NEW DIRECTION

⚪️🔴🟠🟡🟢🔵🟣⚫️ NEW DIRECTION Ed. No. 52 - THE CHALLENGE WITH THE BIG PICTURE

WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR?

Artist's self portrait (1991)©️[DETAIL] / Artist: Neville Williams / Digitally enhanced

To see more of this Artist's work go to NevilleWilliamsArt

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

I was reading a commentary by a noted art dealer the other day who said he was over certain types of conceptual art. A lot of people I would suggest are over conceptual art. No surprise really. Conceptual art is hard work. It’s complicated!

As a viewer/participant you have to apply yourself and the last thing most want to do is gather their wits about them, focus and try to dig to discover something in a multi-layered artwork.

It’s bit like sitting through any one of Christopher Nolan’s earlier films... a mind f—k.

That’s exactly the problem I’ve had with my major conceptual artwork subliminally containing a model vision for Australia and the world. It’s all too hard for the average punter. And frankly we may well be happier smelling the flowers in life than getting all ‘immersed’ in conceptual art?

But ultimately isn’t that precisely what most conceptual artists are asking you to do? i.e. Find the fragrant flowers. That’s what I’m trying to do. To date not very successfully.

Frankly I write these blogs primarily for myself to stay engaged and thinking and hopefully creative. These writings/artworks are in a way my homework. They hold a mirror of self discovery up to myself so that I can see and read and understand about me and what’s going on inside of me.

Shouldn’t we all be allocating time for self reflection?

And we self reflect in different ways. I was sitting over a coffee with an engaged senior neighbour the other day who was expressing that she enjoys looking at the grass. That’s a bit like smelling the flowers! We all need that self reflection/discovery time. It renews our connection with the foundation of ourselves through the muddle of our thoughts.

Self reflection has become something of a luxury in a world that wants to grab and grasp and occupy every scintilla of space in our lives. “Try me, buy me, look at me I am the greatest, be what I want you to be for me, come on let me scam you”. Just horrible. And we wonder why our culture/way of life tastes like eating cardboard?

You can be assured that there are plenty out there that see the reflective time I’ve been talking about here as completely wasteful. They have EVERYTHING tied to their own material gain and nothing but nothing is going to change their narrow-mindedness. Their self value is totally rusted on to the idea that the more they have makes them more valid. They’d have us self destruct by unconsciously putting us on a treadmill of internal pain rather than them change their two dimensional thinking.

But what I’m talking about here is way beyond ‘hippiedom’ or self indulgence. I’m talking about the necessity of self preservation.

If you think that we’re heading in the right direction presently then I’d encourage you to please take a harder look. It appears to be a far less happy world than when I was a kid. Happiness has nothing to do with the material world. Some people will be just loathe to read that comment.

Self reflection/discovery is precisely what my proposal for a Sydney World Expo is all about. This Expo is a place intended for Australia and the rest of the World to pause and reflect even if for just a moment in time on the importance of ourselves and our wellbeing.

I wouldn’t blame people for rejecting most conceptual art. It’s too demanding in an already demanding world.

It appears though to be my lot in life to walk the path of a conceptual artist along the yellow brick road towards a life destination somewhere over the rainbow? (how camp) In any case life takes its own path and who knows who we might meet and where that may lead?…

For me ultimately home please and that definitely ain’t Kansas Dorothy. - Neville ☺︎