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THE "BLAZE ART" by Natalie Batisheva

Of the three paths that lead

to an understanding of the world -

the movement from the known to the known,

the movement from the known to the unknown,

and the movement from the unknown to the unknown-

it is the movement from the unknown to the unknown that

describes the higher consciousness that realizes itself in spiritual art.

To "blaze" means to cut through in order to create a new trail, or to indicate a way with trail markers.

It is by no means a common event, in the history of painting, to come across an artist who presents us with a completely new way of conceptualizing the world: someone who finds new approaches to form and space, new ways of harmonizing color, who even sees new vibrations of light. What lies before you now, however, is just such an artistic and spiritual event. To fully understand requires engaging all those reserves of spiritual energy and deep intuition which live
and develop within every one of us.

Artist throughout the ages have attempted to master the world by following the “evolutionary
wave” of human development. Here the main goal is always to study the qualities and laws of the solid, physical world. Note that there are no hidden negative connotations to my use of the word ”involutionary.” It simply points to the process whereby spirit enters into the world of dense matter in order to study its qualities so as to direct them. The vast majority of artists belong to precisely this evolutionary wave: their names (which are many) adom the pages of the entire history of art. They have done their job with care, and in good time.

All this activity would have created a very tidy, balanced and harmonious situation in the history of art were it not for the appearance, from time to time, of people who just do not fit in - those
artists who, from the aesthetic and intellectual perspectives of their day, appear to be almost misfits. These strange loners bring to the cultures in which they live new ways of conceiving of beauty, and one of the most important aspects of their new aesthetic is always its resistance to the dense, downward pulling force of gravity, its de-materialization of the material world. Such artists represent what is know in philosophy as the evolutionary trend, and though it follows its own separate, parallel trajectory, it is nonetheless the necessary counterpart to the involutionary wave. These are the painters who, like mirrors, reflect the evolutionary progress of mankind, who serve as counterweights to the involutionary tendencies within art. Calling the viewer back from the world of dense, brute matter, they return him to the sources of existence, to those finer vibrations which form the which form the foundation of the solid shapes we see.

Among the most important achievements and distinguishing characteristics of these artists and loners is their ability to disclose spiritual light. This light dissolves seemingly impenetrable matter and bears within itself an incredible formative and creative energy. One sees this spectacular light in, at times, the works of some Egyptian artists, in certain masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci, El Greco, Rembrandt, and in the finest landscapes of Turner and Claude Monet. Other representatives of the trend include the Swiss artist Paul Klee, the Russian painter Pavel Filonov, the Lithuania artist Michaelius Ciurlionis, and a handful of other great masters who have experienced the gift of spiritual insight for a moment, while at the height of their artistic development.

The twentieth century has been unique in its free-wheeling and detached attitude toward form. This, for the first time, has given rise to the birth of artists who are wholly independent of the traditional, societally - imposed, and harsh aesthetic grid. Artists were finally freed from the narrow tradition of visual aesthetics which had imposed its rules on artists over thousands of years. The Aquarian Age, having acquired new spiritual possibilities, finally allowed them to not only envision various kinds of space, but also to peek behind the heavy veil which had always, in centuries past, defined the borders between garden-variety "sight" and true clairvoyance, between the physical world and the subtle, parallel worlds.

Three 20th century masters in particular played here a crucial role: Paul Klee, the Russian artist Pavel Filonov, and the Lithuanian Michaelius Ciurlionis. To this list should be added the work of Natalie Batisheva, a master who still today, at the turn of the second and third millennia, tells her tale of subtle worlds with unfamiliar harmonies and strange vibrations, of places endowed with their own charming (though quite peculiar) warmth.

Natalie batiste was born on 18 April 1958, in the Russian city of Peterhoff which is located not far from Leningrad. By one of those whimsical decisions of fate it so happened that the home in which she grew up was on the territory of the Czars' Summer Palace in Peterhoff. Her family's apartment was in the Farmer's Palace, forming part of the ensemble of buildings that adorn Alexandria Park. Here were dachas that had belonged to Czars, rooms and buildings of incredible refinement and taste, sculpture gardens, fountains... These inimitably beautiful grounds at Peterhoff, together with the harsh winter wind blowing off the Baltic Sea, deeply influenced her spiritual development. In 1963 Natalie moved to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) where she spent the next ten years studying classical music, focusing in particular on the works of Johan Sebastian Bach. In 1978, she became acquainted with Allen Tager, one of the leaders of the Leningrad artistic underground, at which point her birth and development as a painter begins. Their artistic and spiritual collaboration has continued to this day - a period of over 26 years.

Throughout the 1980's, Natalie Batishheva's paintings are regularly shown at exhibits of works by members of the St. Petersburg and Moscow artistic underground. In 1990, she emigrates with her family to West Germany, continuing her creative work at Frankfurt am Main. Though she finally settles in the United States in 1995, her art continues to be shown at various exhibits in France, Italy and Germany. In 1993 -1994, her work is displayed at an international graphics exhibit at the world’s largest museum of modern art - the Center George Pompidou, in Paris.

As we all know, there are several different ways of seeking knowledge of the world.

One method, familiar to everyone, is to move from one known thing to another.

A second method, the one used by most scientists and artists, is more complex: it moves from the realm of the known to the unknown.

And then there is the third, least common way of knowledge:
movement from the unknown to the unknown - from mystery to further mystery.

This third path is the one that opens before you right here and now. The path has already been laid out for you, and the way is marked...

My vision of Art.

Intuition is universal, not individual. It is synthetic, not analytical. It is spontaneous and unique, opening access to doors which would forever remain closed to the rational intellect, even if equipped with a stringent logic and a rich erudition . Intuition is not to be confused with instinct – it is above both the animal part of human nature and the individual rational thought.

The latter can form a question, but it is intuition alone which gives the crucial answers. It is important to realize that wisdom and understanding are preferable not only to ignorance, but also to a commodity as highly valued nowadays as knowledge, the amassment of facts. To quote Kandinsky:

“Abstract art derives from the same source as most other art forms: from intuition. […] till today, purely intellectual work, devoid of an intuitive element, has never lead to the birth of living art […] hence [constructivist painters] had to correct the work of their minds by timeless intuitive insights” (Kandinsky 2008, volume 2, 314-316, translation by the author).


While the mind merely reacts, the soul creates. R-e-a-c-t, c-r-e-a-t-e – the words are so similar, but the difference is vast. Contemporary psychological science distinguishes three aspects of the human intellect. Together, they constitute the essence of human nature:
— the base concrete intellect, the so-called „common sense“, directed mostly at surviving. This is what education and psychology mostly deal with;
— the individual intellect, a rational analytical function of an educated person’s mind;
— the intuitive intellect, a direct link to the world of ideas, to the core of philosophy. In the modern age, leading scientists, artists and some politicians have access to this form of thinking.

The overwhelming majority of humans use only the concrete and the individual intellect. This is an achievement in its own right, an integration of the instinctive and the intellectual nature. However, to create what we call genius all three aspects must be integrated. This threefold flow of thought is unruptured; the mind is enraptured by the direct access to the world of sense, opened by the intuitive intellect. This is the key element of genius – the synthesis of all three human thought patterns, including the ultimate one.

Instinct + Intellect + Intuition = The Triple "I".

This equation illustrates how the true, higher self (“I”) manifests itself in this synthesis.
Deep reflection about the laws of life and nature, if conducted with perseverance and not given up when the limitations of the individual intellect have been reached, cannot but open the access to intuition. The greatest minds of today know this. If we are prepared to estrange ourselves from the restrains of traditional mental processes, then this is the new paradigm which allows thinking deeper:

The five senses are but a prelude to the sixth sense – the intellect.

The six senses are but a pedestal to the highest, the seventh sense – the intuition.

My vision of Art.

Intuition is universal, not individual. It is synthetic, not analytical. It is spontaneous and unique, opening access to doors which would forever remain closed to the rational intellect, even if equipped with a stringent logic and a rich erudition . Intuition is not to be confused with instinct – it is above both the animal part of human nature and the individual rational thought.

The latter can form a question, but it is intuition alone which gives the crucial answers. It is important to realize that wisdom and understanding are preferable not only to ignorance, but also to a commodity as highly valued nowadays as knowledge, the amassment of facts. To quote Kandinsky:

“Abstract art derives from the same source as most other art forms: from intuition. […] till today, purely intellectual work, devoid of an intuitive element, has never lead to the birth of living art […] hence [constructivist painters] had to correct the work of their minds by timeless intuitive insights” (Kandinsky 2008, volume 2, 314-316, translation by the author).


While the mind merely reacts, the soul creates. R-e-a-c-t, c-r-e-a-t-e – the words are so similar, but the difference is vast. Contemporary psychological science distinguishes three aspects of the human intellect. Together, they constitute the essence of human nature:
— the base concrete intellect, the so-called „common sense“, directed mostly at surviving. This is what education and psychology mostly deal with;
— the individual intellect, a rational analytical function of an educated person’s mind;
— the intuitive intellect, a direct link to the world of ideas, to the core of philosophy. In the modern age, leading scientists, artists and some politicians have access to this form of thinking.

The overwhelming majority of humans use only the concrete and the individual intellect. This is an achievement in its own right, an integration of the instinctive and the intellectual nature. However, to create what we call genius all three aspects must be integrated. This threefold flow of thought is unruptured; the mind is enraptured by the direct access to the world of sense, opened by the intuitive intellect. This is the key element of genius – the synthesis of all three human thought patterns, including the ultimate one.

Instinct + Intellect + Intuition = The Triple "I".

This equation illustrates how the true, higher self (“I”) manifests itself in this synthesis.
Deep reflection about the laws of life and nature, if conducted with perseverance and not given up when the limitations of the individual intellect have been reached, cannot but open the access to intuition. The greatest minds of today know this. If we are prepared to estrange ourselves from the restrains of traditional mental processes, then this is the new paradigm which allows thinking deeper:

The five senses are but a prelude to the sixth sense – the intellect.

The six senses are but a pedestal to the highest, the seventh sense – the intuition.

My vision of Art.

Intuition is universal, not individual. It is synthetic, not analytical. It is spontaneous and unique, opening access to doors which would forever remain closed to the rational intellect, even if equipped with a stringent logic and a rich erudition . Intuition is not to be confused with instinct – it is above both the animal part of human nature and the individual rational thought.

The latter can form a question, but it is intuition alone which gives the crucial answers. It is important to realize that wisdom and understanding are preferable not only to ignorance, but also to a commodity as highly valued nowadays as knowledge, the amassment of facts. To quote Kandinsky:

“Abstract art derives from the same source as most other art forms: from intuition. […] till today, purely intellectual work, devoid of an intuitive element, has never lead to the birth of living art […] hence [constructivist painters] had to correct the work of their minds by timeless intuitive insights” (Kandinsky 2008, volume 2, 314-316, translation by the author).


While the mind merely reacts, the soul creates. R-e-a-c-t, c-r-e-a-t-e – the words are so similar, but the difference is vast. Contemporary psychological science distinguishes three aspects of the human intellect. Together, they constitute the essence of human nature:
— the base concrete intellect, the so-called „common sense“, directed mostly at surviving. This is what education and psychology mostly deal with;
— the individual intellect, a rational analytical function of an educated person’s mind;
— the intuitive intellect, a direct link to the world of ideas, to the core of philosophy. In the modern age, leading scientists, artists and some politicians have access to this form of thinking.

The overwhelming majority of humans use only the concrete and the individual intellect. This is an achievement in its own right, an integration of the instinctive and the intellectual nature. However, to create what we call genius all three aspects must be integrated. This threefold flow of thought is unruptured; the mind is enraptured by the direct access to the world of sense, opened by the intuitive intellect. This is the key element of genius – the synthesis of all three human thought patterns, including the ultimate one.

Instinct + Intellect + Intuition = The Triple "I".

This equation illustrates how the true, higher self (“I”) manifests itself in this synthesis.
Deep reflection about the laws of life and nature, if conducted with perseverance and not given up when the limitations of the individual intellect have been reached, cannot but open the access to intuition. The greatest minds of today know this. If we are prepared to estrange ourselves from the restrains of traditional mental processes, then this is the new paradigm which allows thinking deeper:

The five senses are but a prelude to the sixth sense – the intellect.

The six senses are but a pedestal to the highest, the seventh sense – the intuition.

My vision of Art.

Intuition is universal, not individual. It is synthetic, not analytical. It is spontaneous and unique, opening access to doors which would forever remain closed to the rational intellect, even if equipped with a stringent logic and a rich erudition . Intuition is not to be confused with instinct – it is above both the animal part of human nature and the individual rational thought.

The latter can form a question, but it is intuition alone which gives the crucial answers. It is important to realize that wisdom and understanding are preferable not only to ignorance, but also to a commodity as highly valued nowadays as knowledge, the amassment of facts. To quote Kandinsky:

“Abstract art derives from the same source as most other art forms: from intuition. […] till today, purely intellectual work, devoid of an intuitive element, has never lead to the birth of living art […] hence [constructivist painters] had to correct the work of their minds by timeless intuitive insights” (Kandinsky 2008, volume 2, 314-316, translation by the author).


While the mind merely reacts, the soul creates. R-e-a-c-t, c-r-e-a-t-e – the words are so similar, but the difference is vast. Contemporary psychological science distinguishes three aspects of the human intellect. Together, they constitute the essence of human nature:
— the base concrete intellect, the so-called „common sense“, directed mostly at surviving. This is what education and psychology mostly deal with;
— the individual intellect, a rational analytical function of an educated person’s mind;
— the intuitive intellect, a direct link to the world of ideas, to the core of philosophy. In the modern age, leading scientists, artists and some politicians have access to this form of thinking.

The overwhelming majority of humans use only the concrete and the individual intellect. This is an achievement in its own right, an integration of the instinctive and the intellectual nature. However, to create what we call genius all three aspects must be integrated. This threefold flow of thought is unruptured; the mind is enraptured by the direct access to the world of sense, opened by the intuitive intellect. This is the key element of genius – the synthesis of all three human thought patterns, including the ultimate one.

Instinct + Intellect + Intuition = The Triple "I".

This equation illustrates how the true, higher self (“I”) manifests itself in this synthesis.
Deep reflection about the laws of life and nature, if conducted with perseverance and not given up when the limitations of the individual intellect have been reached, cannot but open the access to intuition. The greatest minds of today know this. If we are prepared to estrange ourselves from the restrains of traditional mental processes, then this is the new paradigm which allows thinking deeper:

The five senses are but a prelude to the sixth sense – the intellect.

The six senses are but a pedestal to the highest, the seventh sense – the intuition.