Expressing Inner States

Expressionism, or the idea of expressing inner states through art, is another step along the path of 20th century art to redefine the role and purpose of art in culture.  Many artists no longer saw it as their responsibility to produce realistic renderings of a subject, but rather, to express something more subjective about the inner nature of the subject and/or the artists feeling towards it.  Numerous artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, among others, felt that this could be achieved through the expressive character of elements like line, color, and repetition in a piece.

In my own work I feel I have much to learn from this ideology.  I tend to be very meticulous and methodical, even hesitant at times, about making a mark.  I recently witnessed a group of kindergarteners engaged in a lesson relating to Kandinsky's work in which they were asked to listen carefully to classical music and try to paint or draw what the music made them feel or imagine.  The whole experience was very free and kinesthetic, and the little ones produced marks with confidence and glee.  I left the classroom vowing to try this at home.  I think freeing myself to produce expressive marks with no particular purpose in mind might help me to build confidence in my own line.  So I suppose I see the value of this concept more in the context of an exercise in play and the practice of "working loose" as we discussed in class last week.  Taking the time to loosen up this way and allowing myself to respond viscerally to an experience or subject matter nurtures a sort of quality that I imagine I would like to see carry over into all my work and might help me to feel more natural and comfortable with the process.  Perhaps it would be interesting, and a little more challenging, to try an exercise like this not only with music, but with other senses like smell, touch, or even memory.