Primitive takes a rap as being crude and not subtle to our modern minds which have supposedly evolved over the centuries. Nothing could be farther from the truth. For example look at the paintings in the Lascaux caves in France or other so called “primitive” items from other cultures and other times and you’ll find that the human mind hasn’t changed much in the past 20,000 years. Some figures are not much more than a splash of color, others just a few scratched lines and other took many hours to complete. It’s funny that much of 20th century modern art looks a lot like ancient art.
I love highly textured and detailed sculpts, but I've learned that it's much, much harder to reduce something to a minimal form while still capturing it's essence.
That's why I love the primitive and ultra-stylized Cthulhu idols.
Quite right Propnomicon. Another outstanding example of complex thought rendered into simplicity are Easter Island figures (Moai), which have become iconic, when we think of streamlined ideas.
Even more abstract in ideas and highly complex are the Rai stones from Yap, which are holed roundels, which represent not only a sense of money, but obligation, union, and possession. Calling them money is like calling the Pyramids of Egypt a tomb in a basic form and nothing more.
The great danger in old-style archeology is when viewing a “simple” or plain objects is to assume that everything around it was simple and uncomplex. That thought lead to a misunderstanding such as the stance of the Germans in the late 1930s, labeling such items as Kunst (degenerate) Art. Such a world view would lead one to think that a Japanese high art tea ceremony cup was just a cup, leaving out the intentional simpleness and the involved ceremony that centered around the cup and ceremony enclosure.
Wow, now I´m truly honoured. I scour your blog for inspiration for what feels like ages, but I never even hoped to be featured here with my works.
ReplyDelete@ der Alchemist
ReplyDeleteIt's a very nice piece. Primitive, without being simplistic. That's a very hard thing to do.
Primitive takes a rap as being crude and not subtle to our modern minds which have supposedly evolved over the centuries. Nothing could be farther from the truth. For example look at the paintings in the Lascaux caves in France or other so called “primitive” items from other cultures and other times and you’ll find that the human mind hasn’t changed much in the past 20,000 years. Some figures are not much more than a splash of color, others just a few scratched lines and other took many hours to complete. It’s funny that much of 20th century modern art looks a lot like ancient art.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_the_Upper_Paleolithic
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/paleolithic-art-culture.htm
http://klimtlover.wordpress.com/art-before-history/paleolithic-art/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycladic_art
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk
Pretty cool! In Lovecraft's stories, the idols are always described as being very crude & primitive.
ReplyDelete@ CoastConFan
ReplyDeleteI love highly textured and detailed sculpts, but I've learned that it's much, much harder to reduce something to a minimal form while still capturing it's essence.
That's why I love the primitive and ultra-stylized Cthulhu idols.
@ Anonymous
This piece is a perfect example of that.
Quite right Propnomicon. Another outstanding example of complex thought rendered into simplicity are Easter Island figures (Moai), which have become iconic, when we think of streamlined ideas.
ReplyDeleteEven more abstract in ideas and highly complex are the Rai stones from Yap, which are holed roundels, which represent not only a sense of money, but obligation, union, and possession. Calling them money is like calling the Pyramids of Egypt a tomb in a basic form and nothing more.
The great danger in old-style archeology is when viewing a “simple” or plain objects is to assume that everything around it was simple and uncomplex. That thought lead to a misunderstanding such as the stance of the Germans in the late 1930s, labeling such items as Kunst (degenerate) Art. Such a world view would lead one to think that a Japanese high art tea ceremony cup was just a cup, leaving out the intentional simpleness and the involved ceremony that centered around the cup and ceremony enclosure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yap
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art