—Interview with Van Huebner, Part Five—
Go to Part One of Van’s Interview on—
Drawing as Meditation- Art as Meditation.
Meditation How: Okay, so now I have a few more. One is regarding the word “error”— just wondering if you meant “area”… The second question is if you could describe (rather than your intent) your emotional state… joyous, manic, and ideally not just adjectives but the emotional process as you draw and meditation deepens as you draw. In addition, is there a sense of culmination or completion, or does it just diffuse?
Van: Ooo, great questions. Let’s see. No, to the first; I did mean “error.” On the subject of “emotional states” I guess I’d have to say it is a “calm”. In real-time our emotions are in flux, right, and kind of connected to the outside stimuli. When I’m drawing, or at least in the middle of this process, I feel detached—yet, I’m on a high plateau of calm. I’m not sure that answers well enough that part of your question… but, it also occurs to me that I do feel a slow sense of closure, or maybe a better phrase for it, would be landing.
The product, however, does not always give me satisfaction; but the process does; always – even when “I” intrude upon the event feeling frustrated by a particular difficulty, I can get back to the plateau pretty easily. And oddly, when the matter of a “likeness” in a portrait is at hand and becoming successful, this plateau is that much more unstable – I can feel the ego trying to jump onto the stage for moment and I have to ward him off. Regardless, I don’t always feel a sense of culmination, either. Especially with portraits, and maybe for the above reason – that the ego tries to “take credit” for the product.
For the stuff that just comes out of my head there’s never any question about culmination because at the outset, there’s little intention to represent and therefore it’s all no more meaningful than as you mentioned using the restroom. Sorry for the lack of brevity. Thought I’d send an image to illustrate the combination of portrait and manicgram. I’ve created virtually nothing of my own in Washington. I did work as a designer for Christine Alexander for a very brief period; but beyond that, all my visual thought has remained just that. I did continue to fill a common book journal and began to theorize passionately about visual thinking. Here are some examples of drawings and artwork.
Meditation How: These are all great. I think I have what I need. Thank you for interviewing.
Van: Thank you.
About Van: Van studied at Wayne State University, the College for Creative Studies, and the University of Washington, Seattle. He’s participated in only one showing of his work which was about 10 years ago at a fund-raiser for a small theater group in Hollywood, CA. called the “Non-Prophet Hatching Co.” Currently he lives in Tacoma, Washington where he continues to refuse to take part in the subversion of the art market: i.e., he does not sell his work. He provides it freely online for anyone to see at sites like www.myspace.com/arbiforum. He has several blogspot.com blogs through Google:
The Neuroboros, Lingual Pond, Involuted Frontier, and Reelin’ in the Real.
Read Van’s Extended Biography.