The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance, and this, and not the external manner and detail, is true reality.
—Aristotle
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This new painting, a small 6″ by 12″ canvas that will going with me to Alexandria this coming Sunday for my Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery, intrigues me on many levels but mainly in the way in which it challenges my own perception of reality.
I wondered how light would appear in a world that gave it different properties. For instance, what if instead of a sun, that ever-burning orb in the sky, our light was provided by a ring of light that cut across the sky? And what if the source of light was darker than the light it provided? How would it affect how we looked at our world?
The odd thing is that my mind accepts the reality that was created. And that speaks to the words of Aristotle at the top of the page. The significance of a piece of art is in how our mind interprets the reality of it, in how it connects with our inner needs and perceptions.
For me, this small painting works on those terms. It is warm and inviting and familiar even though the reality of the setting is alien to me. I feel as comfortable– perhaps even more– in this environment as I would in a perfectly represented image of the real world in which we live.
And that is all I ask of it…
Redtree Times 