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by
Robert Genn
Perhaps
it's only with the addition of confabulation that art delivers
its wizardry and magic. Scientifically
defined, confabulation is the
confusion of imagination with memory, and/or the confusion of true
memories with false memories. In
both the art of art and the art of
Santa, falsehood gets to a deeper truth. Nowadays
it's
more pleasantly harnessed to the marvelous potential of the human
imagination. Fantastic and spontaneous outpourings of irrelevant
associations and bizarre ideas come quite naturally to ordinary
creative folks. Take
Paul Klee's "A Young Lady's Adventure" (1922), where
convoluted lines, intertwining design and off-beat symbolism weave a
sensual spell. Or
Gustav Klimt's "Mme Fritsa Riedler" (1906), where
decorative elegance and over-the-top opulence, combined with a
stunningly realistic face, spin the mind to suspend belief in the
normal. Just
look at the cascading negative-positive dress-line that
diagonals the painting. Is this not magic? So you can get an idea what
I'm talking about, we've put these two examples at the top of the
current clickback. It can
also come from
the brain. Ancillary ideas, metaphors and the embellishments of truth
add interest and depth to otherwise standard work. Consciously
or
unconsciously, we ask the viewer to avoid saying "So what." In a world
where it's easy to be complacent or uncaring, confabulation raises
curiosity and is a key to a broader, more enriched view. It's
what we
do with what we have that makes art. Confabulation adds energy, joy,
fantasy and mystique to the human experience. Always,
always, the
hooves are prancing on the roofs of our minds. We need to listen. We
are all delivered with a gift of canvas that we may fill any way we
wish. "The
world," said Henry David Thoreau, "is but a canvas to the
imagination." 
From The Robert Genn
Twice-Weekly Letter - December 25, 2007
Creativity
enhancement
articles Visual
arts ~ ~ ~ |
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Just
as the Santa business is a marvelous confabulation, so too is art.
