Page 6 - For the purpose of this essay when I refer to ‘spirit’ ‘devine’ or ‘spirituality’ I am referring

Bridget Riley also refers to this place that is beyond logic, beyond ego, beyond
thinking, ‘There is an area, and a very sensitive primary area for an artist, which cannot
be referred to directly without damage. It is as though the impulse which is about to be
expressed should remain unavailable to the logic of the intellect in order to find its true

form in whatever field or metier the artist has chosen’. Robert Kudielka, ‘The Eye’s
Mind: Bridget Riley Collected Writings 1965-1999’ (1999, p11)
So here it is seen that the painter must be ever vigilant, open and alert to this
sensitive primary area. Thus the burden or struggle of the artist is to assess the level to
which he/she is open and alert when new work is being created. Though the onus is
surely on the artist to be open to these influences and honest in expressing them in
his/her work I believe the circle is not complete until that connection is communicated
to the viewer. Therefore the audience also plays a vital role, but not merely as dormant
observers of the painting being viewed, but as an active participant in completing the
spiritual experience. Karen Stone makes reference to this in ‘Image and Spirit’ (2003,
p13) when she says, ‘Viewers bear considerable responsibility for the artwork’s
interpretation. Those who expect to sit passively by while the art does something to
them are missing the point. It cannot be stated too strongly or too often that the viewer
is a full partner in the transaction. The artist who finishes a work and displays it for
others to see relinquishes further control over it. If perception is necessary to visual
communication, then the viewer’s response is a necessary part of the artwork’s
completeness’. After all any sound communication, must embrace the viewer. But once
the works are completed, the painter, the creator must also become the viewer; he/she
must also stand back and experience the work as an active witness, open to seeing it as
separate from them and attempt to reconnect with the work while being open to the
divine influence. Mark Rothko made reference to this when he said, ‘The instant a
picture is completed, the artist becomes an outsider who must experience the work, like
any other viewer, as revelation’. ‘Twentieth Century Artists on Art’ (1996, p248)
When the painter is open and taking alert and conscious responsibility for
every mark, brushstroke, colour, thickness of paint and composition, with no real
purpose other than to reflect honestly the act of creating, with no real purpose other
than to be open to divine influence, when an attempt to represent a given organised
religion is absent, therefore not contrived in any way, then I believe the painter is at
his/her most susceptible to the unconscious part where creativity emanates. It is here
where the painter becomes the mediator, allowing creativity to come through them
rather than from them. Mark P. Hederman makes reference to this in ‘The Haunted
Inkwell’ (2001, p30-33) when he says, ‘However, it is from the unconscious that all
great spiritual or religious art emanates. It does not come from a conscious embracing
of religious creeds or principals; nor does it arise from implementation of a strategic
religious plan, a propagation of a particular set of creedal formulae, or the adoption of a
specific code of religious conduct’. He goes on to say, ‘it is God actively involved in
the work: divine energy. It is God’s spirit at work. Such truth does not come to us; it
comes through us’...... ‘Great art of the second kind, which allows God’s creative spirit
to take shape in the world, requires humility. We have to yield to this spirit’...’it means
diminishing the self so that the other source of inspiration may increase’. This
sensitivity, openness, willingness to mediate rather than control can best be described

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