Spiritual reciprocity is the hope of art. It is the hope that is set against the utterly disconsolate surrender to the pronouncement that we are isolated; that we are, above all things, alone.

 

The 20th Century has delivered us to the 21st century as disappointed, marginalized and skeptical anti – realists. Accordingly, notions such as good and bad, worth, value, community and reality have been discarded. We are left wandering with at least one eye closed, looking for meaning wherever and however we might, while simultaneously trying to not disturb the miasma of popular nihilism surrounding us. This renders us a dispirited and disparate people, cloistered in our refutations, very nearly unaware of our condition.

 

We have a powerful urge to belong (defined here as the need for strong stable relationships with other people), and it is not eradicated by the intellectual denial of belongingness. Barred from meeting this necessity through fostering relationships, we look for our fulfillment materially. Unfortunately, this only serves to feed our growing sense of isolation, which in turn spurs us to amass more and more things. All too quickly, we become subjugated to our possessions and unwittingly exchange belonging to each other for belonging to our things. This cycle rolls along and one day we become aware that we are and have been, in the midst of our plenty, alone.

 

Happily, we are not relegated to this state permanently.

 

Art allows us to meet each other across all conceivable boundaries, connect, and share thoughts, feelings, and ideas. It provides us with an unceasing means of realization and growth. We discover that we are, in fact, not alone at all, but rather are linked and joined in a manner far more complex and edifying than we imagined.

 

In my drawing, I am attempting to generate a quiet space. I want to engender stillness and receptiveness in the hope that it may offer the viewer a respite from the grind, a reminder of the world beyond property. I want to encourage a riciprocal spiritual relationship between the viewer and an other. I would rather the viewer not limit this relationship to my work or to me. No, better, I think, that he or she goes further and looks to the things- beyond-the-walls encountered daily in life and asks not for an answer, but rather a response, a connection. I intend for my work to affirm existence- to reiterate the contention that there is a reality, it is significant, and we are a part of it.

 

Adrian Haak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 2009