Streamlined adjective /ˈstrim·lɑɪnd/

• Improved or made simpler. ‘A streamlined system.’

• A streamlined business, process, activity, etc. has been made simpler and more effective by reducing costs, the number of people involved in it, etc. ‘Thanks to new technologies, manufacturing has become more flexible, streamlined, and efficient, and has resulted in a higher quality of product.’

• A streamlined design or product has a smooth, attractive shape. ‘Our latest model has been revamped to give it a more modern, streamlined look.’

 

Stripped of Nonessentials

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I may have mentioned before that I consider art, in all its forms, be it visual art or literature, performing arts or plastic arts, or any other art variant, to be one of the best vehicles that can lead us to experience original or authentic emotions while being the very creators of the emotions we want to experience.

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As the creation of any art is closely connected with the dream state, interlacing the conscious and unconscious minds, all artists use the same source or material, which is the human experience, and it is the exceptional uniqueness or individuality pointing out and building on the shared human performance that makes an artwork great.

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Regardless of what an artist wants to express, no matter what he or she wants to convey, eventually it is the viewer, the observer, who fundamentally assigns the meaning of each object or work of art, and by doing that, the viewer determines the effect of that assignment as positive or negative, like or dislike.

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Although the viewer may point out patterns, assign the artwork to a certain art movement, or connect the images or symbols to those in other artworks, this may have little to do with the artist's interpretation of his own symbols or with his personal experience.

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At the end of the day, it matters not if the viewer fully “mentally” understands the artist's enveloped ideas and concepts. However, one’s conscious willingness to observe an artwork is translated into an unconscious willingness to observe if he/she harmonically resonates with the vibration of that particular artwork. Furthermore, when the observer allows himself to vibrate sympathetically with the vibration of the artwork, when this synchronicity happens, he gets a good feeling, a positive effect, and implicitly, he appreciates the work of art.

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The question I have asked myself is: how “little” is needed to create emotion? How minimal can a minimalist artwork be so as to generate in the viewer the desire to observe a work of art, to ask and answer questions? I do, of course, understand that there is no straight answer to my inquiry because, in fact, there is no such general answer; there are many answers, and each one depends on the vibration the viewer finds himself in at that particular moment.

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As a perhaps natural extension of the above introspection, in creating this series, I was inspired by the oldest pieces of prehistoric art ever discovered, created by the so called “modern man,” such as the Blombos Cave Engravings (Mousterian period of the Middle Palaeolithic, about 70,000 BC), which is one of the oldest pieces of sub-Saharan African art, containing two pieces of ochre rock engraved with geometric abstract signs and a series of beads made from Nassarius kraussianus shells, and the big Circular Cupules that predate the Acheulean culture of the Lower Palaeolithic era (290,000–700,000 BC).

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Using only one or a few charcoal lines or several dots, I want to arouse the viewers’ imagination, I want the viewers to get over trivial questions such as "What did the artist mean or what did he or she want to say?" From a rather broader perspective, it is utterly unimportant what any artist wants to transmit through his artwork; it matters what the viewers are getting out of it, since when creating the artwork, the artist has one thing in mind while the viewers can get dozens of other ideas, thoughts, and eventually feelings or emotions from the very same artwork.

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As art creation springs from a combination of thoughts and therefore emotions, enjoying an artwork is not only therapeutic, but it also highlights the ethereal marriage of the conscious and unconscious mind, transforming the viewer into a creator per se.

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Just as a photograph is the re-creation of something that was previously created, in the very same way, the viewer, from his own inner identity, is the re-creator of any artwork. The viewer’s conscious mind arose to open up choices, to free him from a one-road experience and feelings (e.g., “what did the artist want to say?"), and to let one use his or her creativity to form diversified, wide-ranging comprehensions.