Blog: Bliss or Freedom
Posted on October 27 2020
Featured image (detail view): At Peace
Every morning, as I sit here alone with the trees, the flowers, the grass, the sky, and all of earth, I allow that wonderful feeling of oneness with nature to return to me. The feeling permeates every part of my very being. It is peaceful, it is home.
Where Sky and Water Meet by Christine Alfery (2019)
That oneness, that peacefulness, that naturalness, that bliss is part of what my work is all about. At the same time it is also about freedom, individuality, and uniqueness.
The balance between these two is very difficult to achieve. The bliss and security of being one with nature is at odds with the insecurity and alone-ness of freedom and individuality. They tug and pull as I seek balance.
Many artists feel this tug and pull when they begin a new work – seeking that a-ha moment, trying something different, questioning if it works. I have these feelings as I work on my current Gears Series. It is a very insecure feeling.
The security and bliss of one-ness is the Utopia artists were searching for in the 60’s. As an artist who was emerging in the 60’s, I was part of that movement. Since that time, some abstract expressionist artists continue to work in that paradigm, but others, like me, have changed. Today many abstract expressionists have broken from the complete state of blissfulness - because they have come to recognize their uniqueness, and their self, their possibility for independence and individuality.
CLICK HERE TO READ BLOG: Following In Their Footsteps (Sort of)
This freedom is not given – it must be discovered by the individual self. The self needs to unblock, unchain the very thing that is so blissful in order to be a self-determining individual – to be able to use the gifts they were born with, to be able to use and recognize their uniqueness, their individuality, to be able to create a place - a new place, a different place - where they are comfortable being themselves.