Can we separate content from technique?
What is the meaning of the lighthouse?
One question here is the technique. One is the content. Perhaps they are one in the same.
What is the meaning of the lighthouse?
Symbolism: pre-figurative plus derivation of figurative meaning.
The lighthouse is a structure that allows for people navigating to know that there is a place.
A lighthouse is located in public. It is a public good once it is built.
Free and open to all to find their way.
In painting, the lighthouse becomes a look at painting techniques again and again. The content stays the same and the technique becomes experimental. Breaking down technique into phases and parts. This has been a technique exploration for me, as it has been a subject exploration.
It might take practice and help for audiences to understand how to begin to appreciate technique instead of content.
The meaning of the lighthouse for me is also a practice not only in technique but also in inventive rendering rather than representational rendering.
Tendencies: towards rendering from representation or from imagination. This process has helped me work less referentially. And has enabled some traction with referential type of work in an imaginative way, without direct representation as a reference. The work with the lighthouse has been as an actual guide for me in expanding a particular type of painting process of representational invention.
There is water behavior, sky behavior, and lighthouse behavior in the image construct. Within these behaviors, which act as a framework, there are more detailed things within these behaviors.
Expand this to other creative productions. Let’s say that within all creative realms, there can be forms that are three-behavior creative products. And we can learn and explore within those behaviors. Then we can start to understand within the behaviors and start to realize ways of understanding the margins for our own techniques and process. As you continue to experiment with the elemental parameters, you are working with guideposts for refining technique and strengthening content.
Looking at the history of art, it emerges commonly that creatives will stick with something for a long time. In this way, we are simultaneously studying subject and form. And it solves the what am I going to do problem.
The meaning of the lighthouse
The lighthouse offers a sense of direction. It tells you that you’re not lost. The lighthouse is a fixture. It has a constant place and a constant role: to give us a point of reference when we might not have a sense of our way. The lighthouse doesn’t do it for us. It doesn’t tell us the way. But it gives us an indication so that you can decide. The lighthouse isn’t a natural creation. It is a human creation. It is not a monument to be revered but rather a signal that all can receive. It is one of the oldest embodiments of our care and regard for our fellow human beings. It is a living symbol of the fact that we think it is right for others to be able to find their way.
It tells you that there is safety, security, that there is a boundary to where the journey can end.