The Art and Musings of John Koerner John Koerner is a Canadian artist living in Vancouver.  He has exhibited widely in Canada, the U.S., Britain, and Japan. The text below is from his recent book Unseen Dimensions, a gathering of essays on the process and triggers of art making including numerous reproductions and drawings.  Published by Sono Nis Press.  The author refers to the works of Bô Yin Râ and, among other things, notes the relationship between art and matters concerning final reality:  Ultimate reality is not within reach of average consciousness, but intimations by way of metaphor are incorporated in many works of art, lending them additional depth and richness. Any reference or allusion may be considered obscure by some; but the same complaint can be made about a joke or a pun that is not understood by everyone. This is where the creative collaboration of the observer or listener is of essential importance. Visual literacy is a skill that can be learned only with repeated practice toward improved intuitive potential. [p.58]

Unseen Dimensions can be purchased from:  SONO NIS PRESS

                    John Koerner can be contacted at johnkoerner@shaw.ca                   

Naturally, for someone who has spent an extended lifetime concentrating on art, art will seem the most essential of endeavours. It has, in every known society, occupied a special place, even if it accomplished no more than the recording of memorable events or activities. But art can do more than record, it can do more than delight the senses. Art can help us to understand the world and her inhabitants, and present to our eyes what humankind has learned and believes. In ancient times, art was a priestly calling and considered a collaboration between the deity and the artist. Because of this, accepted belief and artistic form were closely associated.[p.48]

The creative urge that motivates and drives so powerfully, and the unity between initial experience and the resulting expression, leads me to think there are basic residues in the human psyche that reach into unknown layers of consciousness and spirituality. Lawren Harris came very close to the truth when he said: ". . . perhaps the arts may help us realize the creative life in us and the informing spirit, which sustains the universe, are one and the same." [p. 67]

I would qualify this statement by pointing out that creative life in humankind is only a weak spark compared to the infinite dominance of THE creative spirit; but, I would say that the creative condition was the normal human state from the time when primitive man invented tools. [ibid.]

 

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The story of the garden of Eden is a wonderful metaphor that alludes to the spiritual homeland of Man before the willful "fall" into the physical world (an event repeated with every birth).  The sexual union can be regarded as more than a basic physical impulse or an urge to procreate.  Is it not a subconscious recollection of a former oneness and a desire to regain this state?  

 

The Garden of Eden (20)
42" x 50" acrylic on canvas

 

The Garden of Eden (30)
50" X 84" acrylic on canvas

 

The Garden of Eden (31)
50" x 84" acrylic on canvas

 

The Garden of Eden (35)
54" x 60" acrylic on canvas

 

More Paintings by John Koerner

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