Thursday, July 15, 2021

Thursday Thoughts...

"My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind." 

Agnes Martin

I filled in the final word of this quote in my head before I read it. Interesting.  I thought she was going to say heart.

So I then had to ponder - I wonder why she chose mind; and how mind and heart differ...

Mind seems far more cerebral; heart far more intangible. Logical v Intuitive. Rational v Emotional.

And yet somehow that doesn't seem to hold.  Agnes' work is structured, grid-like; ethereal and calm. Perhaps her paintings are deliberate in their form and whilst my heart and soul feel calmed by them she may be painting memories and things and times she remembers.

Perhaps she is also just sensible and realistic; recognising that things are actually held in the mind - moments, recollections, experiences and the like; we rely upon our minds to recall and evoke them.


Serene and calm memories - Japanese Garden, Portland OR, 2010

4 comments:

  1. is imagination seen with the heart dreamed up with the mind & rendered by hand?

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    1. Like that very much Mo - iI think it is an interplay between them and for me it's the trilogy - heart, mind, and hand. Synchronsied, with one leading and the others following, and then it changes to a new part and one of the others takes over...

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  2. mind versus heart ... and I'm thinking of the word "intuitive" ... how it leaves open the question of where our "knowing" comes from

    Agnes Martin is a fascinating artist ... I'm very much looking forward to our travels to New Mexico in October, when we plan to visit the Agnes Martin exhibit at the Harwood Museum (among many other things)

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    1. I love the words 'knowing' and 'knowings'. I use the words "I come to quite knowings..." in a few pieces I have done because that's sometimes how it works for me. Knowing is known. It is deep. It is held. But from whence it arrives is possibly the thing - the interplay again between heart and mind. What a joy it will be to visit Agnes Martin's exhibit - I imagine immense calm and peace...go well

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