Eckhart Tolle

an excerpt transcript from the Findhorn Retreat

“…the original reason for all art is the sacred, to be a portal, an access point for the sacred… in it you see yourself reflected, the formless reflected, shining through the form, that is true art…“

Some music can have a divine function too… in some rare cases it still has.
Music that comes out of the stillness, that when you listen to music that came out of the stillness, whoever created it or whoever is playing it or singing it, it comes out of that state of consciousness, and then it assumes a form, and yet the form is fresh and new, and it has come out of that and the stillness still clings to it as a fragrance, it still emanates that, even if its sound.

And that’s the beauty of all art, true art, it reflects still that state of consciousness out of which it comes.

And then you have a lot of pseudo-art in this world where clever minds are trying to be even more clever – ‘lets think of something new, what can we do here? Maybe we can put that here or that could go there, that would look clever…’ They call it art, but it lacks something, its totally trapped in form, there’s only manipulating old forms, nothing new has come in, and nothing that can lead you back to the formless, which is the original reason for all art is the sacred, to be a portal, an access point for the sacred, so that when you see it or experience it, you experience yourself, in it you see yourself reflected, the formless reflected, shining through the form, that is true art, always there is more than what you see or hear…there is more than that, and that shines through the form, and that is what can happen to you, what is happening to you. Ultimately it’s not everybody’s purpose to create works of art, a few humans do that, that is their function, partly, in this world, but much more importantly is for you to become that work of art, your whole life, and you’re very being becomes transparent so that the formless can shine through, and that happens when you are no longer totally identified with the world of form, and that happens when you have access to the realm of stillness within yourself.

And then something emanates through the form that has nothing to do with the form, it may emanate only as a silent emanation and not assume any form as such… there have been very few in the past, holy people…

What is the new state of consciousness that is arising?
It is the state that is balanced – the two dimensions, the manifested and the unmanifested, balanced in a human being. And that is such a radical transformation that when a certain number of humans live in that way so they become what before was a work of art, you become the work of art, you become that which is transparent to the formless, the divine… that will change the entire world, the human-made world will be changed completely… the important thing is for us to enter that new state.
What that does to your story who knows?
You cannot predict, nor do you need to predict that. Are you going to become a great artist, are you going to win Wimbledon? Bear in mind that great artists and the tennis players are not enlightened masters – they have access to that which is greater than the limited human mind in the small field of their activity, and most of them, when they go back into normal life, away from where they have mastery, they are just as mad as everybody else – and sometimes even more mad – because sometimes the mind-made entity gets in there and looks at what they did and says ‘I did that, that was me’ – the greatest illusion. Then of course… the ego identifies with whatever came out of the state of no ego… and then begins to believe what other people are saying about you, and that you are the greatest – they project their images of specialness onto you…

…where there’s even a glimpse of aliveness and freshness, yes there’s something there, and then the personality, the person comes back the moment they step back from the act of creation or the performance, they step back and there’s the old personality, and sometimes it’s a dreadful burden for some ability that comes from the non-personal realm to be integrated into the person, and they just can’t do it, it’s totally misperceived, just as the world misperceives it, and then they believe themselves to be very special – and there comes a huge conflict between power that comes out of the formless and the limited person that misinterprets it and claims something out of that.

The magic that comes from the formless realm into your life, when you look at our civilization, seems to be gone completely, because the civilization is almost totally not sacred, it is profane – it is a dreary burdensome structure that humans have created – when you look at the mainstream civilization. So many humans seem to be tired… there’s a weariness that they carry, the civilization is grinding them down, another day of pointless running around, and even those that are still running around, they know that it is pointless – what’s the point?

And so there are many reasons why the entire civilization is reaching a point of collapse, and one is that the humans that are still sustaining it, they can’t carry the burden of their self-created structures anymore – absurd complexity for the sake of complexity – mind created, just a reflection of their state of consciousness, in which there is no gap in the stream of one thought after another – the voice in the head that never stops speaking becomes a civilization that is obsessed with form, that is obsessed with things – and it therefore knows nothing of that which you could say is the most important dimension of human existence – the sacred – the stillness – the formless – the divine – all these have become meaningless in our civilization. And yet, many humans are beginning to realize what’s happening, and so there is in many a search for something else – and that number of humans is growing everyday – and that’s the beauty of it.

…you could say there is the canvas on which the perception is painted, there is a background of spacious stillness, that’s yourself, that’s the consciousness that you are – formless… there is something within you that recognizes the impermanent nature of all life forms… and the more you realize the impermanence of all forms, the more you are aware of the formless within yourself… awareness aware of itself.

Clouds on a warm Tuesday evening

…the Bernard Jacobson Gallery held a preview of William Tillyer’s new paintings, a series of innovative metal lattice works inspired by Tillyer’s cloud study of the Helmsley sky in Yorkshire. Clearly a man of his word, Mr. Jacobson had promised to introduce my friend & I to the artist, and indeed, Mr.Tillyer snuck up on us while we were enthusiastically flicking through an archive book of his exceptional water-colours. It was a real treat actually, and a privilege, I mean how often does one get the opportunity to ask an accomplished artist such daft questions as ‘what prompted you to start painting?’, it was like asking a fish why they like swimming. More insightful, however, was Tillyer’s description of his long-term love affair with employing interactive materials as part of his creative process, while using the archive book as a reference point to demonstrate. ‘Do you remember every piece of work you’ve ever created?’ asked my friend, ‘oh yes, every one’ Mr. Tillyer replied. At the age of 71 that’s not bad going, given that I seldom remember what I had for breakfast. The last two paragraphs of the artist’s wall-mounted notes are especially poignant, and for me, sums up the motivation behind artistic endeavor:

‘This simple observation states my need to ‘prick the bubble’ and operate in today’s ever narrowing gap between order and chaos, the romantic, scientific, rural and urban, and most of all between control, and letting go.
In setting down these brief notes, I have started with the least important aspects of theme, or any other body of work. It is the very last point, that gap, that space between, for which I have no real name that is important, and in the end that which I am unable to verbalize.’ William Tillyer 2010

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I definitely floated away on a Tillyer Cloud 9.

V

William Tillyer etching Clouds 2010

Tillyer etching Clouds, work in progress 2009

Tillyer Bloworth Blue

Ed: note that from June 24th, the Bernard Jacobson Gallery is holding the first exhibition of new work by Pierre Soulages in London since 1972 – not to be missed!

www.TILLYER.com

www.jacobsongallery.com

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Broken Dreams 2009 by the Campana brothers

Broken Dreams 2009, the highlight (excuse the pun) of the new Campana installation Glass Experiences at the Coach House Gallery, Waddesdon Manor. The bricolage wall light, made entirely from redundant glass objects, was created by the Campana brothers in collaboration with Venini, the Venetian glass makers. Almost as impressive as the Waddesdon tulips.

Apart from the obvious argument for sustainable art & design, there is something very satisfying about using found objects in the creative process. V

…Soul Fragments

…a group of paintings on paper, using blue and black ink. I’m blending calligraphic style brush work with the mental domain of geometric forms. Narrowing the colour palette allows for concentrated experimentation with form and texture. The calligraphic and textural elements are indicative of the etheric body, while the geometric personalities represent thought forms.
This current project has been inspired by the shamanic practice of soul retrieval, of which the aim is to reintegrate soul fragments that have become disconnected through trauma. Soul Fragments will be launched on VA later this year.

V

…ok, two pots

♥

Recently, while browsing York Art Gallery, I came face to face with a Ben Nicholson painting that I’ve not seen before, Still Life: Birdie, 1934. I had to remind myself to breath. And why stealing is bad.

♥

In the same exhibition room sits a pot, Vessel According To Klee XI, 2002, by Gordon Baldwin. According to Rothschild, Baldwin is one of the UK’s best potters, and it’s easy to see why; this pot is the quintessence of abstract sensibility.

♥

So I did a quick search on the internet when I arrived back in London to find that the Barrett Marsden gallery is currently running an exhibition of Baldwin’s ceramics and drawings. For The Alchemist 1, currently showing at BMG, reminds me of a page I found in an El Lissitzky book stashed in the upstairs room of Janette Ray, a very cool rare art & design book store on Bootham. This particular page (in a German edition of El Lissitzky’s work) really stood out for it’s abstract simplicity.

All things (and places) totally irresistible.

V

York Art Gallery

Barrett Marsden Gallery

Janette Ray Books

can u draw?

Seriously, that was the question I put to my friend, and you can see the response for yourself below… brilliant!

Bugs by V & Tex © 2010

V

sounding out

On Saturday 10th April, I took a walk over to Madame Lillie’s gallery in Stoke Newington, to view Sounding Out, an exhibition of artwork, photography & sound by Richard C Beard. I originally met Richard during an open evening at his artist studio on Manor Road, every inch of wall space was covered with various experiments as if his mind had literally exploded over four walls… I’m amazed the ceiling escaped.
By utter contrast, there was a neat folio on the desk filled with his most recent work, of which i1123 0926 grabbed my attention; linear mark-making, primary-colored minimalism with texture and a sense of purpose.

∞
A few weeks later, the same image turned up on my door mat in the form of a postcard invite to Madame Lilly’s. Cazenove Road is tucked away and yet a stone’s throw from Stoke Newington Church Street, which is full of great pubs, cafe bars and general buzz on a Saturday afternoon. The gallery space used to be a corset factory and has retained some of its old character. Abstract sounds mixed with bird song chirruped along with Richard’s works-on-paper, delicately pegged, pinned, and having dispensed with costly framing formalities – this was art at it’s most raw. It was hard not to get excited about it, I’m so used to seeing art displayed in a clinical fashion whereas this felt immediate, welcoming and unpretentious.
It’s easy to spot various influences in Richard’s work, Rothko and Hodgkin being the most obvious, nevertheless, Richard’s voice is making itself heard; the leap he has made only in the space of a few weeks was marked and I can’t help feeling excited about what this artist could ultimately contribute if he persists… and I really hope he does. The thing that makes Richard an artist at heart is his unequivocal child-like courage for experimentation, and I find this incredibly inspiring. The enhancement of mixing sound with art seems obvious to me, and yet I can’t help wondering why sound isn’t used more often in artist exhibitions; engaging as many of the senses as possible has become an art form within the retail sector, and yet barely used where real soul engagement is possible, and preferable.
The bottom line is that the Richard C Beard experience was enjoyable and memorable. To paraphrase Elizabeth Gilbert, keep turning up for your job Richard, Olé !

V

TED. com Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity
www.madamelillies.org
www.theothers.uk.com

#107

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#107 © vesna milinkovic 2009

PRESS PLAY

One of my favourite YouTube vids this year, check it out…

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