A few days ago my enthrallment level went high and stayed high, after seeing this video. Neolithic Goddess figurines are so much better to play with than Barbies, and always have been.
I watched the video several times, each time loving more how the artist turned immortal images of stone into supple and fleshy dancers, and how it all was so natural. So I went on a quest, first to youtube to see Nina Paley’s other videos, then to Wikipedia for her bio. While there, I crossed an acronym I’d never heard of before and decided to investigate. And that’s what led me down an hours-long rabbit hole research into discovering a vast world of words, definitions, faux antitheses and scathing contentions, in this particular case between transgender and feminist communities.
It was fascinating, reading the vitriol and antagonisms that flourish so quickly these days, thanks to social media. And the acrimony (so supple in its attentions), and rancor (so fleshy in it wallops), and angst (lo! the heaving bosoms), all in what is ultimately distraction and name-calling, Really, it was fascinating, and I got to thinking about objections and negativity, and objects and negative space.
When creating any scene, you have to decide things, like: will the objects take precedence, will the negative space (background) be your actual focus, how will you use the negative space to define the objects, will you use patterns to differentiate the objects from their space, will you soften the objects so the space can be seen as an entirety. You have to be able to imagine many layers of the scene you’re creating, and a practiced creator knows how to interrelate those layers in order to fulfill the scene you want it to be.
In carving those goddess figures, the ancient artists needed to remove the negative space from the stone, in order to reveal the divine image it held. In creating a relief carving, the slightly less-ancient artists needed to know how to remove planes of existence to find their chosen divine images. Knowing how to remove the negative spaces to reveal the highest form (the divine aspect) is the talent of the Artist. Had those artists been warriors, they would have thrown the stones as their means of making a statement. Had those artists been great leaders, they would have insisted on using those walls and planes as an engulfing form of defense and power. Protection has its value, but how often does it reveal the divine?
The Artist, and to greater effect the Creator, (both born of you or me,) are the ones who know how to dialog with their mediums. Whether they are working with paint or stone or words or communities of people, it is the creative aspect that knows how to see through all the negative space and strip away the unnecessary in order to show the stark divinity (i.e. highest potential) of any given form. And this knowingness of what can be found is ancient, in you or me. Any form that presents itself to our attention, is the invitation to become creative, see into it, and decide which level of it you will reveal, which level you will call truth.
thedawnofcreation 