I’ve been thinking lately about the 19th century british painter JMW Turner. Turner’s work, and his personality, became increasingly abstract and diffuse as he aged; by the time he entered his ‘late period,’ his work had become profoundly experimental, and, to my mind, anyway, cracked open the door to 20th century abstract art — and the radicalization of what it means to ‘see.’
Turner is credited with bringing landscape into the world of ‘serious’ painting, challenging the dominance of historical setting and reference. By the 1840s, his explorations and experimentations of landscape, light, weather and mood start to look like improvisations on the theme of color and field.
What I love in particular is the sense that the landscapes practically vanish as Turner paints them; he’s experiencing that vanishing of shifting light and weather as he works through it — as he experiences it. There’s a dissolving of time, sky, storm and landscape slipping into nothingness on the canvas. He’s painting his interior mood as much as he’s ‘capturing’ a scene — these late Turners feel to me like they’re his consciousness expressed on the canvas, interpreted and understood through his investigation and practice, of color and light.
These paintings reimagine the idea of ‘seeing’ as landscape breaks up into fields of color and shape breaks down into strokes of light and dark.
Turner challenges me to ask myself how I see; what do I see? How do I see it? How much of what I see is a reflection or an expression of my own mind; my own seeing? How do I express that ‘seeing,’ as my consciousness? How is that seeing experienced, in my body — and expressed in my practice of living?
As the landscape vanishes — as our seeing vanishes — what remains?
Your comments are always welcomed and encouraged. We’d love to hear from you.
One more thing.
As a zen priest I’m a student of Tenshin Fletcher Roshi at Yokoji Zen Mountain Center. For more info on Yokoji, please visit www.zmc.org.
I’m also the caretaker of Warwick Zendo, a small in-person and online sangha based in the lower Hudson Valley of New York. if you’d like to check out our practice community, we’re at www.warwickzen.org.
How this works.
I plan to post at least once a week, at minimum. The Freeside will offer those weekly posts, which will always be accessible. Payside will (eventually) offer access to some longer writing and ongoing investigations into practices both literary and zen.
Payside also helps to sustain this project, and this practice. Like any creative project, keep sweeping is a kind of labor, and as such, your support to sustain that labor is much appreciated.
If Payside is not for you, that’s all good. The posts will keep coming on Freeside. The support of your reading and attention is a deeply appreciated gift, and I thank you for being here.
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.I’m also the caretaker of Warwick Zendo, a small in-person and online sangha based in the lower Hudson Valley of New York. if you’d like to check out our practice community, we’re at www.warwickzen.org.