Silence, Spirituality and Contemplative Experience in Contemporary Abstract Paintings. Analysis of Selected Examples

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35765/pk.2020.3104.14

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been increasing interest in including the spirit­ual dimension in artistic practice and in discourse on art. This phenomenon seems to be universal but is definitely not homogenic. I examine it by referring to meaningful examples of abstract paintings from different cultural and reli­gious backgrounds. I analyze artworks by two contemporary bicultural paint­ers: the American-Japanese artist, Makoto Fujimura, and American-Iranian artist, Yari Ostovany. The Polish non-figurative artist Tadeusz G. Wiktor is also considered. Their oeuvre can be set within the larger context of great reli­gious and spiritual traditions. I stress the influence of Oriental legacy in con­temporary examples of abstract art. I investigate how the selected artworks refer to an invisible reality, and I focus especially on the silence they evoke. My aim is to show how contemporary non-figurative art can influence the viewer by creating a contemplative experience. I also place the selected artworks in the theoretical contexts presented by the artists themselves and refer to classi­cal and contemporary texts.

Author Biography

Agnieszka Tes, Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow

Art historian and critic, painter, author of several dozen articles concerning contemporary art. Editor of a cultural journal Fra­gile. Currently she is PhD candidate in cultural studies in the Faculty of Philosophy at the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow. She prepares her dissertation on spirituality in contemporary Polish abstract painting.

References

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Published
2020-12-31
How to Cite
[1]
Tes, A. 2020. Silence, Spirituality and Contemplative Experience in Contemporary Abstract Paintings. Analysis of Selected Examples. Perspectives on Culture. 31, 4 (Dec. 2020), 207-224. DOI:https://doi.org/10.35765/pk.2020.3104.14.
Issue
Vol. 31 No. 4 (2020): Orient. Wczoraj i dziś
Section
Orient. Wczoraj i dziś

Copyright (c) 2020 Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Autor, zgłaszając swój artykuł, wyraża zgodę na korzystanie przez Wydawnictwo Uniwersystet Ignatianum z utworu na następujących polach eksploatacji:

  1. utrwalania utworu w formie papierowej, a także na nośniku cyfrowym lub magnetycznym;
  2. zwielokrotnienia utworu dowolną techniką, bez ograniczenia ilości wydań i liczby egzemplarzy;
  3. rozpowszechniania utworu i jego zwielokrotnionych egzemplarzy na jakimkolwiek nośniku, w tym wprowadzenia do obrotu, sprzedaży, użyczenia, najmu;
  4. wprowadzenia utworu do pamięci komputera;
  5. rozpowszechniania utworu w sieciach informatycznych, w tym w sieci Internet;
  6. publicznego wykonania, wystawienia, wyświetlenia, odtworzenia oraz nadawania i reemitowania, a także publicznego udostępniania utworu w taki sposób, aby każdy mógł mieć do niego dostęp w miejscu i czasie przez siebie wybranym. 

Wydawca zobowiązuje się szanować osobiste prawa autorskie do utworu.