Discussions/Essays – Page 8

The little seen photography of Stanley Kubrick before his famous filmmaking career. Kubrick was always an excellent photographer and his way of seeing the whole was a key foundation to the compositional beauty and gravity of his movies.

“…if one would solve the everyday problems of existence, whatever they may be, one must first see the wider issues and then come to the detail. After all, the great painter, the great poet is one who sees the whole — who sees all the heavens, the blue skies, the radiant sunset, the tree, the fleeting bird—all at one glance…then he begins to paint, to write, to sculpt; he works it out in detail. — Krishnamurti

Seeing the big picture seems so difficult. Why is that?

I suspect it’s the dominance of our approach to life, which is becoming ever more mechanical and detailed oriented. We are so left-brain dominant. We seem prone to turn our attention to small, busy abstractions. We automatically think they’re somehow more real, more informative and thus far more important than anything else in comparison. Furthermore, details, even triavialities, have a certain urgency about them, make it doubly hard to turn away. Unfortunately, this gets us into tremendous trouble. This is especially so when we use our pin-point acuity at the wrong time.

Timing is everything. We must know when to think and when to do.

Like a bird that’s going about its daily activities, we need to see big and see small. Most prey animals do both at the same time; they keep one eye out for predators (the big picture environment) while it keeps the other eye fixed on the worm in the ground (the small detail). Unfortunately, we humans are unable to operate under this kind of arrangement. Like most predators, our eyes aim stereoscopically to target our prey. Our goals are specific and thus the details before us are both demanding for accuracy and urgency (our target might escape!). And driven by our desire/greed (i.e. getting the worm), we psychologically forget the larger game.

“I make my work emerge naturally… with no apparent effort but thought out at length and worked out from within.” — Joan Miro

The artist does this when he gets so obsessed with the minutiae of specificity — challenging technicalities that reveal themselves in the strain of the moment — that he messes up the main idea. He’s so caught in the busyness of doing and fixing that he doesn’t even realize that the reason he’s struggly so mightily (later on) is because he’s built his work on a bad foundation. He twists and turns, changing this detail and that, even altering the original core essence of his work. Even professionals fall prey to this terrible habit. It’s easy to forget but skill alone is not enough to ensure success.

We must work always from big picture to small, from the ground up and from the inside out.

When we mess with our workflow — the proper procedural approach to creation — we mess up the work. It’s inevitable. Big studios do this; beginning/advancing production on a project before ironing out story issues or even questioning whether they actually have a good idea in the first place. The individual animator does this; fixing and polishing his shot that has terrible acting and design choices. In both cases, they are working to finish something that’s actually never really even begun. Afterall, re-adjusting and polishing garbage can never transform it from being what it is, garbage!

“Speed is irrelevant if you are going in the wrong direction.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Stop when you realize things are going in the wrong direction.

Too many people, not just artists, just continue onwards despite knowing that they’re going the wrong way. It’s sad but true; habits are hard to break. Call it pride, call it stupidity, but this is almost default behaviour with most people. We repeat the same actions expecting different results. How can this not drive us to bitterness and mad dissappointment?

The solution is simple even if it is hard. (Hint: if it’s too easy and convenient, it’s probably wrong)

The long approach is almost always the right approach. It’s also the simplest. Always spend adequate time to think, explore and plan. Then do the work. Work in order. Review and adjust accordingly, each time checking if you’re on track with the grand design of things. I often remind my own students: First compose the music, then play the music. Design the building before you build it. Learn to see how you actually think and work.

“Consciousness illuminates itself by paying attention to it.” — Albert Camus

I took this photo at the top of the mountains in Switzerland but we don’t need to go this far to find rest. Nature almost anywhere can bring great peace and rest to our souls.

“This is very important— to take leisure time. Pace is the essence. Without stopping entirely and doing nothing at all for great periods, you’re gonna lose everything… just to do nothing at all, very, very important. And how many people do this in modern society? Very few. That’s why they’re all totally mad, frustrated, angry and hateful.” — Charles Bukowski, Writer

As a counterbalance to our previous discussion on work, I’d like to talk about rest. I don’t think we can overestimate the value and power of good solid rest. I don’t mean sleep, or vacations, or laying around playing video games or going to a party as a relief or reward from hard work, but the genuine cessation of activity; doing nothing.

To me, rest means silence; a silence and easing of the mind and body. There’s no direction at all. it’s about NOT being guided by goals, memories or thoughts of any kind. It reconfirms an approach to life — an approach to each moment — with the attitude of “I don’t know” which humbles us, empties our minds and opens our hearts.

If you don’t know what to do, you do nothing… then inwardly you are completely silent.” — J. Krishnamurti, Orator

Sincere and genuine rest also means time alone to be with oneself and oneself only. To hear a different language — one not limited to the one-dimensional and time-bound nature of verbal language but one that’s multidimensional. It’s an opportunity to communicate within the self and to trust the signals deep inside us. Signals which, ever so strangely, connect us with forces beyond our understanding, the big picture that we can’t quite see. I can’t think of a more countering action to all the noise and superficiality of our modern technological society than this kind of re-alignment. It strenghtens the soul.

“The strongest men are the most alone.” — Ibsen, Playwright

Personally, I find try to find rest (silence) at least once daily — via meditation usually — just to be quiet, not thinking and to look, smell, hear and feel things around me. I might do this for 15 mins or 2 hours, but I find duration isn’t so much the key. Rather, it’s the complete letting go of things that makes all the difference. Our sensory acuity sharpens in the silence.

“Silence is so accurate.” ― Mark Rothko, Painter

At other times, I take my reprieve informally, like going for a walk by the ocean or even just sitting in my studio staring at (listening to) my painting, without commentary. I let things speak to me and the unknown, well, it finds me.

“Only in the stillness of detachment can the soul yield up her secrets.” — Elsa Barker, Poet

One thing I have learned with creative maturity is that, when I don’t take heed to silence and rest, I’m never quite right; I fall prey to frustration and increase my rate of reactive (poor) behaviour. It’s as if only this kind of deep beautiful rest can ever ground me and cleanse me of the wrongs in my life. This silent “nothingness” makes me a better artist and a better human on this earth — it’s a bridge to possibilities.