The Geometric Soul of Norman Carr's Paintings
By Arlice W. Davenport
Now well into his seventies, artist Norman Carr has vigorously reinvented himself as an abstract or non-objective painter. His Renaissance of abstraction sprang to life near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, he has cultivated his aesthetic in a wide array of award-winning paintings. Each work replaces our “natural” attraction to representational figures and forms with the vitality and spirituality of what I refer to as his abstract geometric soul.
This may sound familiar, considering that the tenets of Sacred Geometry have become popular again in these early decades of the 21st century. The principles point to the power of forms, shapes, and ratios to convey mathematical and spiritual significance in areas as diverse as religious architecture, cosmic events, contemplative practices, and the verdant abundance of nature.
Yet I do not want to suggest that Carr incorporates all such presuppositions in his work. Instead, his often-complex conglomerations of triangles, rectangles, circles, and spatial ellipses express a reality that soars beyond the bounds of empiricism and ordinary geometry. Indeed, at their peak, Carr’s paintings express a spiritual meaning at once contained in and transcending his use of geometric shapes.
Embracing Our Being-in-the-World
In one of his early, large-format, nonobjective paintings, [Figure 1], Carr shows how abstract art pitches itself beyond the boundaries of conventional mathematical and geometric forms to attempt to unify the primary elements of abstract painting line, color, and shape. Abstract art is often pitted against realistic representations of persons, everyday objects, and the natural and cultural realms they inhabit. A nonobjective painter like Carr further anchors his work in the flat space of the canvas and its inherent lack of three-dimensionality.
[Figure 1] To Bebop Or Not To by Norman Carr, 2014, acrylic on hardboard - 23 3/4 x 39 3/4 inches
So, against the hard edges of his sui generis elements, we find an organic embrace of human consciousness and its deep-seated need to engage the ideas and emotions of our being-in-the-world – as the German philosopher Martin Heidegger describes it in his classic book Being and Time.
To simplify Heidegger’s seminal ideas: By the moment we reach the threshold of self-consciousness and awareness of the world around us, we have already been cast in medias res (in the middle of things). As a result, many of us find ourselves locked into harsh urban environments – foraging through forests of artifice and climbing out of canyons filled with shadows of boxy skyscrapers.
Thus confined by concrete, glass, and neon, we feel a primal attraction to natural settings, with their earth tones and greens and blues, and their primordial patterns of design. This manifestation is thought by some observers to bely a mathematical intelligence behind the existence of earth, sky, and sea. Geometry, so the argument runs, requires a geometer, a creative artisan piecing together the intricate structures and patterns of the world.
In Carr’s case, his spiritualized geometry extends beyond nature to embrace the creative processes of human beings and their artificial dwelling-places. A similar dynamic has thrived through the millennia leading up to our current age. One way of understanding this interpenetration of natural and cultural forms is as an élan vital that enlivens all spheres of Being and lays the cornerstone for the spread of even finer spiritual art.
[Figure 2] Circle Suite No. 1 by Norman Carr, 2019, acrylic on panel - 25 x 12.5 inches
Now, when I use the word “spiritual,” I am thinking primarily of the inwardness of the human self. Just as being thrown into the world forces us to homestead a place of belonging and existential purpose, so Carr’s nonrepresentational art spurs the viewer to uncover a hidden significance beyond his or her basic delight in patterns and formal repetitions. Though bereft of mundane imagery, Carr’s paintings still “speak” to viewers, challenging them to find a meaning in geometric shapes that relies on their ability to see into the work of art.
What each free, intuitive appreciation of a Carr painting undergoes, then, is a baptism in visceral meaning, embodied in Carr’s fundamental mélange of shape, color, and line. The result is a deep emotional resonance, part harmony, part growth, part peace.
In other words, each painting contains the ingredients for a refined type of pleasure I call “Epicurean.”
(Although often misunderstood, the philosophy of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher, proved attractive to his peers. He valued human happiness, the absence of physical pain, and an undisturbed mind. A mere glance at the writings of Epicureanism shows that it offers much more than the oft-repeated formula, “Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.”)
Emotion and Color
As I have argued elsewhere about Carr’s distinctive paintings, their aesthetic strengths lie in emotion and color. These facets spring to new life when they are juxtaposed in unusual or unique ways, as [Figure 2] shows, or when they surprise with a sudden beauty [Figure 3]. Even abstraction itself is not completely spiritual, shedding every link to materialism.
[Figure 3] Assemblage No. 3 by Norman Carr, 2024, carpet roll core, paper mâché, acrylic, wood - 32 x 11 x 14 inches
Consider: If you concentrate on the journey your eyes make around an abstract painting’s canvas, you will notice that color, form, and line reveal a quality that transcends your fascination with the riches of a flat surface. This vitality of art triggers a corresponding life surge in the viewer. When this occurs, nonobjective painting, laced with geometric shapes, plants its seeds of renewal in the viewer’s aesthetic pleasure.
Carr’s paintings confidently express the inward meaning of such encounters, whether in hue-on-hue positioning or in the intriguing enigmas of geometric shapes attuned to the self’s interiority and interpretations. Once geometry and color become the viewer’s own, they draw out corresponding emotional responses that fortify meaning and deepen the osmosis of spirit as it moves from two- to three-dimensional realities.
Much more than geometric shapes fire this process, however. The brilliance and resilience of Carr’s paintings forge a synthesis of these qualities: What occurs is an illuminative drama, surging with energy from the collision of two aesthetic values – emotion and color. What is especially noticeable is how effortlessly color fills the geometric shapes with their life-blood. Whether warm or cool, the hues gradate toward a vibrant purity. This pilgrimage enlivens the viewer’s vision, stimulating his or her creative imagination.
This, in the end, is how abstraction invites us to participate in the making of meaning, part of a spiritual legacy of values that ground us in Being and the authenticity of our inward selves. But geometry in nonobjective painting accomplishes even more: It provides us with the golden ratio to tell exactly what kind of shape we are in as we admire the geometric soul of Norman Carr’s paintings and navigate the contours of our in-the-middle home.
Arlice W. Davenport is the author of four full-length books of poetry and two chapbooks. All have been published by Meadowlark Press or Meadowlark Poetry Press in Emporia, Kansas. His academic background includes degrees in philosophy, literature, French, and religious studies, along with a concentration of work in art history. He and Norman Carr have been friends for more than 40 years, traveling internationally, along with Davenport’s wife, Laura. He lives in Wichita, Kansas.
Learn more about his books at http://www.meadowlarkbooks.com
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