
is an expression of the Depths and,
as far as painting is concerned, is the place of Beginnings
that embodies the underlying spirit of evolution.*
Contemplation
A spontaneous manifestation of lines and marks
is an impersonal phenomenon that,
like a tree in the outer world,
invites contemplation so that it can be seen
and make a contribution to consciousness.
Contemplation, in this context, is
being in the presence of a spontaneous manifestation
with the mind open to the MIND.
In this way there is a chance that the painter will see anew
or be inspired to paint spontaneously.
* See Once Upon a Time: The Line
Circle Dot World, Lucid Art Foundation, 1999.
When the mind is open,
attention is instinctively drawn to the frontiers of the unknown.
According to the painter's level of consciousness,
the frontiers of the unknown
may be a world of involution toward the Depths,
it may be in the Depths,
or it may be a world of evolution from the Depths
towards a new myth
and a primal planetary image of woman and man
that is as yet a vague haunt awaiting creation.
If the painter tries to venture too deep too fast into the Inner
Worlds
before the mind is ready,
opaque barriers are apt to block the way
and there is indecision about what to do next.
Then, a return should be made to the painter's frontier of the unknown.
There, with perseverance in spontaneous painting and contemplation,
sooner or later the mind has a chance to become lucid.
Lucid Painting
Only one Inner World can be explored wholeheartedly at a time.
Lucid seeing selects, filters and focuses on those aspects of
spontaneous painting
that are at the frontiers of the unknown for the painter.
It is amazing and heart-warming how the Mind awakens the mind
to become lucid to the next stage of growth in the Inner Worlds.
When seeing is lucid, aspects of spontaneous painting
that are on the frontier of the unknown
stand out and shine.
Lucid painting is inspired by lucid seeing
or the two can happen simultaneously.
As a lucid painting appears,
there is no doubt about the rightness of what is appearing,
such as: is it well painted? Or, what should appear next?
The spirit of the world takes over
and the painting assumes form naturally.
Lucid painting grows from what has already been painted
and expresses the never-seen-before.
Through lucid painting and contemplation, consciousness expands,
seeing within deepens seeing without,
and the world in which one lives
becomes more inclusive and intimate.
A planetary civilization with a cosmic art is in the air.
|