Catharsis experiments with and connects the ideas of randomness, purification and dualism.
The work seeks to minimise and transcend all elements of photography. Just random light passing through the lens to produce Bokeh and other patterns. There is a new aesthetic or beauty here. Notice how the patterns are circular, clustered, often in pairs, working together. Why? How? This is a unique, random aesthetic in time and space. An aesthetic seemingly created from somewhere else- somewhere between the artist and the viewer.
The work draws on the original idea of Catharsis from Aristotle’s Poetics- purification through tragedy, clarification and simplification. This is an ancient theme running through many of the arts and other disciplines over the centuries. For instance, it is linked to the idea of the Universal of the Renaissance, Hegel’s Dialectic Materialism, and Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction.
The Japanese word Bokeh traditionally draws a line between blurred and non-blurred elements. The related word Bokashi means intentional blurring or gradation. By questioning the line between intention and randomness, by questioning blurred and non-blurred elements, by dancing between light and dark, the work moves beyond dualist thinking. Beyond opposites, beyond time and space. Here we find catharsis and the Universal.
Lee Spano, Fine Art Photography, www.leespano.com
This work is available as a Limited Edition (LE) print. For a free information package, please visit this page: https://www.leespano.com/purchase .
© Copyright Lee Spano. All rights reserved.