On the opposing demands of observation and art

... the interaction of opposites can be engineered to create something new. The trick, of course, is not to get involved in judgement or compromise, to just let the opposites occur and proceed: they do the work, you just go along for the ride. The opposites need to be harnessed in a way that allows them to interact and create energy, the way opposite polarities of electricity are harnessed to make light by the bulb. So, we need to create a bulb of some kind in terms of our process. I like this approach because it involves a simple set of questions – is it too real? is it too artistic? – and an element of unpredictability, both in the moment and cumulatively, over time. If I follow the map of observation only, or the map of making art only, these both actually lead to pretty predictable places...
When both maps are operative at once, though, the journey that the painting takes is more complex, moving from one map to the other and back, giving the results the potential to be more interesting because they don't come from me, but from what is over the border, beyond the membrane that defines me-ness.
- Tad Spurgon, 13 januari 2013

De kennis en wijsheid van Ran Ortner

"Concepts and theory can be taught. Techniques can be taught. But art is also about the power of the human heart and the force of our creative nature. This is not studied and explored as part of the curriculum. When you ask collectors what they’re really looking for, they say they want to fall in love; they want to feel. But the academics are leery of feeling, and they make the rules, so the contemporary art world is cerebral and favors conceptual approaches. I don’t oppose the emphasis on intellect and on concept — in fact, I like it very much — but I do feel the passions are underrepresented. Humans are deeply emotional beings. We don’t rationalize our way into love; we fall. We don’t rationalize our way into the richest experiences; we get swept away."
  - Ran Ortner

Ran Ortner deelt zijn ervaringen en inzichten over het creatieve proces in een opmerkelijk interview in The Sun Magazine.

Paracelsus zegt:

"Know that man makes great discoveries concerning future and hidden things, which are despised and scoffed at by the ignorant who do not realize what nature can accomplish by value of her spirit. Thus, the uncertain arts are in such a state now that a new generation must come, full of prophetic or sibylline spirit, which will awaken and direct the skills and arts. The arts of this kind are quite old, and enjoyed great reputation among the ancient. They are kept secret and taught secretly. For the students of these arts devoted their time to contemplation and inner faith, and by such means discovered and proved many great things. But the men of today have no longer such capacity for imagination and faith; today their minds are exclusively concerned with things that are pleasant to the flesh and the blood; only what the flesh and the blood want and desire is being studied, that alone is still being practiced. These arts are uncertain today because man is uncertain in himself. For he who is not certain in himself cannot be certain in his actions; a sceptic can never create anything enduring, nor can anyone who serves only the body accomplish true spiritual works."

       – Paracelsus, Astronomia Magna , 1537-38.