How would you define “intelligence”? Are you intelligent? Make sure you get the first answer right before you answer the
second one. The definition of ‘intelligence’ is the ability to think in abstract thought. We measure intelligence with a
quotient. The higher the ability to think in the abstract the higher the intelligence quotient.
I perform what I like to call “Whole Brain Painting”. This approach requires the stimulation and active participation of the
four main quadrants of the brain. Many people are familiar with “right-brained” and “left-brained” terminology. There are
actually four main quadrants I need to focus on and stimulate in order to make a painting that is understood and
appreciated by the most advance thinkers of our time.
Right Brain Stimulation
Quadrant One – Emotional Intelligence
Many abstract artists create primarily through the stimulation of their emotional intelligence. Like Jackson Pollack and
others of his genre, that was the whole point of their art. They want people to know how they feel or they want people to feel
a certain way when they see their works. Fine. No problem with that, in fact I make sure I stimulate my emotional
intelligence in each painting I do. I’ll purposefully listen to certain music or have a drink or two to stimulate a particular
emotional element. The usual suspects - happy, wistful, sad, angry, but mostly happy.
Quadrant Two – Innovator Intelligence
This part of the brain is the innovative, risk taking, creative quadrant. It is responsible for gambling, testing yourself,
experimentation. It’s what makes you go out on that limb. I like to stimulate this quadrant by using live models or painting
while traveling on a flatbed truck or working from different distances from the canvas. It is this quadrant that makes me select
unorthodox painting implement such as ice axes, gun barrels, sea shells and pendulums.
Left Brain Stimulation
Quadrant Three – Judgmental Intelligence
Here comes the judge! This quadrant is the brakes on the runaway train. It is responsible for the planning and organizing. It
sets boundaries. It makes sure you get things done. Like many paintings, especially commissioned, I like to know where it
will hang, what does the room look like, what are the light elements, colors, are there windows? Who will be viewing this
painting? What is the motivation for it? What is it supposed to evoke? I need to know about temperature, humidity,
viscosity, physical properties and plan and mitigate for changes to any of these variables. Finding out these answers allows
me to set constraints and boundaries that will define what colors, sizes and styles I will paint in. If I whip up the variables
that take play in right side of my brain into a frenzy, this quadrant will have made sure that the werewolf was locked in the
cage before the full moon.
Quadrant Four – Analytical Logical Intelligence
This is, ironically, the quadrant that I use to evoke emotions in my fans. The cold hard analytical nature of the way I design
my paintings are as advanced as anything today. The understanding of the physiology of the human brain gives me an
advantage in this arena. I know I have succeeded when a highly intelligent fan makes the statement “I can’t put my finger
on why I love this painting but I do.” I’m not going to give away my trade secrets here but I will let you glimpse into two
different variables that I manipulate.
- Color Wavelengths – each color that we see gives off its own wavelength at its own unique frequency. This is why
there are so many of different shades of color registered at the patent office. Each color is unique in wavelength
and the holders of those patents want you to associate that particular color with them only. When the wavelengths
of these colors hits the rods and cones of the human eye, that human can distinguish, even at a sub- or unconscious
level the difference. If you look at a human brain under an MRI while looking at these different colors you see that
different synapses, neurons and dendrites are firing off. This all stems from the days when humans needed to know,
in a split second, what that moving brown tuft of fur belonged to. Was it a grizzly bear? Coyote? Rabbit? Mouse?
We do the same with touch, smells, taste and sounds. In a room full of crying babies you can tell which one is yours.
Using spectral analysis I have created works that aggregates wavelengths to mock the wavelengths of other colors at
certain distances. This is totally different then mixing or blending. When, for example, someone walks into the
gallery and sees on the far rear wall the giant paintings of a beautiful pink heart and the big yellow smiley face.
Then as they get closer to the paintings they realize that those paintings do not contain a drop of pink or yellow.
Action Painting – a second variable that is manipulated is the splatters themselves. I make painstaking calculations
to determine the type of splat that will be created. This stems back to viscosity, humidity, and other factors such as
drying times between layers. Anyone who watches me also recognizes the fractal patterns I use when painting.
These are all calculated prior to the painting. When you look at someone view one of my paintings you will see
their eyes dart from one splat to another to another. They are actually following the direction, speed and force of
the painting. It is as if they are there watching the paint being applied. That’s why it’s called “Action Painting”.
From using this whole brain painting approach I create works that stimulate the viewers whole brain. I think...
Peace,
Billy Splatts!
