UNIVERSAL THINKING: A NEW CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR ART & FREEDOM

           
I aim at creating my art in the context of a universal idea of freedom. I believe in evolution and I respect man and life. I am against all physical or ideological manifestations of tyranny, oppression and imprisonment. I want to spread good news and I can’t imagine a better time to realign our hearts and spirits around a liberating idea of art and bring more people to the table.

            America is a contextual idea for liberty and equality. There are however systems of interpretation that tend to oppress and suppress man and ones that aim at freeing him from all forms of bondage and oppression. A context which does not respect life is to me a “fear based” context that deep down believes “man is alone in the universe, helpless, hopeless and stuck in a vicious cycle of birth, youth, short-lived health, illnesses, accidents, decay and the inevitability of death and oblivion.” We as Americans are taking a “lot of none-sense” from the new and improved versions of the “prophets of gloom and doom."

            A harmonious painting to me is one in which fear has not penetrated; it is stable, clear and non-gaming. Universal thinking as a framework is a context, which considers self as a fearless, transparent being in a constant state of graceful and playful creativity.

            I believe that man’s spirit deserves to be acknowledged, honored and celebrated. Perhaps our great cave artists understood the need for beautiful and hopeful thinking in action. Perhaps we could start imagining that the Gods never really got angry with us; perhaps the underworld we thought they came from was just the fearful projections of our own inability, at the time, to stand for something better. This particular body of work represents my humble and patient dedication to what I believe to be the highest form of free creative thought: our free spirit in action.

 

Philippe Benichou
June 13, 2003
Topanga, CA

©2003 Theme for artist’s premiere solo exhibit in Los Angeles, CA June 13 - August 7, 2003

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Art and Awareness

At the heart of a human life is being or a being-ness. All the answers are in the being-ness. The other side of man is cellular memory, instincts and as a consequence habitual behavior.

The gift of awareness seems at the root of the problems of man. After all the body is not aware of itself. I am aware of it. The question has always been who is aware and who created the I that I believe to be, and who created the earth, planets, the air we breathe, things around us and of course others.

Awareness itself must have preceded the subject or object. Am I possibly awareness itself, not what it is I am aware of. Subject, object and phenomenon are potentially one and the same. They are not separate.

Art in my humble view is the gap or space between human and being. Man is not totally human but not totally being. Art offers a bridge, a platform, a space of rest so we can investigate, realize, discover and understand.

Art is free as Kandinsky proclaimed. Yes, free indeed but of conditioning hence the birth of modern art. It is conditioning which keeps man stuck in repetition and away from creation. Art is free from the past, free from cellular memory. (I paint what I see.) I now paint what I am (Pollock)

I paint abstract because I am before I think (Being versus human experience) I know that I am. I feel that I am.  I am therefore I am. Ultimately I am, period!

Let me know your thoughts on the matter.

Philippe Benichou

Philippe Benichou Latest Digital Art Show at the LACMA, Los Angeles and MOCA, New York