Form is process

                                             Paul Cezanne
                                             Portrait of Ambroise Vollard  1899


If it seems to us today that changes in society happen quickly and unexpectedly, perhaps we ignore (or are unaware of) the stream of events that lead to those changes or “tipping points” as Malcolm Gladwell described them.

Individually we often focus on destinations, solutions or targets; our “conscious” minds judge what is relevant or influential and overlook or disregard "everyday" moments or experiences which, in themselves, lack significance.  What might be described as atomistic thinking sees these moments as forms that appear, then fade and disappear - which they do - to the “conscious” mind.  However, this overlooks their relational potential, either in a straight additive, cumulative sense or as events that mark a tiny shift in perception or state, or as elements that combine to create unexpected or unpredictable "forms" .  These moments or experiences are process and as they occur, they feedback, reiterate, evolve and upscale.

Technology leverages many of our actions today but also distances and disengages us from the physical experience,  perhaps giving us an inaccurate understanding of change. The initial, slight feeling of dislocation we experience on our arrival after an international flight, or the slight shock we experience when we see how quickly a digger can demolish a house seem insignificant in the larger scheme. The destination, solution or target assumes a greater importance as the process of physical engagement recedes.

However, anyone who has engaged with their body in a meaningful way, be it regaining mobility, losing weight, increasing stamina, strength, speed, etc., or in my case, practicing yoga, knows that small steps regularly repeated and reflected upon are the path to authentic change, growth, progress, etc., but it’s not a linear, even process.

It seems to me that the act of painting can make form of this process in a genuine, relational, holistic manner. The small, sometimes infinitesimal, decisions/actions one makes in a painting constantly affect ones previous decisions/actions  and keeps the whole in a state of flux.
There is a story about the painter Paul Cezanne, who was vexed with the painting of a particular colour on the shirt front of a portrait of his dealer,  Ambroise Vollard. The model saw no issue and suggested he merely change it. Cezanne responded that he would then have to change the adjacent colour and then the one next to that and so on…repainting the whole picture. 
Cezanne said -
“Everything we see falls apart, vanishes. Nature is always the same, but nothing in her that appears to us, lasts. Our art must render the thrill of her permanence along with her elements, the appearance of all her changes. It must give us the taste of her eternity.
Time and reflection... modify, little by little, our vision, and at last comprehension comes to us”.

Even when “finished”, the painting is not the destination, solution or target, but is simutlaneously process and part of the process, which is akin to the Sufi proverb “Everyone knows that the drop merges into the ocean. Few realise that the ocean also merges into the drop”