Neo neo expressionist?

In the search for my own intrinsic artistic voice, I've noticed some consistent themes throughout my life. 

In particular, the figure and drawing the figure has been primary for me since I first began drawing. Since college, the work of Egon Schiele has been something I have constantly referred to and been drawn back to. I've studied and been enamored of many other artists, but I always goes back to Schiele.

I'd never really thought of his work in context though. It was always timeless to me and always seemed contemporary, even though most of it's a hundred years old. Though, I've taken an interest in digging deeper and it seems to be the consensus that Schiele was considered an Expressionist. Which somehow seems to be in tune with my own sensibilities.

But can I be relevant as an expressionist? A movement long since considered avante garde? Well, perhaps so given the revival during the '80s with Neo Expressionism (New Painting). This revival would seem to indicate that it is a strain of art that may continue to live. So, does that make me a neo neo expressionist? I don't think I have enough clout or a significant enough body of work for anyone to start a movement, but it seems like an interesting direction to go in. 

intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the artist

It's been a little bit since graduation and I've been able to distance myself from what I was doing then and trying to find my own artistic direction.


With a big influence from Csikszentmihalyi, I have been trying to determine those elements of my art which are intrinsic and those that are extrinsic. I really don't think being one way or the other makes an artist successful or results in better art on it's own. Though, I believe that the approach aught to be integrated with the personality of the artist. 


On second thought, I think better art tends to come from artists who are intrinsically motivated. Monet comes to mind, in that I believe a lot of his production was motivated by the art market. He did after all, need to maintain the trappings of a bourgeois lifestyle. Though his best art in my opinion was intrinsically motivated. Like his series of late pond paintings and his light studies.


Perhaps this is because when extrinsically motivated, an artist tries to appeal to an audience who tend to not have the same taste level as the artist. Though, when intrinsically motivated, the artist must meet his / her own standards, which tend to be more refined than the general art buying public.

Jesuit Examen of Conscience

The Secrets of Jesuit Leadership

Jesuit Examen of Conscience

Examination of conscience

Examen of Conscience blog post

Of the Examen of Conscience by Alphonsus Rodriguez

http://myhabits.net/examen

http://norprov.org/spirituality/ignatianprayer.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Jesus

The test of conscience is mentioned in Flow. It's sort of like something I started doing on my own not too long ago in order to keep myself focused on my goals and make daily progress towards realizing them. So I was intrigued when I read that the Jesuits had a similar ritual. The "Jesuit Examen of Conscience" is well developed and quite poetic and I plan to incorporate some of the ideas into my own practice.

I don't know much about the Jesuits, but I've often heard them mentioned and well respected especially as educators. For example, the great Vince Lombardi was Jesuit educated. I remember watching the McLaughlin Group one time and Eleanor Clift payed Patrick Buchanan a complement and referred to his Jesuit education.

Flow and making order from chaos

I've been reading Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and am finding it frankly, quite life changing.

I'm just about done, I skipped a couple chapters that I plan on going back to finish, and I've read through the end of it. As a sort of note to myself and to anyone else who has read the book, it seems like a big point of the book is that life is largely about making order out of chaos.

That the work of humankind is to create order out of chaos. Making order from the chaos of the physical / natural world say, in the form of cities. Making order from the chaos of life's meaningless in the form of philosophy, literature. This applies to music, painting, dance, etc.

That many psychological disorders perhaps stem from this inability to make order from chaos. That by making order from the chaos, one can achieve psychological balance.

Now, I write all this with Csikszantmihalyi's praise of and warnings for the amateur. I am not a trained or professional philosopher or psychologist. At best, I am a dilettante.