THE LOSS OF VISION IN VISIONARY ART

Visionary Art is defined as "art that purports to transcend the physical world and portray a wider vision of awareness". The term was coined in 1933 by the Swiss Psychotherapist Carl G. Jung in his early work entitled "A Modern Man Searching for a Soul." In this work, Jung explored many themes that Visionary Art currently examines. This includes spirituality, shamanism and human archetypes.

Modern Visionary Art as it is know today was shaped by the Vienna and New York Masters, and has also been influenced by Artists such as Salvador Dali, Ernst Fuchs and Hieronymus Bosch. Visionary Art has been thrust in to the spotlight in the last decade due to Alex Grey and his highly marketable work and partnerships with high profile musicians such as Tool. Greys Gallery, COSM has become a school and gathering place for all things related to the contemporary Visionary movement.

Self Portrait by Erst Fuchs

The Visionary Art market is fueled by the festival and arts scene, and is growing at an exponential rate. Every year new artists come out of the woodwork and live paint at festivals and gatherings all over the world. Though the scene is still generally underground for the most part, there are cities where it flourishes. In the US, Colorado is one of the largest hubs the movement. California, Austin TX and Portland OR also have large hubs of Visionary Art and Galleries supporting it.

As the Visionary Art movement grows, more and more art gets produced. With this comes the debacle of originality and meaning. In my opinion, the Visionary Art market is currently flooded with tired ideas, sloppily executed work, recycled themes as well as a general lack of innovation. There is some highly skilled incredibly original work out there are well. For the most part, much of what I see is lacking. I understand that as artists and entrepreneurs, we have brands to maintain. In this 21st century art market no artist is simply an artist. We all have business to take care of.

Fawkes by Randal Roberts

Visionary Art "captures the intangible", with its VISION. A vision is an idea. A groundbreaking, limits challenging, personally individually externalized creation. Visionary Artists, WHY NOT push the envelope? Why play it safe with rainbows and spirit animals? Because it sells well? If that's so, then your art is not driven by a Vision, its driven by money and the art is complacent. Don't get me wrong, money is not a bad thing. We all have to eat.  Don't sacrifice your Vision for money or complacent work. Art is forever evolving, and if you are over there creating the same stuff you have been creating because it sells well, you are basically making yourself redundant.

What I see it is that Visionary Art and its interrelated sub-genres as well as the culture built around it are shaping up to be the next great cultural movement. I believe the complacency and lack of Vision is what is holding this movement back from realizing its full potential. The idea of Visionary Art is very broad and allows for many interpretations. We are well in to the 21st Century and there are many issues that are not being presented to challenge ourselves or the public. Visionary Art is the future of art.

To conclude, Visionary Art has been used to portray many wonderful ideas for sometime. Since the commercialization of the style via Alex Grey and COSM much of the art coming from the movement has been repetitive, and is not challenging. Visionary Art requires a Vision first and foremost. The lack of Vision, in my opinion, is why the Visionary movement has not taken hold, nor taken its place as the "Next great cultural movement" in History.