beinArt International Surreal Art Forum

[ClintonB]

Surrealism, obviously the first impression this word conjures up may be images of the paintings of Salvador Dali and the like, however I doubt whether the founding fathers of this beautiful movement, had a fraction of the access that we do to day (advent internet), other than their own explorations, ancient writings as well as their contemporaries, influences and peers such as Andre Breton, Freud ext.


Personally I believe that pioneers such as Max Planck one of the progenitors of quantum physics as well as the likes of David Bohm had a far more useful impact in ,breaking the ice that separates religious dogma and the rigged Newtonian Science that has marked the accepted and acceptable understandings of the past 20th century.
Barring the free exchange of ideas and uncensored exploration of the nature of our reality that we enjoy today. (at least...the collective one that is ;o).

In my opinion we will never truly define the true nature of our existence, as long as it is subject to human terms, one that is constantly being redefined and evolves, just as we do.(all be it slowly)

"This Reality is a Subjective and Consensual all be it a Collective Reality, ......
Within which we collectively find ourselves and within which, we define and redefine our Human experience"

ie: FREE WILL

I would suggest that, as definitions go, that is as good a place to start as any .

To truly understand this and our role as contributors, we must first accept that our role as human beings is temporal, and that we, like our reality itself, must not be sought through finite terms or understandings.
There in lies the irony of our understanding, limited as it is, by the mediums through which we can articulate, whether it is by pen ,paint brush or any other medium of artistic expression.
As Artists we must attempt to break through this barrier, this "logic", which is only a Construct of the rational mind.

Given the freedoms we have today, (much of which we take for granted), there is much less judgment cast, far less restriction (and far too much apathy) in the direction of those who would postulate through the medium of art, the true subjective and interchangeable nature of reality, to the extent that the very definition of the word "Reality" becomes subject to our own preconditions.

Perhaps that is the problem today, the reason why there has been no break through movement that stands out amongst the achievements and momentum built by our predecessors, restricted judged and oppressed as they were by the conforms of Rigged Science and Religious Dogma.
Are we simply coasting along a wave of mediocrity?
A Prosaic reaction to a Prozac society.

As Artists were does our responsibility begin and end?
Have we really become so "comfortably numb" ???

To break New ground, to tear down New Boundaries, we must first realize that they exist, We must forget what we know, what we think we know . This middle class, luke warm education/indoctrination, Accept that we have been spoon fed and sugar coated in to intellectual obesity.

We have saturated this fish bowl society with comfortable rationalizations and in the syntax of confusion, and minutiae of so much choice and "apparent" freedoms, we have forgotten that, We even have a choice.
We must choose...... THIS IS OUR PURPOSE......

The view in the fish bowl reality We have created, is stale .....It can no longer sustain the Mass Lethargy of a TV fed society . A bloated society.

I guess... my main quandary in all of this is to ask YOU the Artist, my fellow Gold Fish.
How do we further explore our "surreality"?
Define our existence through our art and still remain objective?
How do we expand on what the masters of previous generations have so gloriously inspired... and by what methods, if indeed there are any that do not subject us in the process?
Will we remain entangled within our own processes or dismissive of the results, in the absence of comparative and "logical" or scientific evidence?

"Aah logic, what an overrated idea ,a gilded cage, beautifully spun like such a web, trapping us with in the known, blinding us to the infinite and unknown".

But logic is not an idea at all, merely a construct, which we are all taught to rely on.
At what cost?
What is excluded in the process? ( "The process of elimination, is Not Illumanation" )

Logic, to my mind at least, is the circuit board of the known from which we may draw comparisons. But like all circuits it remains a closed system, one that will remain so, until we combine, accept and integrate with it, the gift of intuition, the gift of imagination ,the language of emotion...This GIFT of the unknown. The Amnesia which denotes the unknown, gives rise to choice and it is called FREE WILL.

This is why we must and should choose.
I , having at rare moments in that most irrationall and egoless state, that Artists are sometimes cursed/ fortunate enough to find themselves in, having glimsed although fleetingly, the vast ocean beyond the aforementioned fish bowl yet within the fish. That elusive thread of conciousness that defines the watershed of an Artists existance, however furtively we attemt to capture its essence on canvas or paper. Try though , we must.

I believe now that there are no new ideas. Only new perspectives. Think about it.

Surely the mind, that is to say the One Mind and not the brain, (that localized "transceiver") is the true and ultimate frontier, within which we may freely explore, realize and define our existence ,We must as Artists, endeavor to no longer merely, reflect society, reflect the outside.

Break from the collective unconscious that controls our current perceptions.

We must look inward. We must as individuals, as Artists , all of us, acknowledge that we have the gift of contemplating the unknown, the gift of creation and the power to influence reality,.... the duty?

Perhaps it would be more accurate of me to say that I believe it is our only true mandate... to explore this ideology, with and through....Art.


With the advent and continued acceptance in to the mainstream consciousness of quantum physics, the gap between science and spiritualism is rapidly closing , perhaps the reality is becoming, that we are expanding our understanding, beyond proof and in to the realm of Knowing.

Who knows.....;o)

Finally in my own exploration the only method I adhere to is to remain "childlike" because through the eyes, and in the minds of children.... nothing is excluded.

"TO SLEEP PERCHANCE TO DREAM"..... and then some.


By Clinton Barker.

[omnicron]

Yes, yes, and yes.

I agree --- but further, we have reached a point in history such as has never been at before. The possibility of global communion, hampered by our technological fixes.

Why bother with the stars, oh God?

I feel as if I could have deja-vu for the remainder of my life, but how to tell a recycled thought from a new one? I enjoyed reading your post, ClintonB.

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