The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth

even when we turn to the world of “spirituality” where art is viewed as a kind of healing, we are forced to admit that art’s special power has been forgotten. for in that world, art is understood as a kind of therapy, as if the artist himself were a patient and as if by creating art we could all heal our own traumas. But healing is not the artist’s responsibility: his responsibility is towards the work of art itself. When the artist discharges this responsibility honestly, the work of art may have a special power to reach the soul of the viewer. This is the power that constitutes art’s deepest secret, its powerful mystery. Before this kind of art the viewer will stand with tears in his eyes; he will move slowly through the gallery and as he responds to the emanations he senses from each work, his life will start to change. Though he may be standing in a huge gallery with hundreds of other viewers, he will feel himself enclosed in a space so private that he will feel afraid lest anything disturb it. standing before the work, he will realize that there is something ineffable in it, something we will speak of as a divine presence; and he will realize that this same presence is in him, and that the work has summoned it up from his innermost part. later he will not say that he saw the art: he will say that he encountered it. This book is about that kind of art. such art is created out of the belief that the most personal thing can become the most universal and that divine presence is something beyond gender, beyond ethnicity, and beyond any religious denomination. By making the journey to the center of the self—a journey which may lead through darkness and danger, a journey on which every step must be taken with honesty, with discipline, and with courage— the artist strives to reach divine presence1. When the artist’s journey is successful the viewer can experience the journey and participate in it, and this participation can help the viewer make his own journey. It is a special kind of art and particularly in the postmodern age—an age in which detachment from universal values was elevated Cover: detail from ConCeRnInG aRT and RelIGIon no. 6 (2003)” Previous page: ConCeRnInG aRT and RelIGIon, no. 7 (2003) “In the beginning is the image” Paper, acetate and acrylic on mylar 84” x 42” Opening and closing spreads: details from this work. Preface ii

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth

PREFACE

-Definition of Centripetal Art -Its Place In Art History: After the Postmodern Period -Introducing the Subject Matter: One Centripetal Artist's Journey -The Relationship With Multiculturalism -After the Death of God and of Art

FOREWORD

-How the Author's Connection With His Wife's Art Grew More Intimate Over the Years -Learning In Marriage -"Why Does God Need To Paint?" [Section One] Individual Visitants -Dead Flowers and Root -Lungs and Rib Cage

CHAPTER FOUR - A Vital Spirituality

-Why This Art Could Not Have Been Created Earlier -Echoes of the Spiritual Arts of the Early 20th Century -The Impact of the Atomic Bomb; Ecological Concerns -Markers for Spirituality -Centripetal Art Overflows the Studio: Therapy

CHAPTER SIX - A Complex Spirituality

-Spirituality of the 21st Century

AFTERWORD - THE FURNACE

-Polytheism and Monotheism in Art -Goethe’s Aphorism -Marriage and the Alchemist’s Furnace Themes In Series

PREFACE

(Page I) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth - -Definition of Centripetal Art (Page II) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth - -The Relationship With Multiculturalism (Page III) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth - -After the Death of God and of Art (Page IV) The Centripetal Art of Junko Chodos, Matrix of Spiritual Growth -

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