Thoughts On Rothko, Art, and I love Lucy by Gregory Strachov
As a good portion of my thinking occurs in studio related endeavors, I realized how much of my life is spent searching for and evaluating imagery. Like a musician who is always aware of rhythm and sound, I too am constantly aware of the visual thoughts which pass through my brain as though the greater consciousness were a river.
Today, as I looked out of the window during a bright Florida afternoon, I shut my eyes and saw the shape and detail of the window as though it left a color negative imprint on the cones of my retina, resulting with a Rothko like image. I could not help but wonder if this was the mechanism which he used to arrive at the seemingly endless visual combinations of color fields on his canvases. I also realized that this could in fact have been the root to his art, an art that we all possess within the mechanisms of our own biology. I wondered if the universality of his imagery is what made his work so familiar that it is considered profound. After all, there was once a movie titled "Being There" with Peter Sellers who played a gardener who uttered absolute nonsense at social occasions and was greeted as though he was a genius. There is a famous baseball player, Yogi Berra, who wrote a book of very simple utterances that are meaningful only in the fact that they may be applied to most situations thus rendering him as being prophetic. Public opinion is an entire course of study and I am not concerned with this matter here. I am simply wondering how a simple utterance or exploration leads to a statement or an art form that the public either celebrates or dismisses.
I also wondered if society in general has a collective consciousness as well as a collective norm. I wondered if the collective norm has its own fluctuations which lead to world events as well as to world confusion. All this wondering is based on the fact that I believe that the human mind is a chemical mechanism whose operating parameters are based on some sort of framework which is like a pattern, unique for every individual, and formed in reaction to the environmental climate and effecting the neurological development of the brain.
Three thousand years ago, everyone lived in much the same way around the world. The needs for survival as well as social norms all formed a sort of rhythm for the mind where the rate and sequence of neurological synapses was specific for that time. Survival and living in those days required a certain pace for information processing. Even in my own time, watching the Lucy show, I noticed that there were long pauses between scenes. Lucy would say something, then Ricky would walk into the room. His facial expression would indicate some sort of reaction to what Lucy had said. All this was done with long pauses permitting the viewer the time to process the information and form a hypothesis. This kind of interaction and timed activity permits the brain to form neurological networks. These networks become the processing mechanism of an entire generation, not because of the Lucy Show, but because this is the way things were done at that time. Interactions in school playgrounds as well as in any social activity were all based on the collective and accepted methods of information processing. An entire generation therefore developed a mindset, or an information processing standard, with which it was able to form the cohesive bonds prevalent among the so called graduating classes...birds of a feather so to speak.
During the present time, I truly see a completely different mindset. Information appears on television screens at a strobe light rate. I wonder if this rate makes a difference in the pattern of neurological synapses, and the kind of networking which occurs, and the resulting processing ability or routing of these nerve cells. After all, it was recently determined that we are not born with a finite number of neurons but rather keep forming new ones as we continue to grow. These brain cells need to link with one another in some way or in some pattern, the order of which forms the processing ability known as the mind. I thought of all this today because I kept on thinking about the art that I do and of the stream of images which to me seem natural and familiar. I also thought about the apparent changes that are occurring in the collective development of the human species as we all begin to process a different pulse rate of information and therefore are forming slightly different neurological patterns and networks than those of the previous generation.
There are examples of how certain frequencies create electrical storms between the two hemisphere's of the brain. One example is a cartoon which had a character that emitted a light at a specific rate. Children who saw this cartoon developed epileptic seizures. There is another case of a road in France. For some reason, there was a high number of accidents reported on that road and at a specific hour. An investigation determined that the trees were distributed in such a way that during a sunset, a strobe light effect was created resulting with a temporary loss of consciousness on the part of some drivers. Therefore certain frequencies do have an effect on the brain.
I see the new art that is being formed by many young and undiscovered contemporary artists. I often see that there is a difference in their skill levels as well as their methods of conveying imagery to what previous generations achieved. I see that there is a great difference in what motivates these young artists. I have noticed that some art is simply an interpretation of current market trends. I also see the hand and influence of art schools. It seems to me that many artists are preoccupied with producing images that simply look like art, as though their work mimics the works that are already celebrated and on museum walls. I rarely see someone producing unique images that show little regard to trend, convention and popularity. It is rare when someone simply does something just to do it well even if it is kitsch. After all, artists are also students of themselves. They are like children who pull on their mother's or father's hand while insisting on sharing their view. I see little difference between an artist at a museum opening and a child saying "look at this!" To me, some of the new art is as confusing as the flickering strobe of unrelated visual information that we are bombarded with during every moment. The difference is profound and as obvious to me as the difference between the way people were dressed at an airport forty years ago and they way the passengers appear today.
Perhaps this is all because human evolution is not gradual but occurs in large steps. The generation preceding this one was at the most refined stage and at the end of that particular step or journey level. Now, the new generation, with all the new electronic inventions is experiencing a significant difference in how information is exchanged. The new generation is therefore on a brand new step in its evolution and therefore needs time to adjust. This new stage requires more exploration in order to determine what the valid neurological paths are. The great variety of youth based inquiries, attempts and questions is what diluted the art that is being produced and created a chaotic appearance. I think this too is a stage that will pass and the inquiries will diminish or rather change from a great variety of patterns to a more directed view from which a refinement will eventually emerge.
I feel that much of the art that I see in contemporary galleries as well as in art schools is based on a fragment of a thought, a fraction, which I suspect is born within the accidental neural synapses which are activated by, what I call, the strobe-light influence. The duration of such synapses does not permit a complete thought to occur but rather permits only a fragment that forever keeps one searching for more as is evident in some artwork. There are very few works of art in the new and contemporary arena that fulfill my mind in some way. This is not to say that art has to offer some solution to a visual puzzle. I feel that it simply has to be able to offer more than random objects, shapes and hues distributed on the surface according to academic standards which mimic authenticity. But then, my generation worked on an entirely different grid pattern. What I see is that the new grid on the new step in evolution has not formed a valid neurological pattern or network yet.
Beethoven used random notes and positioned them to permit the listener to follow some sort of flow as the music progressed. This flow was found to support the concept of Super Learning which was discussed in the book by that same name. Now, a significant portion of the young generation exhibits behavioral and learning disabilities. ADHD if prevalent along with other disorders in today's young population. I do not have statistics which measure the occurrence of these disorders from the past generations, however I can say that I certainly can read and retain information better while I listen to the works by Vivaldi or Bach. I have difficulty concentrating while listening to repetitive drums and loud low frequency sounds that I often hear while driving as my entire car vibrates to the music that is causing the neighboring young driver to destroy his hearing. However, the loud rhythmic music is what soldiers prefer when going into battle and downhill racers listen to when in the starting gate of a competition. Therefore, there is use for this too.
With all that being said, I can now go back to my painting with the hope that it will move the soul of the viewer as much as its image, which is still in my mind, moves me.
