Merel Thijs

On the colours of being: onto-teleological considerations on the artistic-creative process

This paper develops a philosophical conceptualisation of the artistic-creative process, drawing on painting practices and painters’ writings within traditions such as Western abstract expressionism and classical Chinese landscape painting. It approaches artistic creation as a process grounded in a state of not-knowing. An openness that invites the unknown and allows for the emergence of form and meaning. The analysis engages with a range of philosophical and mystical traditions, including classical Chinese philosophy, Sufism, and Christian mysticism, in order to articulate a set of key concepts - emanation, absorption, emergence, and emancipation - that structure artistic becoming. Through a philosophical reading of painters’ writings (including Bazaine, Cezanne, Verdier, Shitao and others), the paper argues that the artistic process carries an inherent ethical dimension, understood as a moral necessity embedded within creation itself. Within this framework, creative activity is understood as a process of becoming in which the invisible becomes visible, and the imageless image comes into actuality. Colour and form arise in precise relational moments, while matter (canvas, ink, pigment, and paper), light and colour constitute an existential condition of artistic emergence. The hand participates in a continuous movement of giving and receiving, within which movement itself becomes formative and harmonising. The paper ultimately proposes the concept of inner resonance as a way of understanding relationality within the artistic process, wherein perception and creation continuously shape and transform one another. In this sense, the artistic-creative process can be understood as a science of life: a disciplined yet spontaneous attunement to the relational field in which being human unfolds, where ink flows onto paper, breath moves through form, and life becomes materially and sensibly expressed.

With closed eyes open: portraits of the mind unwinding

Seeing and experiencing beauty is a deeply human capacity, yet in contemporary society it is often overshadowed by war, consumerism, and the complexities of daily life. Beauty invites us to move beyond the ordinary and make space for silence, attention, and presence.

I am moved by sensitive care practices: a shared gaze, a gentle touch, an awareness of movement, light, and atmosphere. Care transforms when people are not only caring for others but also practising being human. As a painter, I have learned to look with “closed eyes open” - a way of seeing that joins inner and outer worlds without judgment, attending simply to what is present here and now.

During an artist residency in a care home for older adults, I propose to create a series of portraits conceived as abstract landscapes of the mind. Rather than representing age, dementia, or cognitive ability, these works emerge from attentive observation and seek to express the ever-changing movement of life through abstract lines, colours, and forms. Each portrait arises from a unique encounter while transcending the personal through abstraction.

In this way, artistic practice becomes an ethical practice: articulating what cannot easily be spoken. Art creates understanding through presence rather than knowledge, affirming dignity and opening alternative ways of communicating life itself.