Exchanges with a friend - my reply:

I definitely did not compare all of my work , as I work on many different  'painterly problems' , - with the Japanese, but only a very small section -

 

where I just placed a tiny  bit of color, form right on the edge.

 

I found it interesting that someone else also have a bare space with just  a minute form on the edge.

 

I can't find examples of that, a mark on the edge now as I have thousands of images.

 

But found a few other examples.

 

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Most artists work only one one or a few problems - like Twombly, Still, etc.

 

A handful of us , like Klee and Richter, work on a certain problem, dissolve it, then move to another problem, etc etc.

 

We never have only one style -  or solution to one problem, for as soon as we have solved a certain problem (our what is know as a 'style') - we reject it , go into some sort of chaos, identify another problem in that,

 

and solve that again (thus many styles).

 

--

 

I found it interesting that someone else produced work that had only a few small, minute forms right on the edge of the support - as I've never seen that with anyone else.

 

--

 

Anyway here are a few images that are minimalist. I can't quickly find ones where the image lies on the edge.

 

j

 

The majority of artists are satisfied with the solution to one problem  they develop - that is also known as their (recognizable) style.  This is what this Japanese does - his style.

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When I wrote 'solving problems', I did not mean in a rational manner, but pre-conceptual or sub-consciously, the domain of the so-called 'creativity'..  We must use concepts to think and talk ABOUT that, but then we are immediately entangled in words and more words and the need to construct arguments, so as to be able to express oneself and communicate in a dialogue or having a discourse. I once said to someone who lectures and writes on these things: what he does might be necessary to obtain a degree in theory of art, but it is irrelevant to the practice of painting and other art forms (his theorizing about culture,arts etc) . And, I doubt that van Gogh  or Michelangelo had a copy of his ideas in their left hand while working, using it as some kind of rule book  or canon of how to paint.

my email to a fried:

writes:

not a rational problem solving - not as simple as that -

it is pre-conceptual, subconscious - prior to thinking - where so-called creativity lies or begins -

 

I just label it problem solving when I reflect and talk ABOUT it in rational discourse -

 

this is a very different activity from the the acts of painting itself,

 

but the best we have available to think and talk about art.

 

But of course this is really totally irrelevant to the painting process -

 

as I always tell someone know who lectures  and writes books on these things. I tell him: no painter first read his books and lectures before they paint and van Gogh and Michelangelo did not have those items in their left hands as a rule book when they paint -

 

why I object to art critics and reviewers. There activities are irrelevant to the painting process

 

best not to talk about such things, I have found -

one only gets all tangled up in words and the process of thinking and constructing arguments

 

j

 

 His response:

Totally agree with everything you've written thus far. I must enter the cloud of unknowing and give myself entirely to that and simply reach for what's not there yet.  My attempts to even manifest it are already deeply flawed. Anyone else observations weaken the moment even more. That's why theology holds little merit for me any longer.

 

If I look at the great masters, I see something of their entering into unknowing/ignorance as the emerge with some attempt to express what has touched them.

my reply:

"If I look at the great masters, I see something of their entering into unknowing/ignorance as the emerge with some attempt to express what has touched them."

 

Thanks for your time -

 

that's what I found - one must work on the techniques, basics etc -

 

but then it all goes beyond all human notions of beauty. evoking emotions etc -

 

what one does one just does - no choice in the matter =-

 

almost as if something different, deeper is revealing itself (like in sciences, musical composition etc0 -

 

one does it almost without thinking

j/u