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"Cataphotic
/ Apophatic"
Especially for the site of the Society of Art of Imagination.
The mystical Hesychast School of Contemplation (Orthodox Christian)
has two paths to the achievement of the ultimate, non-dual,
absolute Divine Reality. The first is Cataphotic - a concentration
on the Divine Person (the "Prayer of the heart"
or the "Jesus Prayer") and second is
Apophatic, - an insight, a cognition of the Unspeakable through
a
negation of all things which do not relate to It. (Some will
say it is similar to the way of Dhiana (a positive approach)
and the way of Nirvana, Nirodha (a negative one)). Similar
to all the main methods of a meditation, the goal of the activity
must either be "One" (The Divine Person Name) or
"Zero" (The Ineffable). The Absolute ( the ultimate
goal, the absolute reality and therefore the absolute perception)
can be reached either via "One" ( a usage of a positive
philosophy and practice), or via "Zero" ( a usage
of a negative philosophy and practice). A Positive and a Negative
approach also can be compared with two ways of a work of two
different sculptors: a "Positve sculptor" models,
increases forms from a clay, creating by this a sculpture
a but a "Negative sculptor" chops off all the needless
from a piece of marble and the perfect shape appears.
These ways come from a common to all people particularity
of a
mechanism of a human nature perception (which "sees"
either One or
Zero only)., and an artist who explores realitiy (ies) and
looks for the Ultmate one, therefore is able to perceive also
only via these two ways. So he/she may either see and artistically
build the positive "name" - "One"., the
mental construction (usually it must be some monumentally
shaped formula), or he/she can reflect the inner and outer
surroundings of the living natural spontaneous world of chaos
and through a negative try to point to the Unspeakable, via
expression of that which does not relate to It.
In this case my purpose in the simultaneous creation of the
two works ("The Cataphotic Good Samaritan" and "The
Apophatic Summer Time") is to use both: a positive (Cataphotic)
and a negative (Apophatic) ways of perception and expression
in each painting. As a result of the artisitic experiment
I am offering an idea of the possibility of contemplation
of the positive (Cataphotic) monumental formulas via the negative
(Apophatic) way, and the opposite: a Cataphotic concentration
at the Apophatic chaotic, spontaneous naturally shaped image
in art. Good luck!
Oleg Korolev
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