There are many ways that the topic of "Vision" can be interpreted and many forms of artwork that can fall underneath this subject. During my research I came across many variations that involve the topic of vision and here are a few of them:
Visionary art: I have chosen to research a few topics of vision but visionary art to me is the most important because rather than creating art from mainly what you see physically, visionary art is creating art from what you see in your mind or feel in your emotions and typically doesn't make sense in the physical world sometimes.This art movement originated in the 60's & 70's and is still popular today and usually involves themes of a spiritual, mystical, dream like state in which the physical world isn't present and portrays a wider vision of awareness and explores almost hallucinogenic images that only the inner mind can concuct with your own imagination or spiritual expression.( The examples I am about to show are more contemporary than anything else and even tough there are many brilliant historical pieces I liked these artists the most out of the research I carried out)
Pablo Amaringo
This Peruvian artist has a strange method before creating his imaginative masterpieces... he drinks a highly hallucinogenic brew called "Ayahuasca" made with special vines called "banisteriopsis caapi" and people who consume this are said to have spiritual visions involving the universe, nature and deep inner thoughts on how to be a better person and connect emotionally with nature which personally, I think is fascinating because with further training, higher dosages have revealed higher beings similar to that of gods depicted in hindu artwork who are experts in inner and physical healing, extra dimensions and other worldly creatures and visions. It is under the influence of this concoction that Pablo created his artwork. Here are some examples of his work...
I absolutely love this piece of artwork mainly because when I look at it my eyes are drawn to the face in the centre of the page that has been pulled in together with natural imagery such as plants, trees and is all congregated to result in the face and almost seems like an illusion type. I love the different shades of blue used especially the bright, misty blue around the center of this piece, it really compliments the greens and shows just how aware Pablo is when it comes to complimentary colours especially when you take it all in as a whole. The range of colours he has used is inspirational simply because he's pretty much covered the spectrum without over using, clashing or grouping any colours without making it look tacky. I like the amount of detail in this image but I feel as though when it comes to the people around the edges it becomes too clear that they are not his usual focus of his artwork because they aren't as expertly drawn as some of the other objects such as the plants, birds or animals you can see around the image. Although this isn't my usual target of inspiration he has made me aware that using more colour isn't always a bad thing.
This image is quite different from the last as you can clearly see there isn't as much detail and objects crammed into it and are quite a few repetitive patterns. I'm a huge fan of colour fading into black and white I think it looks brilliant especially when there is dark shading involved like this painting, I haven't seen this image in person but imagine the texture between the two halves looks and feels amazing and is something I have always appreciated. I think the colours and the blending of the colours in this piece of art is beautiful, it almost seems as though there's glowing lights coming through the leaves. I don't really like the people at the bottom of the page, I feel as though they conflict against the detail because they don't have any detail themselves and don't really fit in with the rest of the painting. However, I almost feel like I can see and feel how Pablo did when he created it under the influence of the Ayahuasca brew and he's showing me how vast and beautiful everything seems and how dark it can get & it's almost dream-like and a very honest and imaginitive piece of visionary art with a running theme of nature.
Martina Hoffman
Martina Hoffman spent most of her childhood in Germany and West Africa and surrounded by German, African and French culture speaking various languages and learning the ways of the different societies she was surrounded by and you can clearly see the African influence in her work. She also moved to Spain and trained with Robert Venosa and Ernst Fuchs inspired by both visionary artists. Her work is unique, feminine and spiritual. Riddled with imagery inspired by meditation, inner peace and natural imagery and an over all feeling of life. Here are some examples of her work...
I'm a huge fan of Martina's art mainly because I love feminine art such as this painting here. It oozes with femininity and not in a sexual way but more of a spiritual and natural way. She has cleverly portrayed this female character as a form of goddess by using symbols such as the rams horns encased in gold and positions of the body as she is in a state of meditation and over all seems peaceful. The use of Golds and oranges make's the over all image appear warm and welcoming as well as luxurious at the same time which is something I really like especially when the colours blend as well as this. In my opinion this is a brilliant example of visionary art because everything seems very dream like and unrealistic but at the same time it all makes sense and comes together to create an inspirational piece of art that appeals to me personally.
As you can see stright away this is a very imaginative piece littered with natural imagery such as flowers, plants and animals. It looks as though I've pulled it right from a dream because the collage of images are so random and confusing as to what is happening and definitely promotes a mystical and spiritual theme. Also, the theme of femininity has yet again appeared which I always like but this time not in the peaceful, beautiful goddess-like way as in her other paintings and instead seems to have a darker agenda perhaps. Yet again I think the colours used in this painting are wonderful and the bright shining blue looks like some sort of electrical energy encasing the images in the center and compliment the colours used as well. I like that there are no hard shapes or lines and everything seems smooth and flowing together.
Robert Venosa
This is the artist I mentioned in the "Martina Hoffman" section: Robert Venosa. Venosa was Hoffmans inspiration for visionary art when she moved to spain and although their work is completely different in many ways it's easy to see why his work was inspirational to her....
Ideas
Other than visionary art there are also some other pieces of art that go along with the theme of vision that I think are interesting and are possibly the start of some ideas for the project ahead. Here are a few ideas/inspirational images..........
Nightmares
Nightmares in my opinion have always inspired and been the reason for or inspiration for some brilliant art. This subject can easily be linked to "vision" clearly because they are images seen by the mind in the state of sleep and can be portrayed in any way because the images are personal to the individual that created them.
Here are some images that I've found on various internet sites, I haven't found out much about these images such as size, dates of creation on most of them but they're interesting all the less.
This is an image I found on "Tumblr", there was no information and the only caption was "Nightmare" so I don't know who created it but I absolutely love it because of it's abstract quality and sinister images. The main colour used is an eery white that creates an almost translucent floating effect that creates a scary, negative atmosphere which is clearly the aim of this painting and is an exceptionally good example of a representation for nightmares.
Peter Smeeth "The artists fate"
Surprisingly I have found out quite a lot more about this artist after doing some research and shockingly discovered that this is not a historical piece of art and was created only a few years ago taking over 150 hours to create this masterpiece. Although this painting is more about how the artist feels about his work being judged and being put down the imagery used in this painting are that of nightmares and over all has a dark inner meaning and negative atmosphere which I like for some reason because I don't typically take a shine to these sort of paintings. The detail is more prominent in certain areas such as the artists face and the grim reaper figure and less so in most other places which I don't like but I appreciate that this is the look he has gone for and has put a tremendous amount of effort into it. Also, the thought of putting personal emotions into his artwork is something I really admire because it's straight forward, no inner meaning or thousands of possible interpretations it's simple showing people how having his work slated makes him feel which is something a lot of artists can relate to.
Illusions
Illusions are something I'm not really willing to pursue in my project but after doing some research I've realised there are some heavily detailed illusions that have an added artistical intelligence and make good pieces of art and even though I'm not a huge fan and they would be hard to re-create they tie into my theme of vision and were interesting to research.... Here is an example of an illusion that I found that I really like by an artist called Octavio Campo...
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