To end the year, and second decade...

At the end of the Conclusion to The Art Theory of Wassily Kandinsky, 1909 - 1928: The Quest for Synthesis, I wrote:

The concepts of unity and synthesis as Kandinsky developed them were not reductive, but instead allowed for diversity and contradiction. As he develops them, they are complex, even unstable concepts. They allow the artist no easy or simple alignment with particular perspectives on the world. Theosophy appears in his writings, and its imagery appears in his paintings, but it appears and disappears, always subject to review. The same is true of ethnography, symbolism, Christianity, mathematics, psychology, and of any other perspective that has been used to open his works to understanding. They stand beside all other contexts and influences at play in Kandinsky’s work, compete for importance, battle for attention. And some are more important than others. None, though, is the ‘key’ to understanding his work. To think such a thought is to be completely at odds with Kandinsky’s world-view, in which (again): ‘there exist no “specialized” questions, to be identified or solved in isolation, since in the end, everything is interconnected, interdependent.’  At the beginning of the 21st century, following a century of exploitation and destruction, I believe people are once again beginning to realize the truth of this world-view.

There's no doubt that we need to recognise the interconnectedness of all things. But since I wrote that (2010) we've seen a rise in shallow nationalisms through major economies of the world. Inward-looking, protective, uncooperative relations between 'leading' nations. 

While some people are calling attention to the role of the climate and our relationship to nature in the current and looming disasters around the globe, still our governments seem reluctant to do anything but the minimum - or less - to redress the situation. The economy, production of useless commodities, submersion of people in a shallow, materialist mindset, proliferation of misinformation, propaganda and lies. Doesn't look good, does it? 

Each action we take is like the beat of a butterfly's wings. It can create a hurricane, or it might just bring peace and calm. 

Written about New Year, 2021.