A Novel Method of Abstract Painting Style

Stephen Arthur · 2022-04-09T00:00:00Z

(1) Two versions Flight Paths, Paired (by S. Arthur 2022) illustrates an original method invented by an outsider artist who was once an animator of non-commercial experimental art films. This item demonstrates the origin of a novel kind of surrealist technique for generating abstract forms with a mysteriously organic style. Two stages of the painting are shown, and a detailed explanation is given below. EXPLANATION The lines are the action paths taken by birds flying and hopping. The painter simply drew the path of one bird, and a second bird interacting with that bird. Like animation paths, these are tracks left behind by a bird, if they could leave tracks in the air. There are three separate events depicted in the first version.  Each one is the interaction of two birds. 1. Top left: mating. At the beginning they both enter from the left. The places where they stopped side by side for a moment are where I later painted in the yellow-green like a branch. They copulate in the air, then eventually fly off in opposite directions. 2. Right side: escaping a predator in the air. The hawk lands on the ground after the prey bird gets away. 3. Bottom left: feeding together on the grass. One joins the other. So… if you trace each line as a timeline, each pair of lines tells a little story. The finished version then added two more such "stories" (an eagle on the left scares off a feeding bird, and a pair of birds on the right land and then react to the landing of the hawk in #2). Thus two of the events are connected in sequence—the mating male bird (#1) flies back into frame to be attacked by the hawk. Which version do you prefer? (2) Mobbing Predators and Defending Territory [Paths No. 2] (by S. Arthur 2022) uses the same technique or style. Can you figure it out?   From the item Intuitive paintings by Stephen Arthur (Outsider Art, Canada 2021-2022) https://archive.org/details/intuitive-process-painting-sxa-2021 These paintings were created by a kind of spontaneous improvisation, automatism, and stream of consciousness that often generates unexpected insights and symbolism. The tension in these images may produce a kind of cinematic narrative. The relevant historical categories are surrealist, symbolist, and maybe expressionist, plus some abstract. These paintings by an untrained or self-taught INTJ artist (a retired filmmaker) could be called outsider art, art brut, raw art, art singulier, intuitive art, or visionary art. The medium is tempera paint without egg, formally termed “distemper” paint, and commonly called tempera or poster paint. Paper size is 20" x 26". Copyright (c) 2021 SXA  -- Stephen X. Arthur, Vancouver Canada -- sxarthur@shaw.ca