The voice that describes the air
Q. When and why did you become interested in art making?
JC. I’ve always been kinda observant since childhood. Something would capture my interest and divert my concentration, bit of a butterfly I guess. Then later in life, I became more focused on the why and how things caught my imagination. This seemed to me to be in the realm of art.
I remember a significant experience as a child, which still interests me in my 60’s. The late summer evenings had begun to shorten, and in the street, I heard a young voice call out to (address) someone. In the sound of that voice, and in how it travelled to my ears, was the wordless poem of seasonal change. That voice which described the (cooling) air, revealed the coming together and breaking apart of language and it’s function.
I used the phrase ’significant experience’ because I’d like to introduce Robert Musil’s idea of ‘the significant’
the significant, unites the truth we are able to perceive in it, with the qualities that give us confidence for something new: for an insight, but also a resolve for fresh perseverance, for whatever has both intellectual and emotional content,….and “presumes” a certain kind of conduct in ourselves or in others…Robert Musil (translation
Q. How would you understand Musil’s phrase ‘’ ‘presumes’ a certain kind of conduct in ourselves and others’’?
JC. I have written before of ‘’a certain quality of assumption’’ I like the idea that we can say ‘’let’s assume’’ and see what the outcome is. I imagine that assumptions underlie many of the belief systems we have today. In any creative endeavour, we attempt to encapsulate our assumption and hope it can be shared with others as something more generally human. It’s very optimistic on all levels. Indeed even to think you are capable of realising something so ineffable through art takes a lot of commitment, not to mention hutzpah.
Q. What do you mean by ‘’revealed the coming together and breaking apart of language and it’s function.’’ ?
JC. Well in this instance, the voice did not proclaim ‘summer is now turning to autumn. The qualities of the voice moving thru the air described the coming of autumn. To me the function of the voice had changed to describe a more global form. A real event in the cycle of the earth around the sun.
While standing at a bus stop, just before sundown, I oriented myself with the spin direction of the earth. It seemed to make the world more real on a level we mostly ignore…and of course the bus arrived sooner.
Q. how would you say this enters into your art making?
JC. Ideally, when I am struck by a subject …I become aware of a new sensation of otherness, which suggests possibility and gives energy, I can enjoy a certain loss of self, so being comfortable with uncertainty is useful. It’s a transformation in my perspective that allows new things to happen. Both on the canvas and in my engagement with the materials being used.
Q. In portraiture do you think in terms of capturing the essence of a sitter?
JC. The ‘’ interiority of another, cannot be accessed completely - it is always in flux’’. I am often surprised by the power of the face to effect such a strong (for want of a better word ) projection in me. We are all passing moments, but we must try to portray or acknowledge the existence of that internal world, in as profound a way as we experience it in ourselves. So I’d probably say it captures some of ‘what we are able to perceive’ of both sitter and artist. You may be surprised how small the amount of visual information is needed to create an insight. In fact we do that everyday, in the street.
See also: Genese Grill's Robert Musil: The Crisis of the Artist in Times of Ideological Polarization: The 1920s-2020s