As I wrote before, I considered it of paramount importance
not to repeat myself. To - on the contrary - continue my unremitting search for the
essence of the - bio » « centric - ‘being’, for the three-dimensional materialization
of my - omni ~ dimensional - dream. (See: ‘THE - bio » « centric - VISION’). It
was, however, the cerebral-palsy of my newborn daughter Annelies, the most painful
event of my life, that brought my ‘Evolution number one’, the first period of my
artistic life in a most abrupt way to an end. It was this traumatizing event that
confronted me in a drastic way with a world totally unknown to me up till then. A
world, diametrically opposed to everything I, as a highly gifted and, consequently,
uncomprehended little boy experienced and endured during my childhood. A gift that,
in those times (1950 - 1970), times when highly gifted children were considered as
pedantic whippersnappers, wasn’t recognized and, as a consequence, resulted in me,
not understanding the surrounding world and this world understanding even less of
what was going on in the mind of that, apparently, arrogant youngster. A gift that
resulted in me, being caught in the whirlpool of my exuberant imagination. Me, sitting
on the slipping and vertiginous carrousel of my dreams, raging through this crazy
yet wonderful world. And so I became, sick to death from the never ending flood of
pictures, thoughts and fantasies projecting themselves in a continuous and breathtaking
frequency on the screen of my childlike imagination, alienated from day to day reality.
My ‘gift’ ánd the inherent fear of failure resulted in me becoming an isolated perfectionist
who, contrary to the - bio » « centric - ideal he pursued, threatened to become an
egocentric young man who lost every contact with the world that surrounded him. The
confrontation with the cerebral-palsy of my daughter ánd her irreversible coma catapulted
me, nonetheless, to a world where ‘life’, and this in its most fundamental form,
transcended every intellectual and artistic pretension. I had to, if I, after this
traumatizing event, would retrieve my peace of mind, return to the essence of my
existence, to the time- and spacelessness of my - omni ~ dimensional -. ánd - bio
» « centric - dream. (See: ‘THE - bio » « centric - VISION’). All this, ánd the fact
that I, during my spiritual journey throughout world history, somewhere, halfway
the seventeenth century, ran into the wonderful œuvre of Johannes Vermeer (1632 -
1675), his brilliant way of catching time and space in his paintings and the outstanding
harmony he created between the human figure and the nearly abstract environment this
human figure seems to find the ultimate peace in, ( see: ‘Woman in blue, reading
a letter’, 1662 - 1665), with the brilliant way he carried to the extreme the tension
between light and dark (see: ‘View of Delft’, 1660 - 1661) and the magnificent way
he, in one of the most outstanding portraits ever painted, succeeded in catching
the whole universe in the brilliance of a single pearl (see: ‘The girl with the pearl
earring, 1665 - 1667), brought me, to keep aloof from the three-dimensional illusion.
I would, out of the spacelessness, out of the perfect and achromatic plane, out of
the all-comprehensive nothingness, set off for the all-transcending - omni
~ dimensionality - An - omni ~ dimensionality - that should leave the world of Cubism
far behind. A world where planes are nothing but an illusion caught between imaginary
lines. Where ‘life’ is nothing but a cluster of illusory creatures scattered and
torn apart by illusive meteorites. A universe where nothing is what it seems, where
all three-dimensional illusion gets totally absorbed by the eternal infinity of the
all comprehensive nothingness.
~
My ‘EVOLUTION NUMBER TWO’ was the materialization of a world in which I flew at my
demons with the power of the oriental sobriety. Thanks to Vincent van Gogh (1853
- 1890), the man who, as human being ánd as artist, had a lot of problems to deal
with, I became acquainted with the composed strength, the restrained violence and
the deafening silence of Japanese painting. A painting that, as well as the unique
way Johannes Vermeer (1632 - 1675) succeeded in catching time and space with a few,
accurately drawn brushstrokes, inspired me to a line pattern that would become the
essence of that what I would, later on, consider as my first - bio » « centric -
painting. This was the end of my ‘classical’ way of painting. It was a way of painting
that laid the foundation of my third period, my ‘EVOLUTION NUMBER THREE’.From now
on my paintings would, increasingly, drift away from the three-dimensional. I would,
bit by bit, caught sight of what I, since my earliest youth, since my first drawing,
dreamt of, the - bio » « centric - world of the - omni ~ dimensional - . The only
thing that, as far as I was concerned, mattered, was to penetrate the time- and spacelessness
of the endless plane. An achromatic plane that, just as unexpected as accidental,
fell into my lap. The boundless plane that, one day, would become the essence of
my ‘EVOLUTION NUMBER THREE’. A shimmering stone in the harsh and scattered sand of
my winding and unpredictable road.
bie baldwin elbio
space artist