There are two main ways of working towards a goal: working with the end result in mind or pouring your heart and soul into the process itself. Process-oriented people focus on the path you take to get to a particular goal while those who are results-oriented focus on the final product.
Visualizing the Differences
When it comes to art, these two methods lead to very different creations. While many artists put brush to canvas with a clear goal in mind, Jonas Gerard feels out his work as it’s happening. He focuses on his inner feelings and lets his heart dictate where his brush moves. As he paints, Jonas is releasing his passion onto the canvas.
His painting is spontaneous and often begins with seemingly random brush strokes in an unpredictable, intuitive manner. The result is colorful, eye-catching art that may or may not take a clear form. By contrast, if someone were to paint a landscape or still life, they would be goal-oriented, with every step of their painting process taking them closer to their chosen image.
Process-Oriented Art and Abstract Expressionism
Process-oriented art largely took form in the 1940s and 1950s with the abstract expressionism movement. Artists like Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko were at the forefront of this movement, offering unique art birthed from their unconscious mind. Much of Jonas Gerard’s art takes the form of abstract expressionism.
Within the abstract expressionist movement are two broad groupings: action painters and color field painters. Action painters, including Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, used expressive brush strokes to create sweeping gestural marks. Action painters often creatively and dynamically move around their canvas, using their inner impulses to create their art.
The color field painters took a different approach to abstract expressionism. Their compositions were usually simple and used large areas of color to invoke contemplative responses from the viewer. Many of these painters, including Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Barnett Newman were deeply interested in myth and religion and used this to inform the types of painting they were doing.
Benefits of Process-Oriented Approaches
Start by looking at some ways in which a process-oriented approach can be better than a goal-oriented one. If you are working towards an objective but cannot reach it, you may feel like a failure if you have a goal-oriented approach. If, however, you are process-oriented, it’s not the end result that brings you satisfaction but the journey to get there.
With a process-oriented approach, Jonas Gerard is also able to feel free, spontaneous, and expressive. Painting spontaneously from one’s inner self can induce feelings of relaxation, creativity, and pure imaginative creation. Jonas believes being complete with the painting is being complete with yourself, and that both are an ending and a beginning!
Jonas Gerard believes that more people should take a process-oriented approach to life, not just art. Learn to enjoy the journey and the stops along the way and be unencumbered in your art and in your life.
Jonas Gerard 