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06/15/2009: "Is art?"

Is art exactly this or something else?

Is it revealed or created?
Is it contained or merely channeled?

Is art natural like the sweat dripping down my back on a hot day?
Is art artificial like a phoney smile from a hypocrit person?
Is art deliberately superficial like arching an arrow to a distant target?

Is it casual yet intentful as the autumn fall?
Is it innocent yet provoking like a nude baby?
Is it bright yet temporary like falling inlove?
Is it straight-forward emotional yet deceiving as a Heroin addict?



Art is an occupation rather than a vocation;
It is a means rather than an aim;
Is is the scenery rather than the path;
It is a tool rather than a Force�

Spontaneous yet controlled;
Truthful yet compassionate;
Deep yet immediate;

Aware art is the face of man;
Spiritually aware Art is the face of God.

Art is nothing without us.

Replies: 10 Comments

on Sunday, June 21st, Adrian said

there is absolutely no separation between the paintbrush and the hand that picks it up. what looks like a body and a hand that picks something up ,as in a paintbrush, and then executes an action called art looks like a sequence of events...a sequence of events that are only read as such because attention can only rest on one thing or thought at a time.

It is just there to be aware of...awareness itself aware of the thought called 'I' or 'me'. But it is this awareness that seems to always be prior to whatever appears...its awareness that makes the appearance, and awareness just is...full stop. Awareness is the appearance and vica-versa, as this there is no separation, no 'God' making 'my' hand move...just this Oneness that looks as if something is happening.

Unexplainable, yet pointed to with words
with Art.

on Friday, June 19th, findigart said

hey fandej...i don't think that art in it self has any true essence and energy until we start cognizing it, recognizing it, feeling it and judging it.
otherwise all creation is basically raw art in itself and by itself and man has nothing to add, subtract or channel through or to it.
it is just there to be aware of.

on Friday, June 19th, findigart said

hey adrian,

...however, even if great art happens by itself, it still needs the body to convey it's spirit into essence - a paintbrush will not pick itself up to create art, and perhaps that is what cecil meant.

and yeah...i'm still kicking :-) perhaps too much

on Thursday, June 18th, fanndej said

Art has different meanings to each and everyone of us.
Just like science it seeks the truth.

It adds new dimensions to our lives.
It is enriching.
It is food for our souls.

It can lift you up.
It can make you smile.
It can make you fall in love.

It can be bright, yellow or red.
It can be sunny and radiant,like the colors of the leaves in the fall.

Let's stay there.
Let's never forget.
Let's be sunny always!

on Wednesday, June 17th, Adrian said

Hi Findigart,

hey, I'm glad you're still live and kicking...and getting horny lol

...well now that says alot about the painting eh:-))) that it can stir things up somewhat. Guess thats what brings taboo on...sexual taboos about whats right and whats wrong with sexuality. I'm also impressed that you can be open about that nude...some nudes stir things up for me too another reason I took to painting that particular one. When one can enjoy feeling a womans body, and then portray that enjoyment through a painting of a nude, then that could be called pure expression or it could be called pop kitch...or whatever. Those where precisely the two thoughts that kept popping up while painting it. the jabbering thoughts of "should I or should I not" paint a nude in this way, reminded of the old story of snake apple woman and paradise(and no God around). The movement, called painting, that made that nude appear...this movement was being conscious of itself as a movement and nothing else while it was happening. And even if the painting was painted from a photograph, the feeling of the curves was directly experienced...curves that can invoke sexual excitement. Actually...it was as if the nude was being experienced by no one....there was a sense of horny...that did'nt belong to anyone...i.e the concept of being a human had dissappeared
Cecil Herring, on the other hand, implies that he can feel God using his hands to paint. This is why I stated that God doesnt do anything. The concept of being a human that is used by God, is only conceptual...and as this, thus has a rally of assumptions attatched to it. Its a well trodden set of ideas about a God that created man and then ignoring the part about God creating man in his own image. And if this is so, then what is called human is also called God and as this there is only One and then no creation ever happened either...its always only ever and will be now One Being. And by that I mean only One and not two. The 'two', so-to-speak, would be an after thought and we all know what kinda confusion can set in when after thoughts appear to get attatched to eachother. Because then suddenly there is an idea called separation and relationship. But to what?...With only Oneness, who is really relating to what?
Who knows...its all the same One.
No issue here with Cecil Herring...just prompting to go further than the established set of ideas...the status quo of spirituality or religion...or Art for that matter.
Magnificient art happens purely and totally by itself...it is intelligence itself, or God itself...everything else is an after thought.

on Wednesday, June 17th, findigart said

Hey Adrian :-) How are you?

Loved your new painting (the nude woman) by the way... made me horny. as crude as this might sound... well art is supposed to make you feel among other things, so here goes.

And God might be short for GoDaddy.com Web Hosting...

But seriously (?) I never said he does something...or have I?

on Tuesday, June 16th, Adrian said

Art is short for Arthur ;-)...as for God doing anything...now thats impossible.

on Tuesday, June 16th, Ellen said

Art is breathing.

on Tuesday, June 16th, findigart said

Hi Cecil,

Oh, this makes a lot of sense to me. "...if I can remember how hard I worked at them I know it was me and not God!" - that, to me, says it all. this is the quintessential manifestation of being a tool in the hands of concentration and inspiration.

Indeed you are only human as we are all :-) and this is a flaw only in those cases where it justifies being evil and mean to Creation and to others, otherwise it is a great opportunity...

on Monday, June 15th, Cecil Herring said

I let God make the art. I let my hand, both left and right be taken over and stop when my brain consciously takes over and becomes analytical and finds faults. My white heat becomes cold. When I have control I have control. When I don't have control God makes the art. I can feel God using my hand(s). It's absolutely vital that I continue until I cannot continue. There is a magic moment when I must not make one more stroke. My hand is stilled. Later I see how perfect God's work was. I cannot remember how it was done. I don't know how it was done. It is a separate state of being. I am going back and looking at all my works. If I can remember how hard I worked at them I know it was me and not God! Does this make any sense? I am only human!