Art and Philosophy: Biological Kinship
The philosophy I am concerned about through my ink and acrylic and pencil drawings of primates—gibbons, macaques, and colobus monkey—is the self-reflection we get when we compare ourselves to the animals that are so genetically close to us. The philosophy does not have any metaphysical connotations; it is straightforward and analytical. The beauty in science correlates to an imaginative wall: the truthful explanations of many life’s mysteries lie in brilliant clarity beyond the barrier and every single human has the ability to reach through the “wall” and grasp the tangible facts. We are animals and affected by biological urges that lie dormant, awakened by sensory phenomena and the everyday occurrences of life. Adaptive radiation, the diversification of one founding species into multiple species and niches, essentially defines the beauty in science: invisibility ascends to the surface in connecting all of earth’s organisms to a common ancestor.
The aesthetics of clarity and the brilliance in finding rational solutions to the queries of seemingly “otherworldly” events are astounding. Determinism and probability, two theories French mathematician Pierre Simon de Laplace was interested in, were concerned with discovering natural mechanisms behind temporal and celestial occurrences. Divine intervention was not necessary. Probability accounted for our limited intellect and the inevitable knowledge “gaps.” It is through the process of learning humility, letting go of preconceived notions and beliefs, that we can mature and garner more comprehension. Art can be calculated in the same terms, an ongoing process that is full of mistakes and rewarding experiences along the way. Over the duration of my college experience and specifically in the art classes I have participated in, success was mediated by process and not through product. Each new work I create is a branch of a much larger tree; the art I have produced over the years have varied drastically in rendering and concept. There is no continuity or staid plateau; the primate drawings are just part of evolution, the products of ancestral work. Biological kinship is the common bond that links the enduring course of creation and demise, the fluctuating cycle that instigates the artist to search for more novel ideas and push the liminal state of art.
The semester of 2010 was an apogee of my undergraduate education; it was the “turn of the century,” the fin-de-siecle moment of my rather young life. Having taken my last art class, I realize now more than ever I want to continue my training in the field of art. I admittedly do not have any tangible projects I want to approach right now; picking a subject vis-à-vis context and formatting comes with an idea that can be spontaneous or take years to develop. The advanced drawing concepts class enabled me to expand my theories beyond my BFA work; that is, the work became less “deified” and I was able to freely move within multitudinous modes of drawing. It was essentially the pivot or fulcrum upon which my artwork is developing, the continuation of work and the departure from past accomplishments. The humbling experience made me realize the beauty in relinquishing guilt and the success that can be gained through maturation.
