where are the friends ?

Some entries from my personal web page:

http://www.philonline.com.ph/~eron2

Artistic Freedom Hallucination

Many clamor after freedom. The oppressed, the criminal, the insane. Although there is one important thing to remember. Freedom may be admitted only after dues of discipline are paid; this many of the art establishment do not stress enough. Perhaps they have not experienced the difference or their business interests interfere.

August 20, 2005

Perhaps the most required and painful discipline is life drawing. I used to have large studios and models coming once or twice in a week for drawing sessions. Because of life's misfortunes I am deprived of the exercise for a considerable time and am unable to find a group for my practice.

I see some very nice drawings in the pages of the art-related pages, I am envious and cannot wait to do real art. I read another day a quote of Picasso indicating he had training which enabled him to do whatever he wanted later on. It appears to be the case of dues of discipline paid. This is quite common pattern.

However, is a sick art of person who knows and sick art of person who is ignorant any different? I believe our unconscious mind makes no distinction. To the soul, they are equally disturbing and harmful, even as we can forgive to those who do not know any better and blame the art educators.

The art dealers, some of them, work on different principle. They ignore the intrinsic value of art work, they mind history and profit which they manipulate to their advantage. One's soul and profit making are incompatible with increasing frequency.

Art students are not given adequate instructions in area most important for human race and particular civilisation, the psychological effect of art, the devastation or enlightenment it imparts on both the artist and art consumer. There seems to be no interest in learning the effects, independent of opinions, based on scientific principles. Is it out of stupidity or is it intentional?

An article of mine previously published in ARTSbeat magazine:

Drawing Nudes : A Look Behind the Scene

Drawing on a continuous basis of the human body is accepted as a necessary and very essential part of the artist's education which helps him keep in shape in the same sense as training of an Olympic athlete enables him to compete with the best.

Not only general public who often lacks detailed information about this kind of discipline but sometimes the artists themselves do not appreciate the full significance and benefits of drawing. Many art teachers were not taught or are unable to draw satisfactorily, therefore are not much qualified in this respect. The pupils' development in their most important stage of learning then flows in the direction of least resistance and many artists continue to actually believe that the undistinguishable marks they make on paper are exactly what they wanted to draw, that it is their personal style deserving a recognition. It is most unfortunate that art students are frequently encouraged to skip drawing and hurried to "express themselves" without learning the alphabet first.

When the student is able to draw reasonably well he graduates to living figure, eventually nude. Why a nude? Most objects a student draws are not particularly demanding on their shape and proportions. Looking at a painting of a chair, we are not able to appreciate its fidelity, one inch shorter will not make much difference. In a living, particularly nude body, an infinitesimal deviation in angle, proportion, accent, tremor of hand and positioning of skeletal form is instantly recognisable as an error because we are conditioned to make such fine distinction in our species. In following the smooth curves enormous amount of information is processed by the brain in extremely short time period. Simply it is a difficult task, an exhausting mental work with constant disappointment, constantpressure to quit.

In an athlete, his training apart from medals have another benefits. Gaining professional skills and personal qualities, will power and purpose, healthy life style, etc. The same and much more comes to an artist who persists and bears the pain. Anything beautiful and valuable has a price. Not just any drawing will do, as any kind of training will not produce a top notch Olympic competitor.

Beside building an increase in craftsmanship the nude's symbolism exerts a powerful influence on the psyche, in very specific ways. A child who grows up among thieves eventually accepts their lifestyle and becomes a full-fledged criminal; a person who surrounds himself with and practices auspicious symbols and activities will adopt their values.

A nude, particularly female, contains apart from the biological also graphically produced symbolism of creative power represented by convex lines and shapes. The smooth, gentle and difficult to reproduce curves are antagonists of straight heavy lines which are a result of insufficient skills, arrogance and aggression.