Over the last 6 weeks, this "Playful Project" has left me with an enormous amount of free time. Free time I actually didn't know existed until I recognized and removed daily digital distractions of social media such as Instagram and Facebook. This created a chasm that felt like it needed to be filled- so naturally I filled it with books, records, painting, and spending time with my family. I became more mindful of what I read and what my "inputs" were, always making space and time to consider how these "inputs" impacted me. Making these changes over the last 6 weeks has been nothing short of life-changing for me. Unplugging in this intentional way created space for me to form new habits that have forged new ideas in my painting practice and daily life: in short access to a new perspective.
I want to share a quote from a book I've been enjoying while on this mental retreat the last 6 weeks: From the Book "The Nature of Transformation of Nature in Art" by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Chapter VI entitled: "Abhasa".
"All men, and even animals, are aware that objects stand apart from each other in space, up and down, sideways, and backwards; and if animals have not a word for "three dimensions", they still know how to move in different directions, and have a sense of far and near. Space, then, has to be taken for granted as a primary datum of intelligence, and it is obvious that as soon as it became possible to make intelligible representations of objects, it must have been taken for granted by those who understood them that these were representations of objects existing in space. The question of perspective, thus becomes a purely historical and descriptive problem; the definition of perspective reduces itself to "means employed to indicate the existence or distribution of objects in space". From the aesthetic point of view, no one variety of perspective can be regarded as superior to any other, and though we naturally prefer that kind of perspective which best corresponds to our own habits of vision and therefore requires least effort of comprehension, all that is really required is intelligibility. It is in fact perfectly possible to learn to read the perspective of an unfamiliar art as fluently as we read that of our own times, and in the same way without being actively conscious of the use of any particular mode of perspective."
"All men, and even animals, are aware that objects stand apart from each other in space, up and down, sideways, and backwards; and if animals have not a word for "three dimensions", they still know how to move in different directions, and have a sense of far and near. Space, then, has to be taken for granted as a primary datum of intelligence, and it is obvious that as soon as it became possible to make intelligible representations of objects, it must have been taken for granted by those who understood them that these were representations of objects existing in space. The question of perspective, thus becomes a purely historical and descriptive problem; the definition of perspective reduces itself to "means employed to indicate the existence or distribution of objects in space". From the aesthetic point of view, no one variety of perspective can be regarded as superior to any other, and though we naturally prefer that kind of perspective which best corresponds to our own habits of vision and therefore requires least effort of comprehension, all that is really required is intelligibility. It is in fact perfectly possible to learn to read the perspective of an unfamiliar art as fluently as we read that of our own times, and in the same way without being actively conscious of the use of any particular mode of perspective."
These last few months have taught me that I bring a unique perspective to the world just by being 100% myself. This is a theme my own Mother passed on to me during my childhood that has felt completely "re-ignited" and affirmed by undertaking this "Playful Project". I aim to lean way into this conscious awakening.