Figure 1: Satyr and Nymph 0941
Figure 2: Blind Man’s Buff 12151
The poetic genius, with little exception, lives on the fringe of society. Van Gogh could not give away his art while he was alive. Knox has often been mentioned alongside with mediocre individuals like Cy Twombly or Robert Rauschenberg,– who have as much relevance to poetry as maggots are to the butterfly!
The academics claim that a great artist cannot be easily understood, but the Alpha Seer is holding a different view altogether. In fact, it is a most ridiculous claim,– as the exact opposite is true! If the genius has not been understood, it is simply because folks have never tried. Look at most people around you: aren’t they looking for entertainment all day long? There is such a horrendous lack of awareness and clarity in their lives and their way of looking at things! In their daily stampedes for entertainments, for more Hollywood, Super Bowl, World Cup, Wimbledon, Hockey, latest technologies… etc,– little wonder they have succeeded in narrowing their own attention span to that of a gnat!
The poetic genius has created works so they can be enjoyed by all. Isn’t art essentially a domain for all mankind ? Doesn’t the very core of ART appeal to all on the basis of universality,–one that ultimately reassures us of the marvelous insight that all men are created equal? Why would the poetic genius create stuffs that end up confusing you ? It does not make any sense at all, does it?
The Alpha Seer has not created works just for the enjoyment of the genius Knox Martin, even though it is extremely delightful to have the latter responding to those works positively. There are at least 2 dozen friends here* that the Alpha Seer has held in high regard, on account of their intelligence and humanity. But unfortunately it is quite telling that they are unable to enjoy those works in the same way Knox does. Why that is so is totally beyond my comprehension, since those friends are by no means average in their intelligence, –and it really does not take a genius to understand those works!
So today let me open your door of enjoyment with my key in the hope that you can enjoy a work of art by following the steps that I am setting up for you.
It is also hoped that in the future, even if you place a Ben Lau in front of a 5 year old, the chance is good that he can identify it as something by Ben,– not Picasso, Matisse or Knox Martin…. .
Looking at the two lino-cuts above, the first thing to look for is the Black and White!
Aha, see how easy it is! You are already looking at the Black and White,–if they have not been staring at you all along themselves! Haven’t I promised you that understanding would be easy, and absolutely without any pain at all?
All that is ever required of you are:
1. surrender your Ego,–be vulnerable!
and 2. have faith in the Master!
Guess what? –the truth is, I have always wanted my work to become accessible to all except the blind ones of course, ( and unfortunately we also have those who are blind in spirit!) And FYI, I have also wanted my works to become comprehensible even to a 5 year old child, so he can happily point to it and say, “Ah, that is a Ben Lau!”
The whole idea is so utterly simple: just look at the work, and look at it until its composition gradually emerges in its formal purity. By that I mean the total BLACK , if looked at long enough, begins to yield up its formal beauty almost like a subtle fragrance. When that happens, the next step is to evaluate the form, in order to determine for yourself if formal integrity has indeed existed in that composition. How that can be achieved is through a simple but logical deduction called Intuitive Assessment. In the beginning, find out if anything in the composition has been left unattended, dangling, or hanging out. Take a Kandinsky or a Jackson Pollock for example, a million tiny forms are doing their own little things, each with no obvious relationship to the other! Things continues to dangle and hang out violently like nightmarish explosions. Is there a single surface in any of their works on which a viewer’s eyes may rest in peace? The answer is a resounding NO! What a horror of vision indeed!
Formal integrity exists only when every stroke, line, or dot has been held properly in place like a beautiful piece of calligraphy, (– think of the great calligrapher, Wang Hsi-chih of the Sui Dynasty of China, for example.) Finally, consult your own intuition to determine if you are experiencing the pleasure of Beauty in this very simple ritual of looking. We can all tell exactly when a certain form has its own specific appeal. When a guy looks at a gal, for instance, he knows exactly what kind of curves to look for, and by what proportions… . So it follows that a guy’s Intuitive Assessment for a gal is an innate ability! The point I am trying to convey is: simply trust your own intuition! Likewise, take in the total WHITE at a glance,– and finally, basing on the same criteria, evaluate the White form in its entirety.
All told, there should only be a single BLACK form snugly embracing a single WHITE one. Or you may look at it as a single WHITEÂ form snugly embracing a single BLACK one. If there are more than one white form embracing several black forms, for instance,–then it can be logically concluded that Unity has not been achieved anywhere in the composition! Unity means oneness. When Yin embraces Yang, they melt into each other and exist as ONE. That is why we say unity is there. It is not my concept. In fact, it is not a concept at all. It just happens to be the dictate of the Law of our Universe! I am by no means the first artist to paint according to this law, and certainly won’t be the last.
The BLACK and WHITE (Yin and Yang) are the core of being for any kind of composition! In musical compositions by Mozart or Haydn, for example, or in the poetic compositions by Shakespeare and Malarme, Black and White are the core of being in their existence. Colors ( in the forms of emotional attachments or meanings,.. .) are of secondary importance only,–if not downright insignificant!
Precisely, the Yin and Yang are the building blocks of the Universe! Show me something that is being dominated by Yin,– with its complementary part of Yang largely missing, and I can immediately point to a sickly or unsightly existence! The health of an existence has an outward expression of vibrancy and beauty. That which is ugly, decrepit or unsightly, by the same token, is the outward expression of an inner mess.
Satisfying the exterior criteria of Balance, Qi, Harmony, Unity, Energy, and Movement within the very Principles of Yin and Yang means that your Inner space of beauty is created. Satisfying the exterior conditions of Yin and Yang is calculated to setting your Inner house of Yin and Yang in order! Eventually, there is no observer, there is only you, since the observer is the observed!
Figure 3: The calligraphy of Wang Hsi-chih, Sui Dynasty of China.
FINALLY, EXAMINE THE BLACK AND WHITE IN ANY OF THE COMPOSITIONS OF THE FOLLOWING ALPHA SEERS (“alpha seer” is simply a coded term for the first seer, hence the poetic, artistic, or intuitive genius, in his particular field of pursuit):
VAN EYCK, TITIAN, VELAZQUEZ, RUBENS, FRANS HALS, ZURBARAN, ADRIEN BROWVER, CLAUDE LORRAINE, REMBRANDT, DEGAS, INGRES, CEZANNE, SEURAT, PICASSO, MATISSE, GORKY, DEKOONING, AND KNOX MARTIN* IN ORDER TO VERIFY THE TRUTH OF THIS ARTICLE.
These days, a single click on the Google search engine will get you there.
With this verification, the case is finally rested, and you may share the Alpha Seer’s deep contempt for the academics with confidence. They may flash their cards in your face with their impressive titles as professors at Harvard or Yale, but an academic from the art departments of any university or school is someone you must watch out for: more often than not, this big bully is here to sell you snake oils. Don’t forget: Cezanne had fought the academics all his life. He had taken his last breath in front of his final masterpiece, all of which the contemporary academics of his time in Paris had never ceased to joke or taunt about enough… . Academics are, as a rule, always the blindest fish in the world. Arrogant and corrupt, they are the blind at heart! Look, an academic has his own petty theory to stick to and a whole life style to defend,– so it is next to impossible for him to come around and see the truth with a child’s vision.
Academic: thy name is IMPOSTOR!
Who are the impostors? They are the ones who run the Ponzi schemes in ART! They are the Bernard Madoffs of ART! Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Jackson Pollock, Kandinsky, Georgia O’Keefe,…- you name it, since I cannot list them all,– another ten thousand or so misguided souls whom our academics have the audacity to call “artists!”
Check out their BLACK AND WHITE! You can be an aware viewer of art from now on, and you can refuse to be fooled,– OR you can remain a regular member of the general public on herd instincts, unenlightened, silly, –with the academics providing you snake oils every now and then, entering your system like a shot of steroids, for you to feel “high” and proudly parade about as a “cultured” citizen in your neighborhood,… .
It is your choice!
The Alpha Seer has just provided you with a tool for verification. This BLACK AND WHITE scanning on any subject with an “artistic” claim can be, in every perceivable way, as powerful as the latest technologies of MRI, CAT scan, ultra-sound,… . The difference is, it can be used to scan the harmony of ART, which can in turn affect the peace of your soul!
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* “here” refers to the group of friends, called “the Enlightened Group”, whom the Alpha Seer regularly sends emails to. The great master Knox Martin is among them.
*Knox Martin : www.knoxmartin.com
THE ALPHA SEER