Painting the bush. Merleau-Ponty, Martin Buber.

I was in conversation with a respected friend who spoke of Merleau-Ponty and his perception of the human experience to which, as a trade I offered Martin Buber with his I-Thou reciprocity.

So in regarding the bush I have to take into account that the act includes its relationship to me and for the purposes of the exchange paint becomes the intermediary, the facilitator, the thought anchor if you will.What we literally see, or notice, is hence not simply the objective world, but is conditioned by a myriad of factors that ensures that the relationship between perceiving subject and object perceived is not one of exclusion. Rather, each term exists only through its dialectical relation to the other, and from this analysis of the perceiving body-subject, Merleau-Ponty enigmatically concludes that "Inside and outside are inseparable. The world is wholly inside and I am wholly outside myself"

In this mode, which Martin Buber calls "encounter" (the mode of I–You), we enter into a relationship with the object encountered, we participate in something with that object, and both the I and the You are transformed by the relation between them. The You we encounter is encountered in its entirety, not as a sum of its qualities. The You is not encountered as a point in space and time, but, instead, it is encountered as if it were the entire universe, or rather, as if the entire universe somehow existed through the You. We can enter into encounter with any part of the object and with any part of the space in which the object exists.

This is what I am working towards in these paintings: it requires that I experience or understand a wholeness, a flow backward and forward through painting and drawing. I realize that I have been trying for this a long time but that I couldn't see it or if I was aware of it, it was something just on the edge of vision and understanding.

Painting the modern garden.

Painting the modern garden is the title of the current show at the Royal Academy of Art in London and since that seems to be what I am doing every day now it is relevant , though quite why the period stops at 1920 escapes me as there is an enormous amount of work which continues to be based upon the garden. Timing is everything and although I have a trip to England planned it doesn't coincide with the exhibition but for those of you who will be close to or in London, the closing date is Sunday 17th April.

Small bush painting revisited.

Painting should be difficult - where is the fun in it being easy?  Those endless moments where one knows one should do something, make a move, lose what one has, make anew but can't get out of the chair, or walk around looking at images, putting on music, mowing the grass, anything but do what must be done. One has to love the madness of it and the pull that painting exerts : that voice urging re-engagement. "go on, get in there. Stop prevaricating. It doesn't matter if it falls short, it's your failure, sort it"

It's a grey day but.........