Wido Blokland, 1966. (NL) Visual artist. Works and lives in France.

‘L Éveil de Magritte [Et In Arcadia Ego]’- 2018, digital print, plexi, aluminium, 40 x 59,5 cm.

L’Art et L’Essentiel.

Het door de kunstenaar gezochte en verlangde is in geen enkel beeld te vatten. Iedere beeld schiet per definitie tekort ten opzichte van het ‘oorspronkelijke beeld’ dat ergens diep in de geest sluimert. Toch kunnen dingen soms heel goed in een lijstje worden gevat en het blijft me verbazen hoe juist beelden, vaak bestaande uit slechts enkele componenten, datgene wat desondanks onzichtbaar blijft op de een of andere manier weten te belichamen en tot aanschijn kunnen brengen. ‘Dat wat het oog doet zien heeft zelf geen oog nodig om te kunnen schouwen’ zegt de Kena Upanishad. Het wonder van het kijken vraagt echter om onze blik, een betrokken blik wel te verstaan. Zeker, want datgene wat telkens wordt getracht aan te raken met materiaal en vorm, maar dat zelf onaanraakbaar blijft en voorbij alle vorm openbaringen ligt, zou nooit een bronzen of ‘gouden kalf’ mogen worden – een fetisj dat als ding op zich de hele waarde is uit gaan maken wanneer alles tot object wordt gereduceerd en vergeten wordt dat de kracht van iedere poëzie schuilt in datgene waar naar verwezen wordt. Dat wat ‘buiten beeld’ valt. Verhult de blinde vlek uiteindelijk niet enkel het zicht op het onnoembare mysterie dat wij zelf zijn? Kan een op hol geslagen kunstwereld zich staande houden tussen dollars, speculanten en leeg prestige?

De ziel huist in de ogen zegt men, en het is het waarnemen dat onze werkelijkheid scheppend gestalte geeft. ‘Kijken vindt plaats vanuit bewustzijn’ (J.C.J. Van der Heijden). Wellicht meer dan bij de andere zintuigen is de blik stille getuige, getuige van diens eigen daad van schepping (waar némen) waarin scheppen, degene die schept en het geschapene met elkaar versmelten. Kijken geschiedt in stilte, heeft geen woorden nodig om het onnoembare te vatten. Er is afstand, terwijl alle afstand wegvalt. Kijken blijft zonder aanraking wanneer aan het essentiële wordt geraakt.

(dec.2018)

“Celui qui se définit ne peut savoir qui il est réellement.” [Lao Tse, H 24]

 

 

Art and the Essential.

The artists ‘imaginary’ quest cannot be accomplished by whatever image. All his work remains by definition but a reflect of the ‘one and original’ image somewhere slumbering in the abyss of his mind. Nevertheless art can very well function as an ideal framework, discovering unexpected visualisations, with or without framing them. I am continuously amazed on how images, often consisting of but a few components, are somehow able to represent, or even more than that, are almost seemingly able to embody that which remains nevertheless unseen. There is a profound magic in vision. ‘That which makes the eye see, doesn’t need eyes itself in order to be able to perceive’, according to the Kena Upanishad. The miracle of sight calls for a keen eye as well as an involved perception. Most certainly, since each attempt to touch the untouchable by means of form and material remains unresolved beyond all formal and artistic revelations, it should never may become reduced to the level of a bronze or ‘golden calf’ –  a fetish worshipped only for its visual qualities when everything is brought down to the limited status of being merely objects, and thus, when forgotten that the real power of poetry resides in its metaphors and not in the words themselves; i.e. in that which remains ‘out of picture’. Does the blind spot function in any other order than as a perfect ‘cover-up’ for the unnameable mystery we happen to be? Is it possible for the art world-on-derive to hold on amidst those blind forces of big money, prestigious collectors and manipulative speculates? 

The soul is in one’s eyes, they say, and our own perception creates and shapes the reality all around. ‘Seeing is from within consciousness’ (J.C.J. Van der Heijden), and not a mere input on the retina, neighter output of the brain. Possibly more than with any other sense organ, the eye is a silent witness, both as a creator; witnessing its own deed of creation (perception), in which the process of creation, the one who creates and the thing created seem to melt into each other. Seeing is committed in silence. It doesn’t need any derivative verbalisation to catch the unnamable. There is both distance as well as dis-appearance of all distance. Sight itself remains pure when it comes in touch with the essential.

(dec. 2018)

 

‘Oidipous [Late Farewell To Modernism]’ – 2016, detail.

‘Het vermogen om vrijelijk de scheidslijn tussen de werelden in beide richtingen te overschrijden, van het perspectief van de zichtbare vormen van de tijd naar dat van de oorzakelijke diepte en terug – zonder de bestandsdelen van het ene met die van het andere te besmetten, terwijl de geest wel in staat is het ene bij gratie van het andere te kennen – dat is de gave van de meester. (…) Door de fragmenten van de tijd (het tijdelijke) heen zien naar de volle kracht van het oorspronkelijke zijn is een taak van de kunst.’ [Joseph Campbell]

To Be With Art.

To make and be with art seemed almost unavoidable for me, despite the life of some sort of a hermit, living in an isolated spot, far remote from all art scenes of significance. I never resigned from being an artist, nor have I ever felt any resignation towards the art world. In time however, these terms simply lost most of their meaning to me, but not art itself. True, I didn’t show any of my work for at least eight years, unsure if I would ever want to show any again, but things continue anyway. Life has it’s own laws, and one is who one is supposed to be.

The starting point of all my work was – and has remained ever since – the self; literally, spatially, sculpturally and spiritually. The latter being of most importance, since the question of the self remains completely unresolved within non-spiritual boundaries. More than anything else, being a visual artist, one is the ultimate witness although one can never fully see oneself. Everything starts with attention, and thus raises the question of observation itself; is there really any kind of substantial boundary between the observer and the observed? Or is this highly estimated spiritual goal – the fundamental unity between them – simply the one and only reality?

“Me” – the self-  is strictly seen an indefinable and thus empty concept. There is no-thing like ‘me’, – the reason why the Buddha spoke of anatman: the non-self. In any case, without ever finding ‘my’ self, there’s still always me. In the beginning, in the middle and in the end. The eyes, mirrors of the soul but also literally extensions of the brain, always reach outside. Even the subtle senses are always reaching outwards, bouncing information backwards synchronically in perfect symmetry with the mind itself. Yet much can be seen without the eye, often even better. Everyone ever involved in any creative process (and isn’t life anything else but exactly that, a creative process? ) can testify on the necessity of what can be called incubation. Everything originates in the mind. 

Life bounces round and round, spinning off to bite it’s own tale, just like the Ourobouros where everything meets again within the same universal bubble of Consciousness. Whether the bubble’s limits can be found at the end of one’s outstretched fingertips, or near the most outreached ‘edges’ of this multiple universe, makes little difference, for whatever route taken, one will always come into contact with other selves and/or universes. It is for this encounter with the infinite – which is just another me, and which can be found around any corner in life, that art will prolong and continues to exist.

The works presented here are not to be seen as a ‘catalogue résumé’ and the absence of any chronological order enforces the cyclical process, and not necessarily progress, that art is. The web-presentation itself can also be seen as a work and part of a bigger web that continues to be and evolve right up until today.

 

[dec. 2017]

The work, initially investigating the role of the spectator and sculpture às space, one’s very own presence, involves fundamental questions on the spiritual dimension of human existence.

The work consistently tries to break open all boundaries on who we think we are.

– “Never am I here at present only as this encapsulated body…”

[2009]

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