Art & Nature
Red Ball, Chihuly at MoBot, 2023 || Photo by Abril Warner
A debilitating affect for artists to overcome is a mental or creative block. And the resolution to overcome it can be paralyzing. Albrecht Durer’s Melencolia I, features the lethargic state of unproductivity when the artist does not make art. The apathy drawn into the sunken form of Melencolia, whose wings are rendered useless here, is weighted by the enormous geometric boulder on the left of the composition. If only Melencolia could find the energy to stand or to turn her head she might see the blinding ray of light that has broken beyond the horizon. Hope to overcome this state is within reach.
Durer’s engraving is an artifact of its context, the tools (i.e. the hourglass, the balance, the bell) and the presentation of Melencolia as a winged female are in line with the expectations and values of the Northern Renaissance. A conjecture from the time was that artists had too much black bile (melancholy) which was associated with creative genius, but it was also “known” that those people were prone to madness.[1] The nature of creativity was dangerous.
Melencolia I, Durer, engraving, 1514 || The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Public Domain
Picasso turned to poetry when he hated his drawings.[2] Georgia O'Keeffe bought a house across the country (in New Mexico from NYC) and turned to solitude and the landscape in order to reinvigorate her creative nature. At the onset of the Second World War, Ivon Hitchens moved to the rural home known as Greenleaves to paint abstractions of his country garden.[3]
A Boat and Foliage in Five Chords, Second Study, Hitchens, oil on canvas, 1969 || Christie's
In the summer of 2023 the Missouri Botanical Garden hosted Chihuly in the Garden 2023. Another couple, my husband and I arrived just before twilight and lingered into dusk. Dale Chihuly’s glass sculptures were embedded among the plant and water features at the Garden. Their colors changed depending on the available sunlight and glass opacity. It was a beautiful way to experience a garden walk that we had made numerous times before.
Float Boat and Niijima Floats, Chihuly at MoBot, 2023 || Photo by Abril Warner
Chihuly suffered bodily impairments from a car accident and later body surfing that caused him to stop glassblowing in 1979.[4] He has overcome physical and mental barriers to persist as a vital creative force. His drawings and direction produce large elaborate organic sculptures.
Ethereal Spring Persians, Chihuly at MoBot, 2023 || Photo by Abril Warner
At the risk of oversimplification, it seems the two factors needed to push beyond the creative blocks are hope and action.
Hope:
Though it glistens just out of reach, I continue to pray for hope to shine through
Its glimmer lighting our way
This long awaited great cosmic glow
-The artist Yayoi Kusama, in response to the recent pandemic [5]
Action:
Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work.
-Chuck Close [2]
Neodymium Reeds on Logs, Chihuly at MoBot, 2023 || Photo by Abril Warner
The episode Deep Work (from Hidden Brain) with Shankar Vedantam is an excellent follow-up.
