What is Nature?

What is nature?

What is human nature?

For me, nature is the, "yes, yes, yes." It is the everything, the sum of all things and it is interconnected to everything. The new symbols in some of my compositions that look like constellations, illustrate this interconnectedness.
.

The Journey Of A Gypsy by Christine Alfery

For me, there are always two major questions that I ask about nature.

• How is nature governed/controlled?
• And how is it identified/labeled?

For example, trees are controlled or governed differently than the idea of self or soul are. That is to say, unless the trees are trimmed, groomed and made to be other than what they are.

When I think of my authentic self, I think of how I relate to things/elements and how they are governed and identified. If they are difficult to govern/control, I find I relate to them in an authentic way. Why? I find the creativity in things when they are less governed and not easily identified. It is in the authentic space of creativity that I find freedom. It is in the abstract space that I find freedom.

Abstraction is difficult to govern and difficult to identify. But, it is definitely related, interconnected to all things – and is natural. I identify abstraction with the descriptors and the labels of the concept abstraction. Abstractions.
Artist network identified abstraction as:

Abstraction literally means the distancing of an idea from objective referents. That means, in the visual arts, pulling a depiction away from any literal, representational reference points. You can also call abstract art nonrepresentational art.

Wikipedia states that abstraction is: abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.

So the nature of abstract art as I said suits me. It is independent, and distances itself from objective referents which can be controlled. That is the nature of abstraction – that for me is the nature of art. And these concepts, these ideas are interconnected.

One would assume that because I think of nature this way, I could be called a naturalist. One problem, I am far from being a naturalist. And I have always, always avoided labels like short, old, white. So, why do I say that? Because a naturalist only describes difference this way, this tree is green, this tree is orange.

I am more of a romantic. I describe, but I describe a tree more like this: I love(value) the green tree that stands very tall in the woods. I love (value) that tree because its difference for me is the changes which is something that I value. It changes with the seasons.

A naturalist is not expected to value, I find it is impossible for me not to value because of my authenticity and uniqueness, To suppress this would not be authentic (formally understood as natural) for me.

Oh, words are so much fun.