“Uncertainty is a great blessing, if you can flow with it. If you’re stuck on your determination… on your outcome… then uncertainty doesn’t have a chance and miracles can’t happen”. – Jonas Gerard
Every traveler at some point learns the lesson that the most enjoyable trips tend to be the ones where the final destination is loose, and there are no timetables or agendas binding us… where a back road side-trip leads to the discovery of a fabulous waterfall or mountain vista. When you learn to flow with that level of freedom, the shift you create in yourself opens the door to discovery.
Jonas’ art explores the lessons of uncertainty. His recent work with silks and dyes in particular involved an unprecedented degree of letting go of planned outcomes. When working with the liquid colors he has become a master not of controlling them, but in finding the beauty hidden in them when they meet the silk.
His recent Fluid Poetry series is another example. Taking the courageous leap to paint without brushes, these acrylic paintings were created with fluid acrylics in squeeze bottles and watered-down acrylic paint poured onto the canvas. They are shining examples of the freedom in which they were born.
The creative spirit can’t survive for long when nailed down. This serendipity… this embracing of uncertainty is the essence of creativity.
When a musician improvises, particularly with other musicians, this in-the-moment jump into the flow, into uncertainty, results in some of the best moments in music.
These moments are not just limited to jazz. Classical music has a long history of improvisation stretching all the way back to Bach and beyond. The French musical impressionist Claude Debussy strove for “music whose form was so free as to seem improvised” and the writer George Sand spoke of Chopin’s compositions as being “but a pale shadow of his improvisations”.
Even far-flung fields like quantum physics are embracing aspects of this. Since Heisenberg stated his Uncertainty Principle in the 20’s, physicists have been coming to terms with uncertainty as a key to further understanding the nature of the universe.
With his silk series behind him (for now) Jonas has moved on to new explorations. Again, as he approaches painting from a place of uncertainty… of no fixed outcome, the “miracles” that result are those that come from fearlessness. Not being afraid to try a new color… to take an untried road… to play a new chord… not worrying about the result is the key to discovering the multitude of miracles along the way, hidden in the process. Keep watching for these new gems.
“The only thing I desire is to experience the joy of making art, and when the joy happens, everything else falls into place all by itself… and not to be afraid, because to love is about fearlessness”. – Jonas Gerard
Video by Keresey Proctor : Additional music by River Guerguerian
