Lyco art
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Lyco art is a coined by the painter and poet Paul Hartal [1]. In 1975 Hartal published in Montreal A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism (1), (2), introducing Lycoism as a new art idea on the periodic table of art [2]. Expanding the boundaries of aesthetics, Lyco Art concerns itself with cultural transformation and the human condition (3). It identifies the meaning of art with its life-serving purpose. [3] Another salient aspect of Lyco Art involves the creative process as an interaction of emotion and intellect, wherein the passion of logic and the logic of passion are inexorable interwoven through the voyage of aesthetic consciousness.[4] Hartal maintains that throughout history art moved between the opposing poles of the Apollonian and the Dionysian, the rational and the emotional, swinging on a pendulum of the creative process. Thus, the aesthetic styles of the Greco-Roman world and of the Renaissance were basically harmonious, geometrical and conceptual. On the other hand Gothic and Baroque art were characterized by sinuosity, passion and lyricism. Similarly, in Modern Art, Impressionism, Fauvism, Dada and Surrealism derives from the irrational impulses of the human psyche, whereas movements such as Cubism, De Stijl, Constructivism, or Geometric Abstraction are more related to the rational realm of creativity [5]. Lyco Art creates a conscious bridge between the impulsive, intuitional and planned elements of the creative process, moving along the whole continuum of formative energies. In applying theory to practice in design and painting, Lycoism finds its expression in coded colors and forms. Accordingly, warm hues and amorphous shapes might correspond to emotion and to the irrational, while cold colors and geometric forms might express the rational and the logical. Since in the electronic age, science and technology determine our lifestyle, Lycoism views the relationship of art, science and technology as a pivotal concern. The Centre for Art, Science and Technology that Hartal formed in the 1980s in Montreal in accordance with lycoist premises and aspirations has implemented a variety of interdisciplinary projects exploring the connections between painting, poetry, music, architecture, communication, artificial intelligence, mathematics, cosmology and space exploration (4), (5). In Mazes for the Mind,Clifford Pickover draws attention to Hartal's view that we need the imagination, the insight, the lateral reasoning faculty, as well as human values, which are excluded from the rigid methodology of science but are intrinsic to art: "The present human condition calls for the rise of a new, inclusive form of culture in which art should play a most prominent role" (6). Lycoism refuses to polarize science and art, but involves the use of science and technology by the artist in the creation of beauty, resulting in works that seek to unify aesthetics and ethics, emotion and reason, mind, spirit and soul. Hartal’s Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism put forward a theory of art, which runs contrary to the traditional belief that emotion and intellect are at odds with each other. The art critic Balint Szombathy [6] notes that lyrical conceptualism encapsulates no less a fusion of polarities than the term-amalgams of lyrical expressionism, or lyrical abstraction. It is possible to characterize these diametrically opposed juxtapositions, he says, as attempts to equalize incompatible elements for the sake of synthesis: However, in introducing the notion of Lycoism, Hartal did not want to form a new post-conceptualist splinter-trend. Rather, his intention has been the creation of a new philosophy of art, in which the tearing up of the boundaries between art and science, the interlacement of the intuitive and the exact, the lyrical and the geometrical play a central role (7).
[edit] References
- Paul Hartal, The Brush and the Compass: The Interface Dynamics of Art and Science, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1988, p. V
- Elizabeth Exler, “Paul Hartal: A Manifesto on Lyrical Conceptualism”, Manhattan Arts, New York, November-December 1992, p. 14
- Paul Hartal, “The songs of the double helix: symmetry and lyrical conceptualism”, in Symmetry 2000 Part 2, edited by I. Hargittai and T.C. Laurent, London: Portland Press, 2002, pp 503-518
- Barbara Costa, “Dell’ ‘aeropittura’ futurista alla ‘Space Art’ “, Epiphaneia/2, Universita degli studi di Salerno, March 1997, pp 38-42
- Paul Hartal, “Homage to a Blue Planet: Aeronautical and Astronomical Artworks”, Leonardo: Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, Volume 25, No 2, 1992, pp 211- 215
- Clifford A. Pickover, Mazes for the Mind, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992, pp. 277-79
- Balint Szombathy, "A lirai konceptualizmus muveszete: Paul Hartal elmeleti-gyakorlati torekvesei" ("The Art of Lyrical Conceptualism: Paul Hartal's Theoretical-Experiential Pursuits"), Uj Forras, Budapest, April 1991, No. 4
