Vasily Kandinsky – It’s Only Art. Or is it?
January 5, 2010
“Every work comes into being in the same way as the cosmos – by means of catastrophes… The creation of the work of art is the creation of the world.” – Vasily Kandinsky
As I walked around the Guggenheim Museum today feeding my soul on the paintings of Vasily Kandinsky, I experienced once again the unmistakable feeling of loss that haunts me from time to time. I sometimes feel that I was born about seventy-five years or so too late, as I instinctively gravitate toward works of art created in the first half of the 20th century. I wish I were a contemporary of such inspiring painters as Vasily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and Paul Klee, and composers like Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok, or Arnold Schoenberg.
What draws me to each one of them is the freedom of their artistic expression tempered by the principles of classic form resulting in some uniquely beautiful works of art. It seems to me that even after the horrors of World War I, as the artists pushed the boundaries of conservative expectations, there was a certain excitement and optimism in the air, as the expressionist movement in music paralleled its influence on paintings, reaching deeper into the personal expression, the spiritual, and the transcendent (lookup Scriabin’s Prometheus and synesthesia to fuel your thoughts). This trajectory was clearly seen in the Kandinsky exhibit, as the chronological sequence of artwork followed his earlier representative paintings gradually giving way to more figurative, and finally to full abstraction.
To Kandinsky abstraction was the holy grail of the artist. He argued that the abstraction (absolute, nonrepresentational art) is not counterintuitive to the natural order, but rather that it is the very essence of reality, as everything in nature is original and not derivative or representational of something else.
When I look at Kandinsky’s paintings, I don’t feel that I am deprived of seeing a landscape, or an inanimate object, or someone’s portrait. Instead, I see a thirst for life, beauty, spirituality. I sense excitement or repose. Sometimes I hear music or simply become overwhelmed to the point of tears when a verbal expression seems futile.
Kandinsky’s principles of proportion and design are a refreshing mix of order and disarray. His color palette is bursting with passion and energy. His pairing of fully saturated orange and blue with purples is unlike anything I have ever seen before. No computer monitor and no book reproduction can ever replace seeing these color combinations in person.
Speaking of loss again, I thought today about the fate of many artists who found themselves in Germany as Adolf Hitler came to power. His dictatorship stretched not only to enforcing his vision of the new Germany as it related to his political, economical, and ethnic ideas, but he also took it upon himself to decide what artistic expressions would be favored and which would be eradicated. The famous Bauhaus school of design, of which Kandinsky was a part at the time, was labeled as “un-German” and was forced to close, causing many influential artists to flee Germany.
I wondered what trajectory would the European art have followed if it were allowed to thrive in Germany as it had for centuries before. What other artistic trends would have sprung out of expressionism? What artists would have worked together and influenced one another?
Art is a dangerous business to be in. You only paint, or write a symphony, or a poem, or design a building, but in reality you create the world around you.
What planets are colliding in your cosmos?
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Paintings: Vasily Kandinsky – Angel of the Last Judgment, Composition V
Article ©2010 Dosia McKay
Intensity
September 18, 2009
Original painting: acrylics on stretched canvas. 18 x 36 x 0.75 in (46 x 91 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
©2009 Dosia McKay
Lush
August 7, 2009
“Color is the power which directly influences the soul. Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with the strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” – Vasily Kandinsky
Original painting: watercolors and pencil on paper. 3.75 in x 5.75 (9.5 cm x 14.5 cm). Buy artwork
©2009 Dosia McKay
Undertow
August 7, 2009
Original painting: watercolors and pencil on paper. 5.75 x 3.75 in (14.5 x 9.5 cm). Buy artwork
©2009 Dosia McKay
Verge – Abstract Art – Acrylics on Canvas
May 24, 2009
Original painting – acrylics and ink on stretched canvas. 26 x 20 x 0.75 in (66 x 51 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
©2009 Dosia McKay
Fringes
May 17, 2009
Original painting: acrylics and ink on paper. 5.75 x 3.75 in (14.5 x 9.5 cm). Buy artwork
©2009 Dosia McKay
Tree of Life
May 17, 2009
Original painting: acrylics and ink on paper. 5.75 x 3.75 in (14.5 x 9.5 cm). Buy artwork
Has it really been almost a year since I painted? I missed my brushes and my paints. I have been extremely busy writing music and poetry but I plan to devote some time this summer to painting. For now I am only posting couple of postcards I did today. Nothing earth shattering – I am merely warming up and hope to return to large scale canvas soon.
©2009 Dosia McKay
Who is Afraid of Abstract Art?
June 29, 2008
There is a certain fear associated with abstract art when it comes to public perception and acceptance of the style. There is an understanding that appreciation of abstract paintings is reserved only for the select few; the eccentric “artistic type” who never pays the electric bill on time, the spoiled kid educated in a liberal arts college, or the one whose diet consists of sprouts and exotic teas. The rest of the mortals are destined to enjoying flower bouquets and respectable sunsets over the sofas and dining room tables of their sensible dwellings.
The public demands the familiar and the comprehensible. This is an apple and a lemon in a basket, a tree and a flowing creek. Nothing personal, nothing odd, or thought-provoking–merely a background noise to the visually cluttered world.
But what if a painting could reach inside the viewer and demand a response? What if it trespassed on the imagination and the suppressed emotions?
I recently sold one of my paintings to a collector in Virginia. I rarely know who buys my art. I trustingly release my paintings into the world, hoping that they will find safe havens for themselves. But this time I received a letter from the buyer who felt compelled to describe the impact of the painting he recently purchased.
“I just wanted to drop a line again and let you know how much my patients and I are enjoying your painting. I am a clinical psychologist. Your painting has become a spontaneous marvelous ink blot with people trying to see as many different things as possible in it. I’ve been impressed with the playfulness and creativity. Thank you again for this wonderful addition to my practice. It’s taken on more meaning than a painting on the wall.”
What a wonderful testimony to the power of abstract art. This is precisely where the beauty of abstract art lies. The color, the texture, and the form do not resemble anything the viewers are familiar with, but instead prompt the audience to create a meaning in their imagination. The responses to the same painting will be as varied as the individual internal worlds creating them.
Therefore the question of “understanding” of abstract art is pointless. It is not intellectual or objective. It is purely emotional, subjective, and personal.
Try a simple exercise today. Walk around your home or work place and consciously look at the artwork displayed on your walls. Does it elicit a response from you? Is it positive or negative? What element in it speaks to you the most? Is it the color, the texture, or the form (composition)? Does it stir your imagination? Does it effect your emotions? Why or why not?
©2008 Dosia McKay
Moonrise
June 25, 2008
Original acrylic painting on stretched canvas. 16 x 20 x 0.75 in (41 x 51 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
©2008 Dosia McKay
Cytoplasm 1
June 19, 2008
Original acrylic painting on stretched canvas. 24 x 36 x 0.75 in (60 x 91 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
©2008 Dosia McKay
Upstairs Downstairs
June 4, 2008
Original acrylic painting on stretched canvas. 24 x 36 x 0.75 in (60 x 91 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
©2008 Dosia McKay
Windswept
May 28, 2008
Original acrylic painting on stretched canvas. 36 x 24 x 0.75 in (91 x 60 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
I am taking a break from digital art and exploring possibilities of tangible paint. The creative process is so much more time consuming; mixing paint, application process, waiting for the layers to dry, varnishing. And, did I mention, there is no Undo button? Ah, the risks and gambles of the creative process…
©2008 Dosia McKay
Akathisia
May 11, 2008
Unfurling
March 21, 2008
This painting was inspired by my poem Unfurling.
Digital art – giclee on canvas. 32 x 24 x 0.75 in (81 x 60 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
©2008 Dosia McKay
Sleepless
December 10, 2007
Possibilities, inevitabilities, liabilities, vulnerabilities – squared, multiplied, permutated.
Digital art – giclee on canvas. 32 x 24 x 0.75 in (81 x 60 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
©2008 Dosia McKay
Surge
December 6, 2007
To Be and to Hear
December 4, 2007
Digital art – giclee on canvas. 32 x 24 x 0.75 in (81 x 60 x 2 cm). Buy artwork
I am often asked about inspiration for my visual art. This piece was inspired by my earlier blog.
©2007 Dosia McKay
