The Vanishing Point

Photo of a one-quarter life-size partial female figure in bronze with an exposed interior structure by Blake Ward Blake Sculpture

Translating a solipsistic view of life into empathy is what makes a child’s world so magical.

Intersecting the projections of new and jaded information and with any luck as a result, an adult with a pure and kind heart.

While being to a great extent self-absorbed, children see wonder in everything out there.

A box is as important, as interesting, as the contents it may contain.

In fact, it isn’t until they hear the grown ups repeatedly calling the box ‘trash’ and the contents ‘a toy’ that the child’s innate neophilia begins to wane.

We teach them to lose their sense of wonder and inhibit their instinctual intelligence.

Artists are the lucky exceptions to this sad road to cynicism.

Can adults really see or have they been so tragically polluted by their pre-conceived notions that they have been blinded?

Often we see what we expect to see.

This explains why two people can share an experience and yet have two completely different versions of the event.

I suppose it is a question of what one choses to focus on.

What is important?

What will we notice and what will we ignore?

Selective focus can blind us.

In appreciating a work of art, the same principle applies.

What is important to me versus what is important to you will yield two totally different impressions of the work of art in question.

In fact, this is one of those magical things about the spirit collection.

Each Angel, each Ushabti Angel and each Phantom is different from the next.

Their inner structures, like ours, are all different.

Upon viewing them, they call out to us and we will recognize the one that is most familiar and that’s the one we will understand and treasure the most.

Certainly we can’t notice it all, but if one was to become aware of how little we do see, then perhaps we would not only regain that sense of wonder about our lives but live deeper and richer moments, and take less things for granted.

It always amazes me when I test myself on the visual details regarding a social interchange I may have just been a part of. If it had been a crime, how much would I remember?

Could I provide an accurate the facial description?

It sounds silly, but try it.

It shows how little we actually see.

Another good test is taking a walk alone and then taking the same walk with a small child.

The second walk won’t be restricted by our expectations.

We might, just maybe regain that sense of awe that we had when we first investigated and played with that extremely cool ‘box’!

Art grants the ability to see and as a consequence feel something more than just a blur in our high-speed existence.

The vanishing point is yours.

Written by Boky Hackel