Warning! Spirits in a Work of Art May be Attracted to You: Have you ever looked at a painting so intensely, that when you walked away, you felt like it was following you all the way home. Hour after hour you found that the image was ever present in your mind’s eye. That seemingly innocent work of art had some mysterious energy, and you, unwittingly became its host.
The art world is filled with contradictions, some are so incomprehensible, that they challenge even the most logical explanations. Paintings are particularly good at connecting with viewers. Some people look at a work of art, shrug their shoulders and scurry off to see what’s coming next. Others have an almost extrasensory experience, they connect on a metaphysical plane, testing the nature of knowledge when it comes to the soul of the artist.
The first time this actually happened to me, was when I had the opportunity to see an Arshile Gorky exhibition in Europe. This happened quite a few years ago, and I don’t remember all the details exactly. But I do remember vividly that many of his works gave off a hunting energy. And one in particular would not let me go, and stuck with me all the way back to the hotel, and even on the flight back to the US. I can’t say that I found it disturbing, in fact it was an experience that I was happy to be part of.
The truth about all of this is; paintings give off an energy, some are so spiritless they very rarely connect with the viewer. Certain artists especially if they have great stature and a formidable body of work somehow manage to deeply impact our emotions, they stick! I suspect that in many ways this is a good thing, if you can get past the spookish feeling, you will learn that people can speak to you through their artistic endeavors long after they themselves have passed.
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“The ghostlike inhabitation of the painting was fearfully and mysteriously strange, almost fantastic when I gave it the thoughts it deserved.”
Rod Jones artist.