By Norman Carr
Composition For Creases by Norman Carr, watercolor on paper - 11 3/4 x 17 1/2 inches
From My Perspective, 6th Annual National Exhibition invited artists to share their viewpoint: What you're seeing, what you're feeling and what you want to say. Artists from across the country vied for the chance to be 'heard.' My watercolor that earned a place in the exhibition is probably my most often exhibited painting. Composition for Creases is also my most expressive painting, although that is a low-bar achievement because I am not an expressionist. Expressing my viewpoint is a rare, perhaps singular attempt. My viewpoint is: Our country went through a recent phase when often was heard the platitude, "We're better than this." As if this hubris would inspire us to pull together and solve our problems. Each time a pundit got warm and fuzzy with this claim, I muttered but wanted to shout, "No. We're not better than this." I feel validated. Today no one claims, "We're better than this."
As an artist, I illustrated my viewpoint in Composition for Creases, and developed the hypothesis "The Aesthetics of Fracture." It follows.
The aesthetics of fracture
Egomania, tribal acquiescence, religious dogma and other myopic views limit constructive dialogue. Whether in a red or blue state, a white supremacy clan or Black Lives Matter protest, as a mask wearer or COVID denier - our circled wagons have become impenetrable to the "other." We regress by the inbreeding of ideas. Composition for Creases intends to both illustrate dis-ease and instigate dialogue that might ease tension. Might the melding of disparate ideas and the juxtaposition of contrasts challenge orthodoxy and establish a tour de force?
A National Nervous breakdown
If only the most severe health crisis in 100 years and its devastating economic effect were all that pulled at us. Added social and political disintegration yanked so violently that the very fabric of democracy ripped. We are left understandably distraught. I believe repair begins with the corporate admission: No, we are not better than this. How then might we improve? What is the vaccine for a dysfunctional democracy with painful inequities? Might the poet, songwriter or artist prod confession and nurture beauty when and where beauty can be found?
UnEasy Beauty
Composition for Creases began with a wadding up of watercolor paper that resulted in near destructive creases and frayed edges. Colors and shapes blend where they can and compliment in certain areas, yet they result in an uneasy beauty. The prominent red hue is deceptive: superficially restrained even as it festers below the ravaged surface. The composition strains to remain intact. Anarchy seems imminent. The fissures and crumples are existential. They can be minimized but not eliminated. Art has the potential to provoke such conflict or bridge the divide. My challenge was to find transcendence from fragments and disparate shapes. To form, as is hoped, a more perfect union.
Composition for Creases is Featured In: From My Perspective, 6th Annual National Exhibition
Exhibition Dates: May 3 - June 2, 2024
Virginia Beach Art Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia
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