APPROACHES - In The Words Of . . . .
From: Ferrier, Jean-Louis, Director and Yann le Pichon, Walter D. Glanze [English Translation]. Art of Our Century, The Chronicle of Western Art, 1900 to the Present. New York: Prentice-Hall Editions. 1988.
Piet Mondrian
In order to approach the spiritual in art, we will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual. Hence, there is a logical explanation for elementary forms. As these forms are abstract, we find ourselves in the presence of an abstract art.
Like religion, Art is superhuman and cultivates the superhuman element in man, and it is consequently a means of human evolution.
Neither life nor art can be brought into being if we consider the spirit alone. Or matter alone. The unity of he two makes creation.
The universal can be expressed in pure manner only when the particular does not obstruct our path. Only than can universal consciousness [in other words, intuition], which is at the origin of all art, be rendered directly, giving birth to a purified artistic expression.
Neoplasticism depicts a precise order. It depicts equity, because equivalence in the composition of plastic forms indicates to everyone that equal but nonetheless different rights have been assigned.
To consider relationships solely by creating them and attempting to balance them in art and in life is the lofty task of our day: it is a way of preparing for the future.
Freed of any utilitarian limitation, plastic art must not only keep pace with human progress, it must even stay ahead of it.
Everything is composed by relation and reciprocity. Color exists only through another color, dimension is defined by another dimension, there is no position except in opposition to another position. Form and color have found their proper use: From now on, they will be nothing but "plastic" means of expression and will no longer dominate in the work as they did in the past.
Neutral line, color, and form, "in other words, elements that have the appearance of something familiar," are established as a means of general expression. As these means represent the highest degree of simplification, young people are the ones who must preserve them, determine their composition, and establish them according to their nature.
[An Exerpt From: Ferrier, Jean-Louis, Director and Yann le Pichon, Walter D. Glanze [English Translation]. Art of Our Century, The Chronicle of Western Art, 1900 to the Present. New York: Prentice-Hall Editions. 1988. p. 429]
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