What is way of thinking? For a moment forget about this question. First I would like to rise a question … ' what is thinking?
When I started to learn painting, I began to imagine in my mind that one day I am going to be a great artist.
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| Evening Light Artist:Magunta Dayakar |
'One day I am going to be a great artist'... that you call simply dreaming.
And discussing about the problem which is shocking the society is also not thinking. It is using the information what we stored in our memory.
Thinking is an entirely different thing.
There are so many definitions about thinking. I am not going to talk about them.
I want to tell you about it through my experiences. Like process of learning, thinking is also a process.
Do you have to learn ... How to think?
Yes. Without learning HOW TO THINK, you never become a creator or even an intelligent person!
Intelligence is a step short of creativity. That is the power of thinking. Becoming an artist means becoming a creator. Thinking is the soul of creativity.
So... here is a simple question , ' Without learning how to think, how do you become a creator or an artist? '
No difference between these two words.
Thinking.....! As per as my experience 99.9% of the people don’t use their ability to think. We all have the ability to think. But I told you already, most of the people never use this skill of ability to think.
Thinking is … thinking about some problem or question. It is a search to find an answer for that problem. There will be no particular answer for that question. You have to think. You should think. You must think. Because there is no answer. Every thing is confusing. There is no light to see. Nobody will help you to come out of the darkness.
That's why you need to think. You need to search. You have to explore one hundred thousand ways. Then one sudden moment you will find the way. Light may appear to you. Archimedes found his answer in this way. In that moment he shouted “ Eureka”.
That is thinking. That’s why all creators are great thinkers. When an artist becomes a creator, he must be a thinker also.
Now its very clear, to be an artist means to be a thinker. When some one wants to become an artist he has to question himself , is he using his skills of 'ability to think' ?
Thinking is one of the most essential factors to become a true artist. That's why we won’t find many artists in any century, in any time. Some will learn art or other arts to become famous, to become rich. Of course they love their work also. If there is no love, then they won’t enter into these art fields, which are very tough to survive.
Once they began to get a little bit of control over technique, they began to think about fame and money. There they lose. The reason ... Just they loved it. Love and desire are synonyms.
Becoming an artist means becoming a learner. A real learner never thinks what he will get from his learning. He will enjoy the learning itself. Once he become a good learner he will survive. Learning art and becoming an artist are not only tough tasks. They are tough, tougher, toughest. It is simply like coming out of storm weather on the sea.
Many people think learning art is a born gift. It can be learned with some special talents. In reality it is not like that. You don’t need any born talent or some genes in you to become an artist. Like any other subjects, art also can be learned. All it needs is determination, hard work and ability to think.
Why thinking is that much important? The successful artists, about whom we know , are they great thinkers?
Good question.
First thing we have to know ... many of these persons who are called as artists, are they really artists? Selling paintings for huge sums, is it really the scale to measure artistic talent? If not, then what is? A great economist may not be given a key post in finance ministry. Another person who passed some exams from memory which won’t concern real economics may be given a key post there. Who do you think is the real expert?
That's why don’t bother about artist’s success stories. Think about their work. Are they really worthy? This is the question you have to ask yourself. Before asking this question you have to understand, what makes a good painting? What are those elements?
To know about them start the search. What is Color? Is just knowing how to mix them enough? Or is there another side to it?
What is Drawing? Seeing figures or objects and sketching them or copying, is it drawing? Observation is the key to drawing. Observation means learning to see.
How to look at the objects, how to understand them, these things you have to learn. To learn these you have to change your way of thinking. Again... way of thinking! Same question! What is this?
I told you what is thinking. Every human being has thinking ability. When you are going to use this ability in a specific area, you must know the structure of that area. How to understand that structure? What are the things which caused it? What kind of relation they have with in themselves?...many questions.
Trying to get answers for those questions, I tried to be truthful always. Always there has been a continuous conflict in me about my understanding on painting. I know I am reasonably good at the science of art and yet...always I tried to search the many layers of painting as if I don’t know anything about it. Which is true? I think both are true. I Know it. I don’t know it. I am not saying this later one for humility. I am not that much sophisticated. Always I feel my knowledge is incomplete.
Do you know or anybody knows about any thing in this universe completely? Every work, everything in this universe is incomplete. All works, All people whoever, whatever they are ...incomplete. There is a completeness in incompleteness. Order in Disorder. That is the law of nature.
Nature itself is power. Power means God. When God Himself or itself whatever way you call it ...is incomplete, then how do you think about completeness. Thinking about completeness and feeling about it, is man’s foolishness.
How do you expect a fool to become an artist? Artists and Creators are one. All creators whatever fields they are in, they are always searching for things they don’t know about. That is the secret of their power. This secret is their way of thinking.
If you want to be an artist, be like them. Try to understand what I am saying. If you don’t understand this, how do you become an artist? Becoming the artist means understanding the life. Art is a way of life. It's a philosophy of universe. It is a way of thinking.