Synchronism as a way of creative communication in the modern visual art

Abstract

The paper examines synthetic connection of different epochs, countries, genres and types of art in the modern creative cognition and comprehension of social phenomena basing on the experience in creating and realizing the movable art exhibition of Antoni Miro in Ukraine and Lithuania.

Two postulates serve as a starting point for this article. Firstly, that the art of XX-XXI cc. has been traditionally oriented to the search of synthetic forms of expression – from the synthesis of remote art traditions (dialogue of cultures) to synchronistic dialogue of styles, interspecific interactions. The term of "synchronism", coined by C.G. Jung, is used here as coincidence of senses in creative process. Secondly, that the art, paraphrasing the modern Lithuanian philosopher L. Donskis, often discovers better problems of the modern world than philosophical works anticipating them in many sense.

The subject of investigation is the art exhibition "Power of Imagination" based on the works of Catalan artist Antoni Miro – his graphic series "Wind of People" and illustrations (works from the series "Paint Painting") to the book "Power and Imagination" by Leonidas Donskis. This movable exhibition was held in Ukraine (Lutsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia and Kyiv) and Lithuania (Kaunas).

The series "Wind of People" ("Viento del pueblo") is dedicated to the artist’s friend, the eminent Spanish dancer, Antonio Gades (1936-2004). 24 lithographs correspond to 24 lines of poem of the famous Spanish poet Miguel Hernández "Wind of People" (1937). The poet from the town of Orihuela firstly published this poem, on October 22, 1936, three months after the coup d’etat by the general Franco and the beginning of the Civil War in Spain. The same year when Miguel Hernández published his poem, Antonio Esteve Ródenas, who later took a stage name Antonio Gades, was born in a small town of Elda, on November 14, 1936.

"El viento del pueblo" encompasses a series that perfectly synthesizes the simultaneity of three languages – poetry, dance and painting. There are three axes of the exhibition, the forth axis is the philosophical work by L. Donskis illustrated by A.Miro’s works. The modern art using various languages and removing traditional borders between types and forms by uniting them as a whole (in terms of literature, painting, performing art or cinematography) acquires additional power, the power of moral imagination.

The series "Paint Painting" by A. Miro could be considered on a level of famous twentieth-century dystopias by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and Anthony Burgess, analyzed by Donskis in his book. All authors used similar devices of expression in different genres: allegory, allusion, grotesque, hyperbole, quotation, social satire. If mentioned authors of literary dystopias "seek what such twentieth-century thinkers as Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, Lewis Mumford, Isaiah Berlin, and Leszek Kołakowski sought in their social and political philosophy", images of A. Miró anticipate to some extent conclusions of Manuel Castells, Francis Fukuyama or Noam Chomsky.

The series "Paint Painting" has also a number of analogies in XX century. The best of them is Joyce’s Ulysses, which needs profound commentary. In the same way, any picture by Miro could be provided with extended comments or separate article. If the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges is known as "the librarian of world literature", then the Valencian artist Antoni Miro could be rightfully called "the treasurer of world painting".

The art exhibition "Power of Imagination" showing in Ukraine has united three famous Spanish artists, a poet, a dancer, and a painter, with a well-known Lithuanian philosopher and literary critic, presenting that high synthesis of arts which allows expressing deeper the world of changeable and liquid modernity.

Summarizing, one could say that synchronism is not a sole principle appropriate to the art of XX-XXI c., inherited from previous epochs, but the pivotal characteristic of modern art, which using different types, genres, languages and technologies (including the most advanced) easily overcomes physical and conditional borders uniting representatives of various cultures, times and peoples in creative cognition.

The analyzed exhibition "Power of Imagination" is a striking instance: the idea of its realization resulted in the creative act of the coincidence of diverse senses, aspirations and feelings. It indicates the future direction for research of modern art seeking to challenge the bounds of canvas and space of galleries.