Local image #112
2024, Acrylic on board, 30x30cm
R990.00
40% off R594.00
3 June 2024
Opening spaces for thought to appear. Wombs. Emotions and thoughts birthed. New emotions, new thoughts that are already always old. Outside of time there is no new and old.
Gaze games. Social platforms. The condescending looks I have received in the past from young art students when they ask me where they can view my work online and I tell them: Facebook. The haughty look arises because I did not say Instagram. Of course, these high looks revolve around other platforms now. As a computer programmer, I cannot see how a platform that restricts functionality (to only mobile devices, shorter videos, etc.) should be more desirable. It is irrational. But that, it seems, is what reigns: the irrational. It is not OK in their eyes to discriminate on race or sex, but discrimination based on social platform, is completely acceptable. What coolness fluid flows into your eyes and blinds you to your irrationality? It is an emotional and spiritual thing, which I am not going to expound on now, and hopefully, when you are older, you will also be able to see that.
8 June 2024
Does rational thought exist? How do thoughts emerge? We know that our minds have conscious and unconscious modes of thought. We know very little about how our unconscious mind works, but we know that it affects our conscious rational thought. To what extent, we don’t know exactly. With that in mind, how can we be certain that our ’rational’ thought is not so influenced by our unconscious mind as to render rational thought questionable? Furthermore, our rational thought is based on our system of categories, which is different for every individual. And refining our categories is a life long exercise that no one ever completes. If our system of categories fail to absolutely and truly reflect reality, then our thoughts can never be declared ’rational’. We can only hope to achieve better thoughts, or thoughts based on a more refined system of categories, more commensurate with the field of reality. We are limited by the ability of our minds and our senses and the dynamic interplay between them to create an image of reality i.e. an aesthetic.
It is commonly said that rational thought can only take one so far, and perhaps the image of this analogy is that of reaching a certain point on a road, thinking that every part of the road already traveled has been absolutely resolved. But actually, in terms of this image, it would perhaps be more accurate to realise that even the road already traveled is filled with an infinity of unresolved gaps, because between any two points lies an infinity.
Opening spaces for thought to appear. Wombs. Emotions and thoughts birthed. New emotions, new thoughts that are already always old. Outside of time there is no new and old.
Gaze games. Social platforms. The condescending looks I have received in the past from young art students when they ask me where they can view my work online and I tell them: Facebook. The haughty look arises because I did not say Instagram. Of course, these high looks revolve around other platforms now. As a computer programmer, I cannot see how a platform that restricts functionality (to only mobile devices, shorter videos, etc.) should be more desirable. It is irrational. But that, it seems, is what reigns: the irrational. It is not OK in their eyes to discriminate on race or sex, but discrimination based on social platform, is completely acceptable. What coolness fluid flows into your eyes and blinds you to your irrationality? It is an emotional and spiritual thing, which I am not going to expound on now, and hopefully, when you are older, you will also be able to see that.
8 June 2024
Does rational thought exist? How do thoughts emerge? We know that our minds have conscious and unconscious modes of thought. We know very little about how our unconscious mind works, but we know that it affects our conscious rational thought. To what extent, we don’t know exactly. With that in mind, how can we be certain that our ’rational’ thought is not so influenced by our unconscious mind as to render rational thought questionable? Furthermore, our rational thought is based on our system of categories, which is different for every individual. And refining our categories is a life long exercise that no one ever completes. If our system of categories fail to absolutely and truly reflect reality, then our thoughts can never be declared ’rational’. We can only hope to achieve better thoughts, or thoughts based on a more refined system of categories, more commensurate with the field of reality. We are limited by the ability of our minds and our senses and the dynamic interplay between them to create an image of reality i.e. an aesthetic.
It is commonly said that rational thought can only take one so far, and perhaps the image of this analogy is that of reaching a certain point on a road, thinking that every part of the road already traveled has been absolutely resolved. But actually, in terms of this image, it would perhaps be more accurate to realise that even the road already traveled is filled with an infinity of unresolved gaps, because between any two points lies an infinity.