Forms arise from our visualization of objects through our powers of cognition.
Cognition in turn, is sum total of all the experiences of a person. Therefore, a person who has acquired true knowledge and is enlightened will visualize the forms describing the core of creation as it may be observed in this 3-dimensional world. This shows up vividly in paintings that are discussed in this section. So powerful and fundamental are the thoughts contained in Zen and Taoism, that it penetrated the very stronghold of Christianity during a period when faith and belief in Christ in the west was unquestioned. These ideas have been discussed in the subsequent sections.
Antoni Tapies (123-12) conceived of his work as a form of meditation on ‗the void‘
more specifically, "that play of emptiness and fullness which composes everything and which reveals the meaning of nature". He expressed this esoteric philosophy, partly inspired by Zen Buddhism, through a multiplicity of potent, often paradoxical, objects. During 1940s, he made copies of Van Gogh and Picasso, and read Dostoevsky, Ibsen, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, as well as the Japanese Buddhist Okakura Kakuzo. About to 1944 he inspired paintings by Paul Klee and he was also influenced by his friend Joan Miro, whom he met in 1948. One of the keys to understanding how Tapies escaped both temptations lies in his interest in Eastern culture and, particularly, in Zen, a doctrine that professes the need to eliminate superfluous details and to contemplate insignificant objects.
The influence of Zen aesthetics and contemplation is obvious in works such as ‗Linia discontinua‘ (1967). (Fig.62) ‗The Ryoan-ji garden‘ in Kyoto is the highest expression of Zen philosophy. This garden was built in 15th century. This garden, which is bereft of plants, consists of five groups of round boulders standing in a
tranquil sea of white gravel that is raked regularly. Here, in the presence of this unadorned setting, the Buddhist monk is able to meditate virtually undisturbed and exercise his senses while discerning the nuances of the raked gravel and the moss-covered stones. In spite of evident cultural differences, the present work can be contemplated in a similar way. Two apparently insignificant events occur on the smoothly raked, white textured base: a reddish line is traced along the upper part of the canvas, and a tear—a simple gestural mark appears in the right corner. Everything here invites the viewer to quiet contemplation. In his "matter paintings", Tapies mixed pigment and varnish with unconventional materials, including marble dust and sand, to create dense, wall-like surfaces that are both blank and teasingly mysterious. He also frequently included cruciform shapes that look less like Christian symbols than negative marks on a child's exercise book, the signatures of illiterate people, or even distortions of the artist's own initial. Clearly he relished the ambiguity.
Despite this elusiveness, it is still possible to outline a variety of themes and influences: leftwing politics and humanitarianism; the practices of Zen meditation, in which contemplation of a wall or a garden of sand can lead to enlightenment.
Joan Miro‘s (1893-83) His biomorphic forms remained within the bounds of objectivity. However, they were forms of pure invention and were made expressive and imbued with meaning through their juxtaposition with other forms and the artist's use of color. Much has been made of his influence on the color field painters - Motherwell, Gorky, Pollock, and Rothko. After world war 2nd Miro settled in Mallorca in 1957 and continued experimenting with art. His Series of Burnt Canvases (1973), hanging from the ceiling in Room Nine of the Tate, look like Miro has bashed, splattered and burnet the canvas in a tantrum, but he was expressing his inner riot and anarchy as trouble was brewing in his country. Violence erupted, student protesters
hurled fireworks and cans of paint at the Madrid Stock Exchange, breaking the windows in an act of defiance against Franco‘s corrupt dictatorship. Miro wanted to join in, now aged 80 years old, his cry of protest was to paint canvases, douse them in petrol and set them on fire (Fig.64). When each canvas was burning he‘d paint more, letting the fire continue until a gaping hole was burnt in the canvas. He had a calm side too; he practiced Zen Buddhism and explored solitude, in this time he created massive triptychs, displayed in Room 10, each imposing canvas with one simple, jagged line running through like a pulse.
―Bleu II,‖ (Fig 65) is part of a series of three paintings which he felt summarized his work up to that point. Using blue to symbolize artistic creation and spiritual purity could connect to emptiness and his experience of Zen meditation. Rejecting conventional techniques, he used a form of freeform drawing called psychic automatism that tapped into his subconscious, creating unusual shapes, lines and colors. Although much of his symbolism represented his strong connection to the Catalan culture, it is the spontaneity and freedom of Surrealism that is popularly associated with Miro‘s art. He held a special significance with this color; to him this blue was a symbol of a world of cosmic dreams, an unconscious state where his mind flowed clearly and without any sort of order.
His abstract paintings conveyed his dreams and subconscious, and he often spoke of painting freely without truly being in control; rather, letting the free-flowing thoughts and shifts of his mind move the brush across the canvas, a technique referred to as
―psychic automatism‖. Bleu II exemplifies his distinct style; the artist uses sparse, uniform brushstrokes all across the canvas, giving the enormous expanse of the painting an even more empty feeling, which is emphasized even further by the distinguishable dreamy blue of the background. Bleu II is probably the painting in
Miró‘s portfolio that most definitively expresses his obsession with dreamscapes and vacant, infinite space.
Kenzo Okada was an accomplished artist and teacher in the Western figurative tradition when, in 1950, he left Japan, his homeland, and immigrated to New York.
Shortly after settling there, Okada‘s artistic style changed from explorations of the figure and European-influenced landscapes to lyrical abstractions that fused Western and Eastern styles. While Japan provided inspiration, America supplied Okada with a new format and materials for representation. Living in the West gave him the freedom to explore and express his feelings about Japan. While he was living in the United States, Okada‘s thoughts were still consumed with Japan; his dreams became the inspiration for his abstract paintings. Footsteps, (Fig. 50) painted in 1954, represents one of Okada's early forays into this new form of expression. In keeping with the ideas of his fellow abstract expressionists, Okada drew imagery from his subconscious, allowing it to dictate his creative hand. He had no preconceived imagery for a picture, but preferred working in the spirit of Zen Buddhism, which emphasizes meditation. Occasionally he was known to work out the ideas for a composition using natural elements such as sticks, stones, and paper. This process helped him to develop the image before actually beginning his painting.
The Spanish painters have shown reverence to Christ through symbolisms of Zen and Taosim. Yet, the quest was never arrogant or narrow. The painters were open to accept the depth of the Zen and Tao philosophies. They understood its meaning and were able to bring about new interpretation through a combination of Christian and Oriental symbols.
4.5 Zen and Taoism Influences with Empty Color-Field Abstraction. 禪與道對色