Perceptualism

Perceptualism is a term I coined in 1993 to describe my paintings. I started to do Perceptualist work before I became
aware of the "Magic-Eye" digitized images. My work is related to the computerized "Magic-Eye" art only in the way that
perception is altered -my approach and technique are otherwise totally different. The layering of images comes directly
from Cave Art and it is a technique I have used since 1961.

My current work is post-modernist in approach. It is a mixture of various stylistic tendencies derived from, Folk Art,
Cubism, Realism, Expressionism, Impressionism, Hard-Edge Painting, Pop Art, Futurism, and most significantly,
Surrealism, Optical Art and Pre-historic Art. The Surrealistic tendencies are present in the manner I pictorially treat
various Mesoamerican themes such as Quetzalcoatl (the feathered serpent), Mayahuel (the goddess of the Maguey
plant), and the Nagual (a shaman).

The nagual in Mexican folklore is a prominent character. Curanderos(as), medicine men/women, are usually the ones
who become Naguales after an intense and long apprenticeship to a nagual. Carlos Castaneda made "nagual" a
household word at the time the new age movement started to evolve here in the States. Castaneda's descriptions of the
teachings of Don Juan Matus (a Yaqui Indian from Mexico) influenced my work. I have read all of Castaneda's books,
but, the most important ones which helped me lay down the foundation of my Perceptualist theories are: "The Art of
Dreaming", "A Separate Reality", and "The Fire from Within".

Don Juan's teachings are geared towards being able to perceive other realities. It is in this spirit that I paint my current
work, so that viewers can let go of their conditioned points of view which create their everyday reality. I see Perceptualist
paintings as being Mandalas, graphic mystic/ spiritual symbols used chiefly in Hinduism and Buddhism as an aid to
meditation. Colorful designs and symbols have also been used in a similar way by Native American shamans and others
whose background is directly linked to the pre-Columbian past.

During the nineteenth century, the Czech physiologist, Johannes E. Purkinje, began to study and classify the optical
phenomena of afterimages. These studies were crucial to the development of Optical Art in the twentieth century. In my
works, the influences of Optical Art (such as color vibration and complementary or negative afterimages) come into play
when the viewers' perceptions start to disintegrate, as the images they perceive begin to flutter, vibrate, and shift
configurations, as if transforming themselves from one reality into another, just as the nagual is described as being
capable of doing. Here, the psychology of the individual viewer plays a big role in determining and questioning what it is
that is being looked at. Thus the viewer becomes an active participant in creating a unique and personal aesthetic
experience.

The way to achieve this is to ask the viewers to stare, for 30 seconds or more, while focusing their eyes on a certain spot
in the painting. This is usually the pupil of an eye which simultaneously may belong to various creatures. What happens
is that the viewer starts to lose the painted subject because of eye fatigue, the persistence of vision, and the way colors
and contrasts are being used in relation to color theory and Op Art. When this occurs, a perceptual movement begins to
take place so that the surface of the painting appears to vibrate, fluctuate, and change. Then, if viewing time is
increased, the subject matter starts to disappear as it seems to dissolve and transform itself beyond recognition into an
energy field.

The Impressionists created a climax in art when they treated light as the primal motive in their painting. Light to them was
the most important element and essence of their universe. Don Juan's teachings tell us that energy is the essence of the
universe. I want viewers to come to this realization when they look at and experience my paintings as energy fields. This
provides the space for perception to become both the medium and the art form.

The reason why I call what I am doing Perceptualism is because my paintings are literally at the mercy of the viewers'
perception. They are the ones who create with their own imagination and psyche what it is they believe they are seeing. I
just provide them with a "Rorschach inkblot" to look at.

To summarize what occurs in Perceptualism, there are four stages, as follows:

1. The pictorial turmoil draws the viewers in to decipher the puzzle of superimposed and juxtaposed images. The public
may choose to make sense of what it is they are looking at or flatly reject the confrontation and visual invitation to
participate.

2. The viewer focuses his/her attention on the pupil of an eye in a painting for 30 seconds or more. This is followed by an
apparent oscillation or vibration of the pictorial surface, creating a change as if the viewer were experiencing actual
movement.
This is also the stage of peripheralism, where viewers can play with choosing to see certain configurations in the
peripheral field and bring them more into their awareness without changing the focal point.

It is also at this point, that the viewers can ask themselves (while continuing to focus on the central point of the eye) to
see the "yellow system" of lines or the blue, green, etc. As they do this, the color they are asking themselves to see,
"jumps" out from the others and gets noticed more.

3. Beyond the thirty second mark of focusing, the viewers (depending on their level of perceptual awareness) can alter
the colors of the painting by swaying their body back and forth. For this to occur, you have to move your head within a
distance of at least two feet. You can also get the same effect by quickly walking back and forth while maintaining your
focus on the spot of the painting.

4. After prolonged viewing (beyond 60 seconds) the images start to disappear or do metamorphic changes in a surreal
and/or abstract way. At this point the viewer may begin to perceive a blackout, whiteout, or a field of active energy. By
this final stage the viewer has experienced Perceptualism.

Mario E. Castillo
Associate Professor of Art
Columbia College Chicago