LYCO ART
I view all paintings as visual portals of the mind and the soul. Part of our enduring fascination with art involves its intellect enhancing and emotion stirring ability in presenting concrete images of such elusive phenomena as cognition, spirit and passion. Immersed in the artist’s vision, paintings arrest and frame the unrelenting chaos of the world. They are aesthetic reflections, symbols of inner processes, metaphors of the physical environment, allegories of our existence, creative expressions imbued with the artist’s sense of order and disorder, meaning and desperation, beauty and ugliness. Art invites us to step into a deeper level of reality that lies under the peel of surface appearances. In my vision the creative power of art can play a significant role in ameliorating the human condition, in making the planet a habitable and welcoming environment for ourselves and for future generations. Without concern, responsibility, care, compassion and love we cannot survive. The birth of the idea of Lyco Art represents a watershed in my artistic development. The genesis of Lyco Art as a new element on the periodic table of art dates back to A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism, which I published in the spring of 1975 in Montreal. Lyrical Conceptualism, or Lyco Art, advances the notion of art as a totality. This means not merely that the scope and range of art extends to every field of human interest but that the creative process of art engages the entire gamut and scale of the artist’s expressive powers. The act of creation may involve every aspect of emotion and reason. All the unconscious and conscious elements on the psychological coordinates of id, ego and superego participate in the process. Body, mind, soul and spirit interact and function in unison. The inclusive properties inherent in Lyco Art transcend the antagonistic tendencies that characterize the grand movements of Art History. Mind you, throughout the history of ideas, art moved between the opposing poles of the rational and the emotional, swinging on a dynamic pendulum of the creative process between Apollonian and Dionysian impulses. Thus, the aesthetic styles of the Greco-Roman world and of the Renaissance were basically harmonious, geometrical, and conceptual. Likewise, Gothic and Baroque art were characterized by sinuosity, passion and lyricism. Moreover, Impressionism, Fauvism, Dada and Surrealism, as well as other movements in Modern art, derive a great deal of their energy from the irrational forces of the human psyche, whereas currents such as Cubism, Constructivism, Geometric Abstraction and Op Art are more related to the rational realm of creativity. As an aesthetic-semantic system blending together poetic, intuitive and cognitive ingredients in the creative process, Lyco Art constructs a conscious bridge between the passion of logic and the logic of passion. The application of the theory of Lycoism to painting and design gives rise to coded expression of colours and forms. For example, warm hues and amorphous shapes may symbolize feelings and emotions, while cold colours and geometric forms may correspond to logic and planning. Lycoism envisions the creative process as an interaction of emotion and intellect. Traditionally, emotion is regarded as an irrational component that hinders clear thinking. I disagree. Certain emotions can enhance reason. Thus, feelings and excitement are indispensable modules of the act of creation. However, Lycoism is not an aesthetic strait-jacket. It does not impose any formal limitations on artistic freedom. It merely suggests. Similarly to Surrealism, Lyco Art is more an attitude than a style. Some people want complete artistic freedom. They reject every form of Ism. But complete artistic freedom cannot exist. Artists do not work in a vacuum and No-ism is also an Ism. Personally, I do not see art as an ivory tower. Art is not for its own sake. I believe, for instance, that art must concern itself with science and technology because in our post-industrial society science and technology determine our lifestyle. At the same time, one of the major goals of art is the humanization of the environment and therefore science and technology should not be our masters but our servants. Intuition and imagination play a salient role in both art and science. Transcending the state of existing conditions necessitates innovative leaps into uncharted areas. Consequently the cognitive faculty of creative imagination is more important in advancing the human condition than the inert body of knowledge. The rise of Conceptual Art in the USA during the 1960s introduced into art an array of revolutionary ideas, spreading rapidly from there to other countries as well. The Conceptualists presented their work in photographs, maps, charts, photocopies, statements, and documents. They explained their thoughts and intentions in a self-referential manner, fusing the role of the artist with the function of the critic. They claimed that the nature of art is conceptual and that the essence of art is the idea. I agreed with the Conceptualists in many respects. Yet, I rejected their agenda when I realized that for them traditional painting and sculpture were obsolete, intellectually worthless decorations. Their aim was the dematerialization of art, its liberation from aesthetics by eliminating morphology, style, tradition and object. The Conceptualists conceived art as information, language and process. In their frame of mind there was no room or need for the past. They saw art history as a useless subject. The study and analysis of beauty annoyed them. Instead, they looked for science and philosophy as superior models of knowledge and reason that art should emulate. For my part, it is all to the contrary. Science can learn a great deal from art. Ignoring or eliminating the subjective aspects from the fabric of reality, as science does, does not make the world more objective. Consequently science in its present form is unscientific. Moreover, the world of the scientist is not closer to reality than the world of the artist. The credo that science can deliver us ultimate truths is a myth. The evidence for this comes from the scientific method itself. For example, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle in quantum physics and Gödel’s incompleteness theorem in mathematics indicate the systemic limits of science. Its intrinsic weakness prevents science from penetrating into the deep fabric of reality. By and large, the most advanced physical research currently is characterized by the search for a Theory of Everything. Physics today occurs in a fantasy realm of mathematical abstractions. Without being able to support their work by empirical evidence, physicists pursue infinitesimal strings and membranes vibrating in a hyperspace of ten or more dimensions in imaginary parallel universes. Lyco Art is not a branch of Conceptual Art. As a matter of fact, in more than one way, I view Lycoism as a theory which is diametrically opposed to Conceptual Art. Unlike Conceptual Art, Lycoism advocates historical continuity. The past is important because our identity is built on memory. Tossing away paintings and sculptures is an act of alienation, a self-destructive assault against our collective memory. We need our cultural heritage for our own survival. Objects of art are precious treasures impregnated with imagination, beauty and knowledge. They humanize our technological world, enrich our soul and mind. They also protect us against the damage caused by the turbulent intensity of life in the electronic age, against the stressful excesses of our automated society. In contrast to Conceptual Art, Lycoism embraces the search for beauty and meaning as a pivotal motivating impulse of the human experience. I believe that art and science are symbolic endeavours through which humanity explore, structure and interpret reality. There is art in science and science in art. On the whole, it is true though that compared to the rational and objective methods of science, art offers an irrational and subjective approach. Nevertheless, art is completely concrete, and therefore a significant source of authentic empirical knowledge. In certain respects, this form of concrete knowledge even surpasses the epistemological value of the mathematical abstractions of science because genuine knowledge can be only achieved by the experience of the senses, and art is based on sensory realization.
