Anna Kirsten's questions when she interviewed me for the News Article
An Interview with Ersi Samara set me thinking about fractal art again. So did the preparations for the TV interview, that included a selection of the works I wanted to show to a large public. I had to think seriously about my criteria for choosing certain fractals over others. Should I select the most pleasing ones? The most complicated technically? Those I perceive as most commercial?
I'm happy I didn't fall into any of these traps. The only possible solution was to choose the images I most identify with, those that really mean something to me. Talking about our art is a statement about ourselves, not about other people's tastes or the complexity of the tools we use.
I'd like to talk a bit about the tool, the fractal programme, UltraFractal in my case. The wonderful results it can offer, the flashy spirals, the complex formulas, absorb us and fascinate us. The learning process is not easy either, not if we really want to go beyond the basics. And I am facing this dilemma: do we allow ourselves to be carried away by the tool and forget about the art?
Let's take traditional artists as an example. They may use oils, acrylics, watercolours, collages or whatever. They obviously need to know their tools and the possibilities they offer. But when they start a new painting are they thinking "This is an oil-painting, this is an oil-painting" or rather "What I mean to say with this canvas is..."?
On many occasions I have the feeling us fractalists do not go beyond the "this is a fractal" statement. We seem to explore the possibilities of our tool over and over again, to its very limits when the fractalist is an expert, and our quest ends there. Do we really explore ourselves while we work, do we analyze our intention, do we ask ourselves "Why am I doing this?" not in the formal sense of creation but related to the inner force that moves us to create?
Do we mean to say something with our fractals?
I don't think art in any of its forms is obliged to always offer something "new", unprecedented or surprising. But it can offer so much more than mere ornate, decorative, pleasing images. It's so immensely satisfying when we go beyond the clichés and produce something
real -something revealing of our inner truth.
Can a spiral be more than a spiral? Can a formula express not only chaos as in the mathematical theory but the human chaos of our feelings, passions and contradictions?
I'd love to know what you think. And I would greatly appreciate the opinion of other artists, who have nothing to do with fractals. What would their answer be to my questions? What does a traditional painter, a digital artist, an illustrator or a poet see in fractals? This is not a poll, I really need your deeper impressions. I may need to re-define my work and my attitude towards fractals and these issues are very important to me. I hope they are somehow interesting to you too.
Since my computer is behaving a bit this morning, I'll grab the opportunity to feature the work of a photographer:
laflaneuse 
Her lens reaches beyond the surface of the objects she shoots, her darkroom techniques create an emotive, painterly world. Her realistic subjects are just a threshold to a world where objects and concepts become dreams, feelings and pervasive memories. And her masterful use of composition brings everything together in wise, meaningful works of art. I applaud her sensitivity and I hope you will enjoy a walk through her gallery.
AfterThoughts 
Sentimental
Helloooooo everyone :love. 
Devious Comments
I have 3 comments in my artists statement as I try to 'connect' with viewers. Combined, they answer (as best I can) this question for me.
Kevin
1. I strive to compose images that communicate an emotion from my spirit to yours; for that, I believe, is the essense of art.
2. Often I start with a preconceived notion of what I want to communicate through a piece. [Un]Fortunately, in this collarborative process the piece often decides to develop a life and meaning of its own. Or should I say, it has decided to reflect what I was really trying to communicate whether I knew it or not.
3. And then of course, some are just for fun!
I deeply appreciate the comment, Kevin!
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In my case, I don't try and communicate anything most of the time; I just like to make pretty pictures.
About a year and a half ago I went through a bad time and showed that in the fractals I created, making sharp, dark images and naming them appropriately. People on the site who knew what was going on with me saw the images for what they were and understood. People who had no clue simply saw the fractal, which was fine with me.
I love spirals and always have, before I knew what a fractal was. It's one of the oldest, most iconic symbols humans have created, reflecting nature and life and cycles of all kinds. I see so much in spirals and don't care at all that some people find fractal spirals common or trite. They mean something to me and that's all that matters.
UF is an amazing program, offering almost unlimited creative possibilities and the freedom of the tool itself, once one has mastered it to some degree, is nothing more than that: a tool. I use it to play with shapes and light and color, to create pleasing (to my eye, at least) images. The image itself is my goal and if someone sees more than that, sees something that I never intended, it's simply a bonus. Meaning, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
I quilted for many years, making quilts which pleased my eye with no intention of creating statements about life or myself. In a very literal way, fractals are a way for me to quilt digitally. Shape, color, light...all on the computer screen...with no needles or sewing.
I don't call myself an artist. I don't try to imbue my fractals with meaning after the fact by writing overweening 'artist statement'-type descriptions of my fractals, describing my struggles with the program or my own limitations. I just like to make those pretty pictures.
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After a certain age, if you don't wake up aching somewhere... you may be dead.
But you're right, "imbuing meaning after the fact" makes no sense at all. It's the very fact of creation that has to be meaningful. Am I being old-fashioned and outdated? That could also be true.
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One of the things I have found somewhat frustrating is having an idea and not knowing which formula or .ucl will give me the desired look. I am trying to experiment a bit more but the infinite possibilities can be somewhat overwhelming.
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My flaws are better than your flaws
Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
I don't know if you remember me sending you a note here way back then, but I asked how you made them and you took the time to explain what a fractal was and about *gasp* the math involved. I was in awe. It amazed me that you could take numbers (which I can't get to work for me even with a calculator) and you could turn them into something so beautiful and expressive.
Since then I have wondered if these images are what the math geniuses out there see when they look at a page of numbers? I wondered if these programs for making fractals just turned those scary numbers into what they really were all along which is something mysterious and beautiful? I never see just a spiral. I see an expression of something wonderful.
Since I often have very limited time to spend online these days I try to set aside time each day to just wander the site and find something new. I take one day each week and I explore a different gallery. I really dislike Tuesdays so I am always looking for something to brighten that day. Tuesday is fractal day. I sit my three year old on my lap and we look through the fractal images. I know she can look at those and not see something she shouldn't
Am I crazy? Maybe
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The only way creativity is wasted is if it is not used. There are no rights or wrongs. There are no imperfections, no limits, no rules. One must simply use the talents one has to the utmost to be a success.
If you're crazy, please remain so!
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I know that I have a few pieces that I am happy with now, but when I finished them originally I was so frustrated with them. People saw them though and loved them. I would wonder what on earth they were talking about. Were they insane?? The colors were off, the light was not right..etc. Now I see what they do. A piece that was the best I could do at that time. A sign of my growth and my change in abilities.
I also know the frustration of limitations in your tools. I can't afford the pricey programs, or a class on how to do art better, so I am reaching a limit on my current abilities. I know that once we are in our new home in a few months I will have more opportunities. I know that I will be able to learn more and be closer to people who can give me some hands on teaching. Until then I am frustrated because my vision is bigger than my skill. I need fresh perspective and a boost of confidence that I know will arrive when I am ready for it. Until then I will sit with you in the frustrated corner. Want some warm chocolate chip cookies?? *hands over the plate*
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The only way creativity is wasted is if it is not used. There are no rights or wrongs. There are no imperfections, no limits, no rules. One must simply use the talents one has to the utmost to be a success.
I've made over 60 quilts and, with the exception of some commissioned pieces, given all but a very few of them away. Once they were finished, I didn't need to have them around me. I'd done whatever it was I'd set out to do, to the best of my abilities at the time. I have photos of many of them, but even a visual record isn't necessary. I designed them, bought the fabric, sewed and worried and played and my part was over. I know each quilt intimately, remember the time and the making of it. That's all I need.
The same is true of fractals: once I've finished one, it's not usually terribly important to me anymore, although I have one or two which are special to me for some reason or another. People ask if I frame and hang my fractals in my apartment. The answer is no. Some have asked why I don't try to sell them. The answer is that selling them has nothing to do with them. I made them and that was the point. I don't know if that makes sense but it's the truth.
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After a certain age, if you don't wake up aching somewhere... you may be dead.
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