Chaos is defined as: a state of utter confusion or disorder; a total lack or organization or order; and any confused, disorderly mass. Sounds bad. The opposite of chaos would then imply complete order and complete organization. Sounds boring. For me, the combination of the two states comes from soulfulness, a state where we strive for order, yet include and "deal with" the disorder that comes our way. Sounds like life. I would not like to live in an environment that was purely one pole or the other. The combination provides a comfortable, lived-in, soulful place where we can breathe and put our feet up. For me, this notion easily carries over into art-making. Introducing a bit of chaos into a work can spice it up, enliven it, provide more interest. Chaos can be introduced at any stage of a work....and, for me, it changes the nature of the problem to be solved and thereby, completely changes the nature of the work. Ways to introduce chaos are: splattering, splashing, scraping, wiping out and altering in some way the nature of that which we are describing. The work is forever changed. Adding chaos is scary. But experimentation teaches one to trust the intuition and to trust that chaos introduced into the work. It induces confidence. It excites. The chaos theory is really about finding the underlying order in apparently random data. Ever watch "Numb3rs"? Experimentation is life-affirming. It is joyful.
The true purpose of art is to conceal art. ars est celare artern (Ovid)
Got chaos?
