Breaking the pattern: spirituality and abstract paintings by Alvar Gullichsen

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Having no training in visual arts, I hesitate to analyze paintings, modern ones in particular. However, I came across artworks that unpredictably opened a spiritual view that I decided to share in this post.

Alvar Gullichsen (b.1961) is a Finnish artist, who has formerly been celebrated for his cartoon-like works (such as Disney-influenced "Posankka") and the imaginary engines of Bonk Factory. Lately, he has been fascinated in geometrical patterns that create a three-dimensional ambiance that seems to surround the beholder.  Gullichsen acknowledges that he surveys mystical philosophy and is interested in spiritual traditions.

As a theologian I immediately asked: what kind of spirituality is involved in these abstract paintings? What is the message they convey? The first paintings were technically excellent, they created an illusion of being part of the universe that the painting contained. One felt to be inside a huge, round tube, for instance, Recurrent geometrical patterns illustrated mathematical beauty. If this is a spiritual view, it is something of harmony of the spheres, the eternal beauty of numbers or numerical ratios. Yet this kind of spirituality is somehow cold and lifeless. Very impressive and awe-inspiring, though.

That is, however, not the whole story. The newest paintings, headed "Dissolving Patterns", show another kind of beauty. In the background there appears a living landscape, something not belonging to the holy structure of geometrical figures. Ultimately the abstract patterns flow into the landscape. "Dissolving patterns" seem to yield to the beauty of living nature. 

The spiritual lesson was, for me at least, that true spirituality is open to the world. Strict patterns exemplify a rigid religious conviction, that is probably the lot of most of us, who endeavor to think about God seriously. It cannot be avoided, but it must be superseded. Our theologies may seem intellectually and morally satisfying at least provisionally, but when all is said and done, they do not save us.

Oswald Chambers would perhaps have said that your religious principles are the first thing you must throw away if you want to follow Christ.

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