You See What You Get

I am always fascinated by the individual nature of perception and I have come to the conclusion that we all literally only see things that we understand at least partially. The rest tends to escape us. The same seems to apply to focus, which calls for us to look and notice things relevant to what is important to us in the moment. It is possible that these behaviors might serve our survival and growth and even evolution. Or perhaps we are just called to endorse our perceptions of how we think things are and prove our viewpoints right. After all, human beings tend to prove their experiences and expectations right even when these are only one way of interpreting the truly multifaceted nature of reality. We all have to make sense of all that is somehow to keep our sanity, don't we? How many of us actually willingly stop to look at things that we do not understand? If you are one of the people who will just walk on by things that are not obvious to you and immediately call for your attention, how about at some point stopping to see what you might be missing. If nothing else, at least this will be educational. And maybe you will notice something that you did not see before and new ways of looking and seeing just might open up for you. This is why new experiences are so good for all of us. They literally expand our minds and this means that we are profoundly changed by gaining new understandings. How could this not be good in a world where people fight and argue and even kill over small and insignificant issues? Many of us could broaden up our understandings and grow bigger hearts.

Different ways of seeing is what originally motivated me to start my ongoing art project of alterable perspectives. I have been working on my The Joy of Design series since late 2012. I currently have 50 small original square acrylic abstract and semi-abstract paintings in this series and at this point I am aiming at making the total 100. I chose the square format for these individual paintings so that they can be easily and successfully displayed in any of the eight directions, including the four diagonal ones. I also chose the small format, currently ranging from 6 by 6 inches to 10 by 10 inches, so that these works can be displayed in groups and can also be easily scanned and used digitally as part of larger mixed media works. Just the other day some people got what my intention with these works is and that literally made my day. Often in life I feel misunderstood, in particular when it comes to my art. I appreciate that there are people who show interest in my works and most people will comment that they love the colors I use and that the works make them feel happy, but rarely does someone comment further on the interdependent content that to me seems clear. But I also have noticed that when I change, what I see and what stands out for me in my own works will also change. As time goes by I myself discover new aspects in my works. So it is clear to me that perception is fluid and not stagnant. I look forward to growing more as an artist and a human being. I have a desire to alter my perceptions and never to get stuck on just one way of seeing the essentially kaleidoscopic nature of reality.