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Abstract Surrealism

THE ENTROPY COLLECTION

An Explanation of How We View Art and the innovative technique

of Dimensional Surfacing developed by Edward Cascone

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Entropy and Art an Essay on Disorder and Order by Rudolf Arnheim University Of California Press, Berkeley - Los Angeles - London, 1971

 

Ed Cascone bases his technique on Arheim's research. He titled his latest artwork “Entropy” because he believes that the abstract imagery is conceived through the subconscious mind and these images represent the nature of physics in it's primitive manifestation. The artist has challenged himself to go beyond the ordinary and the mundane, and he believes there can be no boundaries in creativity, that what ever mediums an artist chooses to work with will eventually be translated into a physical representation of their emotions and thoughts. He used insulating foam with acrylic paints to produce the dimensional effects that take on organic and surreal forms. The result is a dynamic technique for painting that he call's dimensional surfacing. Heavy impasto has been used by many artists in the past, but what is so unusual about this approach is the chemical action that takes place in the drying process. Cascone has endeavored to create a series of paintings that express a deeper meaning. He believes he has liberated himself from the ordinary and ventured into the realm of psychological manifestations that we tend to avoid. Within the past two years he has produced a total of thirty five paintings. Each of these paintings, numbered in sequence, relates to a concept that was introduced by theorist and perceptual psychologist/philosopher, Rudolf Arnheim. His theories on art and how it is perceived by both artist and audience have enabled Cascone to better understand why creativity is so important. 

“In art therefore, the creative process represents the measure of energy that exists within the conception of a work; drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, dance. The energy that is emitted or spent to produce a work of art may not be directly related to temperature, but it is energy spent regardless.” 

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An IDEA or CONCEPT translated into physical form is unavailable energy that is used to produce a work of art. An empty canvas, drawing paper or block of marble represents a state corresponding temperature region of space-time and that the creative energy is a region of high 'thermal' energy and therefore the thermodynamic laws fundamentally favor the flow from artist to art. Given such a state, the increased entropy of the system would be represented as the concept laid out and expended by the artist in the execution of the work. In addition to representing the idea or concept as the unavailable energy, the emotional valence of both artist and audience as elicited by the artwork, could fall into that category. Similarly, this emotional energy follows thermodynamic laws in the sense that it always proceeds in a particular direction (i.e. audience or artist> art or from high energy/emotion> low). The 'concept/idea' as entropic energy is inevitable due to this favorable flow of creative energy to art, and during this process there occurs a level of expended wasted energy in its wake.-Edward Cascone

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