Pacific Art
By Gordon Onslow Ford
For the painter there is always an influence in his paintings of the
local environment.
Here in the West, our nature is in great part formed by the wilds:
The high Sierra,
the deep canyons and waterways,
the groves of giant Sequoias,
the towering Redwood forests,
the great expanses of desert
and the Pacific coastline in all its different aspects and moods.
The wilds of the West are grandiose and marvelous. If the painter
tries
to depict an aspect of the wilds as it appears to the eye, the painting
never quite achieves the awe invoked by the original experience.
The most important influence of the wilds of nature, for the painter,
is to awaken the universal spirit of creation of the MIND Shared by All
and thus to open the way for spontaneous painting.
Spontaneous painting takes place faster than the speed of thought.
In spontaneous painting it is the MIND that creates
and the painter becomes but an instrument of the MIND.
In spontaneous painting a line that is made with full attention,
faster
than the speed of thought, is caught in motion as it happens under the
hand
and is seen in the painting as being still. Thus an element of an inner
world in motion, that is too fast to be seen by the eye, is translated
into stillness and
becomes visible.
One spontaneous line leads to another.
The lines evoke auras of colour and are seen to float in structures of
space and a painting begins to take on form. Every element that has
appeared is visible, in the sense that, nothing is hidden behind
anything else.
Through the cultivation of the Open Mind, perseverance in spontaneous
painting and the contemplation of what has appeared, aspects of an Inner
World of the shared unconscious (the wilds of nature within) come into
view and, through the contemplation of what has appeared, consciousness
grows.
Each Inner World image comes from somewhere and points somewhere.
The adventure is endless.
Spontaneous painting is an experience that gives the painter a
feeling
of being part of the universal spirit of creation.
When the painter becomes at home in the Inner World that is
appearing,
spontaneous painting can become faster and the adventure moves into a
deeper world of the shared unconscious. The adventure moves from the
worlds of Inner Earth to the worlds of Inner Sky.
Each Inner World has its own kind of space-time-life.
The adventure eventually arrives at the line circle dot world.
The line, the circle and the dot are the fastest calligraphic lines that
can be made
and, in figurations, that are always seen for the first time, can
express the depths of the MIND Shared by All, as close as can be, to the
Void: the mysterious, inexpressible spirit of creation that is inherent
in all forms of life.
* * *
In the last century, the various movements of Modern Art, that came
to
life in Europe, took as subject matter images derived from the outer
world (landscapes, figures, interiors, still lives, etc.) and , at the
same time incorporated, in original ways, influences from the Inner
Worlds
of the invisible Spirit of the shared unconscious. In this way the
Academic approach to art was transformed into Modern Art.
This first stage of Modern Art is increasingly venerated but, its
spirit, dealing with the profound mysteries of life, has long been
underground in the prevailing practices of the present art world.
Now, once again, the universal spirit of creation is in the air.
The atmosphere is right for the next stage of Modern Art: the
exploration of
the Inner Worlds of the Shared Unconscious.
Here, acknowledgment with deep gratitude should be given to the
influence of the wisdom of the spirit as revealed by the sages of
Hinduism, the Tao, Buddhism and Zen.
What better place for this adventure to begin than the young and
forming culture of the West Coast of America facing the Pacific Ocean.
Gordon Onslow Ford, 2002
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