I just read an article on recent research by Daphna Shohamy of Columbia University which suggests "that abstract art has qualities that can literally change our mindsets, and prompts us to let the minutia of day-to-day life fall away".
The study found that abstract art shifts our cognitive state away from concrete details and towards abstract ideas, allowing for psychological distancing, which in turn can change the way we perceive events and even make decisions.
This "altered state" of awareness is something I, and many artists, experience during the creation of abstract, or "non-objective" art. There are periods when I am working where time falls away and I become lost in the process, as if in a trance. The critical part of the brain goes quiet and the work proceeds on its own somehow, as if by magic or an out-of-body experience. I often snap out of it and look at what is on my canvas and wonder how that work came into being.
This seems to perfectly segue into the upcoming exhibition, ALTERED STATES at Telluride Gallery of Fine Art opening next month.
I am honored to be exhibiting with such a diverse group of accomplished and inspiring artists. Last week while delivering several new works on paper and canvas to the gallery I was ecstatic to see the town filled with people and energy and life once again!
Please join me for the opening if you can, or stop in to see the show, July 6 to August 8.
