The Alpha Seer understanding true art

FIGURE 1: SATYR AND NYMPH SERIES 4973

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People are without patience these days, and they have the attention span of a gnat! Great art cannot exist in such an environment! Last week I asked a teen person to view the Knox Martin Deposition ( i.e. the “Knox Martin on Ben Lau” video***,) but next morning he came back to me and asked me what it was all about! Can you believe that? So instead of answering him, I chose to ask him, “Young man: was the video a bit too long, or perhaps too boring for you?
“No, I just don’t have time to finish the whole thing!” Came the answer.

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VIDEO*** : The “Knox Martin On Ben Lau” video may be viewed on Youtube or in my last posting

“Ha, ha,” said I, “Granted that being the case, that everybody’s life at school is full of stress and we all have to deal with tests or exams all the time, but friend, my original intention was to benefit you with a fine print from my studio,–however, you cannot just take it from me, you must be able to show that you have earned it, you must first learn why I am willing to part with something so precious, and in the process find out for yourself if it is indeed worthy of such a transaction,” Our young friend had definitely blown away the Alpha Seer’s enthusiasm to pieces,– and permanently, too. There was a somewhat similar story some years ago, when the great master Knox Martin gave out a number of fine lithographs through me, to an organization in Hong Kong,– the Wah Yan One Family Foundation, and it was a mistake! As it turned out, the CEO of that organization was a dunce. He had failed to understand the significance of those art, neither was he able to show any sign of appreciation toward the generous gesture from the great Knox Martin! (Those prints will be sold for millions of dollars when their time comes, but he simply took them for granted.) Most importantly, this individual had failed to lift a finger simply to allow true art to take root in his own community,– all that ever required of him was to lift one finger, lend a brotherly shoulder, as his organization’s so-called “One Family” theme suggested. I know for a fact that it would be so easy for him to do so, as his organization is associated with all kind of influence in Hong Kong. But this individual failed to do it! As easy as lifting a finger, yet he failed,–or, more appropriately,– he did not even give a damn!

While the lack of awareness in the teen may have cost him the possession of a fine print that may be worth hundred of thousands one day, the lack of awareness in a full-grown person with a CEO’s stature would be unforgivable! The Alpha Seer is just using the incentive of the dollar sign to indicate the sense of loss here in the story, yet the real loss can be felt far deeper than that, when brought into proper perspective. It is a loss to Humanity in the sense that no one in the world has the awareness for true art anymore, nor do we have time for poetry anymore.

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The public’s attention span is no more than the life-time of a gnat. Here I am talking about the Americans, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Singaporeans, the Malaysians, the Africans, the African pigmies, the Jews, the Arabs, the French, the Canadians, the Germans, the British (Oh yes, esp. the British!) the Egyptians, the Brazilians, the Colombians, the Gipsies, the Christians, or the Muslims,– yes, you name it…!

Now let us look at Figure 1.
As some of you may be aware, there has been quite a struggle for the Alpha Seer to arrive at this final shape of the Satyr and Nymph Series 4973 (FIGURE 1.) In rendering the composition with a gem-like quality, i.e. in turning an amorphous pile of illustration into the sublimity of a brilliant gem, there is always a magnificent struggle, even for the great masters like Matisse or Picasso!

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FIGURE 2: SATYR AND NYMPH SERIES 65, ALSO OTHERWISE ENTITLED AS “GREAT YIN AND YANG”

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Compared with SATYR AND NYMPH SERIES 65 shown in FIGURE 2, SATYR AND NYMPH SERIES 4973 may not be enjoying the same fluency of richness in its metaphoric cultivation and placement at first glance. However, whatsoever may be regarded as its weakness here does in fact possess the potential, or the very seed for future inventions. In other words, it may be claimed with certainty that the composition of SATYR AND NYMPH SERIES 4973 embodies the possibility of a game-changing move in the playing field of painting.

Always remember this: the aim of painting is in the creation of a perfect composition, wherein the target is struck with a perfect pitch at the heart of poetry. It also means that the totality of the thing has unity, balance and harmony. Always look at the big picture, lest you will let the ball drop!

A significant theme of a Lineage creation is that all visual forms are fluid and flexible by nature and hence they can be easily manipulated, reinvented, re-designed, twisted, cut off, or bent to shape, so that a metaphor may be molded to submit or subjugate itself in the process. The perfect composition is the BIG PICTURE itself. The perfect composition is the Holy Grail of art! The masters from the Great Lineage had arrived at a consensus with this observation: the act of painting must mirror the sublime interactions of Yin and Yang! Come to think of it, such an observation is so uncanny, because it liberates painting from the constraints of human thought and allows it to make a quantum leap beyond that which is time. Once a master composer commits himself to engage in the act of composition, he must not let the ball drop. Here “dropping the ball” essentially means the inclusion of an aimless blockage of Qi flow, or of allowing certain unnecessary features or decorative details to destroy the unity, the compactness, or the balance of its big picture. In his creation of 4973, the Alpha Seer is seen doing chiefly that. It is not about trying to figure out a certain method, as some have suggested***,– nor is it about the plotting of a road map in order to take a traveler from A to B. Painting, or perfect composition creating, is fundamentally about striking the target at the very heart of poetry, celebrating in it the creation of the visual metaphors,– through formal inventions, interventions and innovations, while simultaneously allowing the artist to avoid jeopardizing the calligraphic beauty of the BIG PICTURE. Finally, unity, balance and relationship must remain strong and concrete, so the Yin and Yang interaction may be brought into ONE perfect harmony in the sublime quality of a gem’s brilliance and compactness. Why fundamentally? Because Titian did his composition in this manner, Knox is doing exactly the same thing in his own way, Cezanne had done it likewise, Picasso, Matisse, and deKooning were achieving that same poetic aim in the creation of their metaphors! In short, the masters from the Great Lineage,– they all participate in the same enterprise, that of creating a perfect composition, and with each move they have, each in his own way, contributed a uniqueness that the Alpha Seer coins the “artistic DNA” of that master’s  art. The “artistic DNA” of a master is not a style, –it never is,– since the word “style” conjures up a method, implying some formula for achieving a given goal. No, there should be no formula, no style, no method at all! One cannot create a masterpiece through a robot, for instant, nor can one have a perfect composition through the stupid act of stylizing. Only a real master has the endowment of talent to perform and transform that very delicate balancing act. The real artist is a sacred man, but the genius in him is a ‘freak of nature!’ It sounds rather disrespectful to call Cezanne a freak, but to a blind public, he is, nevertheless.

*** as suggested by one of the Alpha Seer’s “Enlightened Friends.” They are a group hand-picked by the Alpha Seer to hear his daily rantings (LOL!!!) The Alpha Seer firmly believes that enlightenment of the mind is the gateway to mental and spiritual health and happiness!

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Eventually, the perfect composition pertains to a beauty that is universal to the masters of the Great Lineage. Since such masters are bona-fide artistic geniuses, the same must be true to Humanity. The beauty of the perfect composition is therefore universal to all!

Remember: the act of creation entails an uncanny performance that is both spontaneous and simultaneous, with execution so precise that not a single beat is amiss. In the video, Knox talks about the “perfect pitch” of Ben Lau, and now one may enjoy the perfect pitch of Ben Lau in its fullest application and manifestation in the SATYR AND NYMPH SERIES 4973! Perfect pitch always exists in great musical compositions. For example, Mozart, Beethovens, Bach, Haydn, and Schubert always have perfect pitch in their compositions. Strauss, Tsaikovsky, Brahm, Listz, Sibelius, Korsakov, Dukas almost never do! Again, it is not an opinion, since it can be shown to exist. When the same criteria is applied to painting, one is sure to feel the perfect pitch of a Knox Martin, or a Van Eyck, a Titian, a Velazquez, a Rubens, a Franz Hals, a Cezanne, a Picasso, a Matisse, or a deKooning… . One can never feel any good pitch at all, from within the framework of visual engagement, what has been carelessly passed as art, that is not in any sense balanced, or harmonized, as in a Kandinsky, a Frida Kahlo, a Jackson Pollock, an Andy Warhol, a Damien Hirst, a Rauschenberg, or a Norman Rockwell,… . Why? Because they are all illustrations, not art! Knox has said it well, they are fossil language, NOT ART! And why? can’t we now see a Jackson Pollock is a perfect piece of packaged junk! If one were to think about it with any degree of seriousness, one cannot escape this reality, i.e. Pollock is an impostor! Do not admire a Jackson Pollock because the chap happened to be an American. Patriotism has never entered into the equation for artistic greatness,–and what does Krishnamurti said about the true nature of patriotism? Krishnamurti would tell you that patriotism is poisonous and insidious like a king cobra inside the house, right under your bed!

Let us now recapitulate what Knox Martin says in that video. He is saying, real art creates reality, truth, and beauty, and as such, it is a cutting edge phenomenon. Real art pushes the boundaries of pure perception to new frontiers. He also says the illustrators’ effort are poor attempts at illustrating such truth, reality, or perception. The efforts of Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Rauschenberg, Frida Kahlo, Frida Diego, Grandma Moses, Marcel Duchamp, Jackson Pollock, and what have you,– impostors of the past 250 years,– may have filled immense volumes but they are low cynical stuffs and they are primitive! Such efforts are no more than futile attempts at illustration at best. At worst, they are not THE REAL THINGS! They are fake stuffs in the name of art!

Knox Martin is telling his truth in the video. Knox has never been academic, and he abhorred all things academic right from the beginning of life, at a tender age. He was a high school dropout, and everything he has in his vast and beautiful brain has been the results of a self-taught effort. Later on, he was hired to teach art at the Yale University graduate school,–and hear this, folks,– without so much as a high school diploma for his teaching credentials! Now, as we look back, that was some miracle indeed! It must have been an extraordinary exception in the hiring history of Yale. But let’s face it, how many super geniuses Yale has had the good fortune to encounter in the span of a lifetime, say, in an interval of 100 years?

It did seem such a great honor for anyone, being invited to teach at Yale, but unfortunately, Yale had never proven to be a good fit for the untamed brilliance of the man! Yale is too small in Knox’s limitless world view! The politicizing or back-stabbing that is the real face of the Academia in Yale had proven to be an assault most base, and very insulting, to the vast sensitivities of a great master! The academia at Yale is just as mediocre and brutal as academia elsewhere in the rest of the world! (Granted that, as a measure of pragmatism and generosity, an aura of glory upon his Alma Mater had been cast, the Alpha Seer still upholds his original assessment on all academia as true.) Knox always draws the line between what is art and what is NOT art. Each time he tells the truth about art, however, people would feel threatened, they would feel under attack, under siege. Actually, it is their own egos that are fast at work! Now Knox has the chance of telling the truth under oath,– and he tells you the basic truth about art, whether you like it or not! The public, especially the academics, are so vicious! They feel Knox is attacking them each time he tells that truth! Very fortunately for us this time,– and for all Humanity as a matter of fact,– Knox may now tell the truth about art UNDER OATH, and hopefully no one should feel they are under attack any more! Thanks to the gallant effort of a Minnesota attorney: by one masterful stroke, Attorney Crumley has put down a rebellion in the Pigmy Kingdom of the Academia! The Alpha Seer may have lost the tip of his right thumb in this transaction, but at least the truth may now be told for once, and with impunity too!

Lastly but most importantly, Knox is not expressing an opinion about art. Look: Knox Martin is a genius with a formidable I.Q. of 197 (contrast that with Einstein’s 165, or that of a former U.S. president, J.F.K’s 95, — politicians are really not so smart, especially G.W.B,… ,) of course Knox Martin knows what he is talking about! It is the general public who have failed in their perception miserably: I mean whoever you are, who believes that art is an opinion,– I also mean all you folks here who is suffering from the dismal effect of short attention span,– for having consumed too much meat, or sugary products or so forth … , and you who seek entertainment perpetually, and at the turn of a dime, you who are instantly excitable by gimmicks or sensation.

You are the symptom of your Age: Yes, you are the one who is miserably deluded about art!

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Going back to Figure 1, we can see that the beard of the Satyr in 4973 has been greatly simplified to make it appear as one thick, horizontal patch, readying itself to answer the magnificent curling event that arises from the bottom right of the composition, gracefully curling clockwise to meet and consume the nymph’s left eye! Do I care what our so-called critics have to say later on about this strange but graceful curling event? Here in a perfect composition, meaning is not even important or relevant, in fact the critics may say whatever they want, or they may say what they may have misinterpreted as true perception,–e.g. such comments as, “Ahh, I can see that the nymph is a Muslim, or the Satyr is about to remove the veil from her lovely face, etc.” Ahh, what blind asses they have always been! Let the Alpha Seer repeat for the hundredth time: the story line is not even a small part of our aim here! It is just an excuse! If you want an entertaining story, go to the illustrators,–there is no shortage of such supply in their illustrations,–in fact, there are million upon millions of them: the works of Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock, Frida Kahlo, etc…, are nothing but illustrations or story lines of mediocre and small lives. Yes, you have been handed a raw deal, but you are still not aware of it!

The great Knox Martin on Ben Lau