"Metaphors on Vision"

"Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth." 

~Simone de Beauvoir~

With his essay "Metaphors on Vision" Stan Brakhage attempts to articulate the unspeakable, intangible nature of creativity and the burden of the artist.  He is writing of that mysterious zone that anyone who assigns himself or herself the title "artist" has inevitably entered into while lost in the throes of artistic indulgence.  Where we operate not on logic and obligation, but on a vague notion of an indefinable, beautiful truth. 

This strange land is all but alien to anyone who has lost their creative drive, whether through willful destruction or careless inattention.  Even for us strange creatures known as artists, this place may not be the default land on which we place our feet every morning.  We are far too often assaulted with the weight and responsibility of ascribing pragmatic meanings to the things that surround us.  All the while we ignore the absurdity inherent in asserting our small, insignificant will on such abstract ideas as color, emotion, and God. 

Brakhage says even our symbols are weak representations of the chaotic phantasmagoria that lies beyond the veil of our perceived existence.  Skulls and phalluses replace death and sex in a childish attempt to explain our existence.  Brakhage seeks the space between these concrete ideas of ungraspable concepts.  Where clarity is never guaranteed, but always pursued.  Where the simple act of defying a perceived fact gives way to an even purer fact.

Ultimately, he comments on experimental filmmakers being charged with carrying the tradition of challenging reality.  The same charge that has been carried by visual artists for centuries.  But in narrowing the scope to the relatively new territory of the cinematic artist, he writes as a pioneer on the edge of barely charted grounds.  He makes us aware of how new this art form is, and creates an excitement that the reader, if they take on the challenge presented, could stumble into a truly new form of artistic representation.  That he or she could give new meaning to the beautiful, obscure abyss of being.

"Paularay" by Dominic Hailstone