Blickfeld - The inevitability of the self

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[…]That painting and sculpture are not skills that can be taught in reference to pre-established criteria, whether academic or moderne, but a process, whose content is found, subtle, and deeply felt, that no true artist ends with the style that he expected to have when he began, any more than anyone’s life unrolls in the particular manner that one expected when young…

-       Robert Motherwell

While life in its merely biological aspects is a miracle and a secret, man in his human aspects is an unfathomable secret to himself – and to his fellow man.

-       Erich Fromm

We are not completely in control of ourselves or perhaps what we believe we control, we do not understand, and thus there is no such thing as control (as Borges might put it?). We can understand that we are something with certain flitting intentions, we are on a constant fight to understand what surrounds us and how it affects us with the aim of understanding how we can gain a modicum of control over the known and the known unknown. Ultimately in order to better define ourselves. As one defines something in relation to a system of values/morals/information/thoughts/procedures. It is a system of interrelated relationships, which influence one another.

We are an inevitability. Why? Because we cannot change what we cannot control, at least completely. We don't know what drives us, what keeps us alive and reproducing, or why we're here. However, a certain level of ignorance is probably for the best. Nonetheless this leads us to take many actions, reach certain conclusions and commit to certain behaviours about which we cannot know for certain how and why we did it, why we committed to it, and so on. We are what we are and that we do not know what it is.

The process of art is a reflection of this. One begins with certain concepts and precepts and ideas and as time passes and other inputs enter our mental arena, we evolve into something unexpected, by ourselves, and together with others as a group. The individual and his social circle develop in tandem. At times others will be better at detecting our proclivities as they have the benefit of being at a distance, which allows to form a more informed picture of what we may turn out to be or to make. Focusing on the artwork itself, there is often a preconceived work and plan of execution, as well as mastery of the craft of bringing to life said object, but even when all these factors are present which is not always true, the work will arrive at its end form never exactly as predicted. The inevitability of being in physical form. How can one expect what one creates to be devoid of traits derived from oneself? The creator gives freedom to its creation just as much as it stamps it with a seal of parenthood.