There are things to be seen in an abstract painting, a painting done by a master that understands non-representational art. It’s not just pigment that has been “Slopped” on canvas or paper; there is something deeper within the painting when colors and forms intertwine together by accident or by the artist’s intention. This is what I call spirituality. Once a photographic image of an original painting by Helen Frankenthaler I think it called Blue Atmosphere III; carries me into another world; there is something there that is difficult to describe, and it helps me create a story or visual image that is not visually abstract a whole new reality; I can ever imagine a natural landscape. This is what is meant by spirituality all humans possess. Some religions are only a glimpse into spiritual things beyond human intellect; intellect has limits because it depends on the human brain, an organ susceptible to accidents and disease.
As a child, I saw Joan Miro’s paintings; I could see that they were images of creatures that I imagined to have a life force that produced sounds; I could hear those sounds. Years later, I saw a documentary of students putting on a play with costumes based on Miro’s images. The actors made the same sounds that I had imagined. Miro’s and Frankenthaler’s works are compelling spiritual visions, although they may not have been intended in this way. But these are my feelings towards their paintings. Some people see only the surface of a painting; something is behind the work. Each person has a vision of what they see; I believe it is their spirituality. Spirituality is an individual experience that has nothing to do with a temple or church; it’s our journey through life. The spiritual is not about a structure or book. It’s about our inner selves and the path in life; it’s about doing things and experiencing life.
A non-representational art form opens up my imagination, it’s a temple to my mind, and it’s always there for me, although I’m not looking at a reproduction. The actual work in a museum, I can see the work, its color, the subject matter, and the content in my mind years later. When artists create something, they know what they wish to make in their minds and feel what they want to complete in their inner selves. Some artists don’t see anything when they put their brush on canvas, but gradually an image emerges. Nothing is more profound in any non-representational work, novel, or poem. These are more profound things that should perhaps be interpreted through the imagination and feelings of each individual looking at or reading a non-representational painting or poetry. Visually this more profound thing only shows what is on the surface of the image, but there is something else deeper. Beneath this is a transparent three-dimensional cube-like thing, each with volumes representing levels of understanding of the work. Anything made or created by nature has a deeper meaning, although the artist may not have intended this, for the character is what it is. Through our contemplation and imagination, there is a deeper meaning. We as people create this meaning for ourselves because we are individuals.
Leonardo da Vinci suggested that weathered stains on a wall could indicate images. Looking down on the sidewalk and observing the combination of weathering, objects are thrown out, paper, chemicals, gum, and everything else could suggest images that indicate something abstract or a realistic scene. Ancient Chinese painters used to toss ink on paper to see if they could see an image, such as a landscape, seashore, town, or anything else, and then paint in the details. This defines that images are to be seen everywhere. For example, on wood grain, on a weathered wall, in water that flows in a stream or river, and even observing clouds in the sky, suggesting images through imagination. A rundown wall weathered with stains on them has, in one sense, a spiritual dimension; these are images that can be seen; this same image could contain a multitude of images seen by the same viewer; another observer might see something else, visual things entirely unimagined by the first viewer.
In abstraction, anything is possible to see, images that calm me down, a sort of meditation.
The texture of materials and patterns suggests stories as if I can see a whole journey of life or a play staging itself. Surfaces have an abstract quality that could offer deep feelings because if I look closely at a patch of grass, water, rocks, or anything else in nature and a photo is taken, this conveys an abstraction.
Non-representational painting is like looking into the early morning at the haze that covers a scene like a veil. Something can be seen; some colors meld together, creating an abstract painting or photograph. Non-representational art can be found anywhere in nature, reflections in a body of water, and windows of a building creating distorted reflections of color, line, and form; using a camera lens that is out of focus, the blurred images will create something like an abstraction.
Abstractions are part of life, part of nature; there is nothing new about them.
Robert J. Matsunaga
