When I began drawing this piece in my sketchpad I had no intention of doing it for any specific purpose, but the character I saw in the cross-dressing old man inspired me to illustrate a world of visual metaphors around him. The text began as journal-like notes on ideas in an interview I was watching, and then I later turned it into more of a focus on yin and yang as the drawing accidentally lead into looking like a boy and girl in the question mark tunnel the character seems to be ignoring behind him. There are more things to interpret out of it with a closer look, and it might be up for improvements.
Sociology was a new field to me, and it really helped me make some connections between things like philosophy and psychology. The result was the abstract clash of ideas that ended up under each prompt. Reflecting on gender, I never looked at it as conquering a specific sociological field, but as an overall meditation and exploration of the concept of the yin and yang--two forces whose inability to live with or without each other creates the paradox where arguably all social difficulties and entertainments.
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/visionary/
This is a link to samples of the sort of symbolic art I enjoy collecting and producing. I see no use in a creation, personally, unless it has some insights to share or perhaps accidentally produce for me. Food for thought, even if the artist-audience gap of interpretation can only be half-shared. I hope it isn't too esoteric, but I feel the best way to approach these sorts of important issues is not by preaching theories but using them as a background for honest, casual, occasionally Socratic discussion.
The game of philosophizing is a tiger's tail. Once you head down the road of metaphors and artistic reference, there's no end to the possibilities...a lot like the endlessness of seeing a therapist. But living as a student of the world is a healthy way to live in the moment and continue to grow. This has been a surprisingly therapeutic process of expression, visiting a side of myself I normally would not in any other sort of class.
The first entry was an explosion of everything that was associating in my mind with the topic, and the second dug deeper into my psyche. The third and fifth entries took on slightly morbid topics, but as I said, I see the purpose of the negative as a way to sharpen focus on the positive (which leads around back to yin and yang, the impact of abstract philosophy on practical topics, etc...). The third was perhaps at the center of my mind, considering the personal side to what either comforts or challenges us. On an even deeper level, this class has both opened new doors and confirmed parts of my identity by creating that space to reflect on these themes. It's very healthy to put a face on one's studies, to get a chance to bridge knowledge and creativity and take them to a new level in oneself.
This type of joining work and play reminds me of the way Einstein approached understanding a subject, performing mental experiments that sound more like games (imaginig himself riding a photon at the speed of light, etc...). He also once explained in an interview how his uncle first introduced him to mathematics by making an analogy between the answer to a problem and the target of a hunt, like a deer. What ever interests, delights, and illuminates is fair game.
"When we talk about understanding, surely it takes place only when the mind listens completely - the mind being your heart, your nerves, your ears- when you give your whole attention to it." -J. Krishnamurti
How better to devote attention than by viscerally expressing the most subtle aspects that interest one about a subject through artwork? It's hard, if not impossible, to know anything for sure, especially in the realm of gender and other forms of identity or subscribed beliefs. But as surely as we know anything, it is through our reactions to the things around us that we find a meaningful grasp on what ever is there. Though art and abstract philosophical connections tell little in concrete terms, it is a process of trying to touch the different parts of the elephant we are all blind to (as in the parable of three blind men who disagree on how to describe the animal based on the different parts they feel). Just as surely as my dog has valid intuitive feelings about certain things, art has something to say on all topics. And I hope what I had to say was relevant to an audience larger than myself.
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