From the book Fractals the patterns of chaos by John Briggs. He phrases the creative dilemma nicely.
"Instead of illustrating nature, the pictures want to work like nature. They should be like life forms, each in its own fractal way reflects the dynamic system of nature as a whole. The wholistic element is an essential feature of the new (old) aesthetic appreciation.
It's why when you see a colored pebble gleaming on a beach among a jumble of othess and take it home, it may not look as lovely on the shelf as it did in the natural chaos where you found it.
Chaos affirms that individual details matter. Artists know that like the sensitivity of a chaotic dynamical system, a change on small part of a painting or poem may destroy or transform the work."
2 comments:
"Artists know that like the sensitivity of a chaotic dynamical system, a change on small part of a painting or poem may destroy or transform the work."
This statement has come home to me rather strongly. Of late I have been carving smaller pieces, full figures 3" tall with detailed faces and hands. I've also been carving faces in the tops of old-fashioned wooden clothes pins. In this size removing a shaving 5-thousandths of an inch thick (yes, I measured) can change the whole look of a piece. That makes the act of carving even more suspenseful than before. And delightful. Oh, the Crafmanship of Risk.
Bob
So true, Bob. I love when working on a small sculpture, that removing material in micro amounts somehow makes the the little bit of wood you started with "bigger". A Paradox.
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