On Arts
Talidari's View On Arts

writing about
painting is like
painting about
writing

Heart of Art

we at Talidari see art to be about expression of life’s contradictions and world’s controversies,
about negation of common thinking, denial of mainstream scenarios and not so much about just portraying reality. In our view, art is relative and beyond morality, as it is beyond any human reasoning or evaluation, just like life. So there is no room for moral judgments in art. To us the whole meaning and significance of art is to take the recipient at least a step further from the reality, away from it; to act as a bridge from sensory transient world of illusions and suffering to an intangible
transcendental world of pure penetration and splendor, which is the true reality, for pain could
never affect it. Why? Why would we want to go there in the first place? We think, because it
could help us cope with life’s afflictions and paradoxes, and because it could empower
and inspire us to better our lives, find something powerful and special that easily
deals with pessimism, distrust and lack of meaning.That is at heart of art, as
seen through our eyes. Sometimes art follows life, and other times
life follows art. We feel that through our arts we are
contributing to building the bridge to the
fourth dimension, more so by
introducing the views
on our
pieces

talking about
music is like
singing about
talking

That what once was art nowadays is decorations. Art moves on. Thanks to the photography that created a momentum for progressive painters to renounce clear-cut depiction of reality in favor of more interpretative or abstract styles, the avant-garde paintings can seduce as well as tell. That visual language is a foreign concept for some; they don’t know that paintings could communicate as well as decorate, let alone trigger a transcendental state. Some are more like pictorial poetry and some more of storytellers. The same goes for music for it can also spark off audio image-files. The best pieces are those that have something of a hypnotic suggestibility or act as eye-openers of some sort, because then we could hear our heart’s whispering. So, one could hear a painting too, not just see it, if only listened to it with the third ear. And one could see a melody too, not just hear it, if only looked at it with the third eye. Someone said eyes are windows to our souls; we discovered that masterpieces are too. In times when reality bites more than one can bear having a window, which could take a person’s mind across to another side, can touch the soul and heal.
				To see our body we use a mirror, to see our mind we use other people, but to see our soul we use a work of art
				Creativity assumes introducing new structures, therefore the artistic creations that want to be more than just creations should be always moving on from the known. But the known art patterns and structures don't disappear on their own. It is necessary to have audacity to negate the habits and emotions from which the old is made in order to make space for the new. The art is not new by itself, but by that, what it negates to the one that it conditioned it.

the worth of art
the value of an object depends entirely on the worth each person gives to it rather than anything else. The worth of art piece lies not entirely in artist’s ability to satisfy aesthetic or intellectual demands, but in the ability to provide the means of escaping the painful world of daily experiences, of evoking feel-good mood, of commemorating historical events, of encouraging morality, or of inspiring positive action.



		the power of art what once religion did for the people in the old days, art does it on its own now. Religion’s all-time favorite ally – the art, can act by itself as a medium for communicating with the power greater than ourselves. Through inducing certain states, various art forms fill us with wonder and sense of higher truth. We don’t need any flawed human, dressed as a cleric, to spell out the difference between right and wrong to us, when the true realization could come only from our heart anyway. The ultimate truth is not open to the senses, not even to the reason. The power of art lays in that it breaks the censorship of consciousness, and appeals to unconscious, invoking innate understanding of the audience and consequently changing the state of the social consciousness.

The marketing renaissance demands from the modern artists, who want to move with times, to be first of all the "meaning brokers" instead of the old-fashioned providers of artifacts. Art scene has become modern-day frame for the search for identity, as well as for the search for the meaning of human existence. The public can relate more to the set of values, which artists promote than to the actual works, because then they are seen as allies and not as suppliers.
Some even see artists as new species of priests, for their expressions every now and then spark off such lofty states as beatific rapture and ecstatic swoons in us, triggering the interplay between senses, intellect, intuitive sensitivity and imagination, thus awakening the sense of balance and accountability. Artists who don’t stand in the way of their art could easily reach out to our hearts and remind us not to lose our way.


		If artists of today were given the chance to take a more significant place in the grand workings of the world, they sure would make a difference. They sure wouldn’t relay on any logics. Because we don’t live in a logical world. Rationality is most overrated Western virtue. The most creative people in human history lived their life with their feet firm in the air. Only so one can have a taste of life beyond bondage and give it to others. Art is about inspiring and breaking free. And artist is a finger pointing at the moon, so to speak.

S h u t y o u r m i n d, f r e e y o u r s o u l


the Tao of Art or the Art of Tao Taoism is the way of man's cooperation with the flow of the universe, whose principles we discover in the workings of nature, which are then memorialized in many forms of human art. A common theme in Taoist arts is suggestion that fulfillment in life cannot be attained by forcing one's own destiny; instead, one must be receptive to the path laid for them by nature and circumstance, which will themselves provide what is necessary. According to this Chinese philosophical system, wisest approach to life is a way of ‘non-action’– not inaction but rather a harmonization of one’s personal will with the natural harmony and justice of Nature. The Taoist Bible, Tao Te Ching, insists that universe is sacred and that we cannot improve it. If we try to change it, we will ruin it or it will ruin us.		‘The World is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering’ (Tao Te Ching).

		The word "tao" points to the special abilities of someone: a good archer, musician, painter or writer The way [i.e. tao] in artists’ proceedings is that of pursuing to mimic and epitomize the obscured tendencies of nature through maintaining the principles such as sageness, bravery; righteousness, wisdom and benevolence. Without all these five qualities, no one in the world has ever attained greatness. The ideal of Taoist alchemy is to obtain immortality, and what better way for an artist to achieve it than through his/her great works. The obligation of the artists following the Taoist principles is to reintegrate Tao in their daily existence, not just art. The philosophy of the artist's way might be characterized by the accent on serenity - on the withdrawal from the outside world in order to adjust oneself to the flow of events and recognize when it is the time to "withdraw" or to "advance".

Zen and the Art of Art

Like all systems of truth seeking, art, when freely created, has a profoundly spiritual impulse at its core. The zen-ness in the heart of art is revealed when the artist sets aside own biased beliefs and cultural preconceptions, and approaches the creation process with beginner's mind. Then reality can reveal itself freshly and freely, and can be heard or seen more clearly. Appropriate analyzing and objective validation can, indeed, come later.

To paraphrase Alan Watts, zen art is the "art of artlessness, the art of controlled accident." The hallmarks of zen art are simplicity, emptiness, directness, and naturalness. It is spontaneous rather than predictable, irregular rather than regular. Basic to zen art is the restriction of means to an absolute minimum. An artist with zen in heart does not try to superimpose his/her will in the form of structure or predetermination in any form. Accent is always on free movement from idea to idea.

Zen of Arts

Zen-like poetry (haiku) turns to silence and simplicity to evoke mood and sensation.

In music, the sounds of nature play at least an equal part with man-made music and the rhythmic element is the underlying key. The pieces make use of improvisation, while the performer is given freedom in interpreting the score.

Zen-oriented painters like to portray the objects of nature as aspects of divine rather than simply pretty trees and flowers.

Art of Artfulness

While some art depicts plain form, zen-like art depicts spirit, being not interested in a photographic depiction of an object but in interpreting its invisible quality.

Art as a form of communication between the visible and the invisible is basic to artful art, as is the corollary interrelationship of form and content.

In the times when art has served to denounce itself by creating artless arts, it is the turn of the art of artfulness to make its breakthrough.

Art has developed a complex linguistic symbolism through which the artist wields his goods to communicate something to his audience. The zen-minded artist, on the other hand, tries to suggest by the simplest possible means the aesthetic and the inherent nature of an object. The job of the artist is to suggest meaning or/and essence, the eternal qualities of the object and not get caught in the technicalities. Otherwise our thoughts would be bound up in the intricacies of technique, rather than free to comprehend the underlying eternal truth. Reality is not to be imitated in art. Art is much more than a copy of reality. It abandons factual perspective, and works with artificial space relations, which make one think beyond reality into the essence of reality. This concept of essence as opposed to illusion is basic to art aligned with zen principles.

The academic overemphasis on rationality, at the expense of other parts of experience, is a playfield on which art and zen masters share the common grounds of opposing. The common theme is that doing an ordinary task, can have a spiritual dimension. Rationality is academically opposed with foolishness, but for artists and zen masters the antonym of rationality is spirituality and intuition. The two realize that there is nothing to realize. Metaphysics of quality is about non-intellectualizing, non-conceptualizing, zen-like direct viewing of the universe. Where science exalts intellect and is anthropocentric, zen-inspired art has been cosmocentric for it sees man as an integral part of nature, not the central part.

On ArtsTalidari's View On Arts

On Arts
Talidari's View On Arts