Page 98 - TOP 10 CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS - Volume I
P. 98
Hans-Joachim Horstmann
Lives and works in Erlangen, Germany
www.aktaquarell.de | www.artquid.com/aktaquarell
The Role of Visual Arts of a deeper meaning of all of these activities away from
by Hans-Joachim Horstmann everyday routine.
Life on our planet proceeds in conditions which are As a visual artist I am convinced of the following:
simply THERE. The thinking human being recognizes in A work of visual arts is the product of the artist‘s
this existence many modalities (= types and conditions attempt to liberate himself from being coerced and
of being) which are predefined and cannot be changed. trapped by the modalities of human existence by
We can structure these modalities in external and working creatively.
internal ones:
Examples of liberation:
• External: space, time, matter, gravitation, • Liberation from space: A landscape painter
electromagnetic waves (“light”), our position-dependent compresses the space of his motif, the volumes of the
view on objects, the evanescence of the moment, etc. objects in front of him, into layers of colour on the
• Internal: the anatomy and physiology of the body, image carrier (paper, canvas) which are often merely
determined by our genes, the structure of our thinking a few micrometres thin. This creates entirely new
and feeling, sexuality, instincts, societal constraints relations between the elements of his composition.
(rituals, taboos, tradition, rules), his conscience, our For instance, the blue sky (which is the “element”
helplessness in the face of destiny, in view of death, closest to him, meaning the air column rising directly in
one’s EGO, one’s self. front of his eyes), becomes an unstructured blue spot
which the painter lets border on a finely differentiated
The creation and perception of art are two possibilities representation of a tree ‒ this pleases the painter and
to escape these modalities partially and temporarily, by creates an experience of “flow” for him.
practicing art or perceiving an artistic work in a relaxed • The painter can liberate himself from the position
manner. What is characteristic of the pure arts is that dependence of his viewpoint by looking seemingly
they are without purpose. floating at the landscape.
• Liberation from time: Every picture, every statute
Of course there are other possibilities to overcome captures the evanescent moment and “snatches it out
TOP CONTEMPOR ARY ARTISTS something else for a change”, practice a hobby, sports, • Liberation from the materiality of an object: The
some modalities temporarily (to distract one-self, “doing
of time” (Arthur Schopenhauer).
artistic representation of an object as a painting
travelling, etc.) And the actor need not even be aware
96
