Jan Astner – SYNESTHETIC GARDEN – multi-sensual reception of painting

Synesthetic Gardens – multi-sensual reception of painting

By perceiving the world with senses, a person can easily distinguish sounds from smells or images. Sometimes the information provided by different senses becomes unusually combined. This is called synesthesia. Synesthesia is a state or ability in which the experiences of one sense are also evoked by experiences characteristic of other senses. You can „see” sounds, „feel” colors, touch „smells”. Images from this series are pretexts for a personal interpretation of the world of the senses. Synesthetic metaphors suggest the viewer’s imagination to associate with other senses in an involuntary and unstaged way. The artist arranges a multi-sensual reception of painting.

In SYNESTHETIC GARDENS, Jan Astner proposes a search for a multi sensual perception of painting, an unusual perception of reality through the senses. He urges us to focus on our feelings and ask ourselves abstract questions. Do we associate the taste with specific colors? What flavors are associated with the image? What sounds come to mind? What is the texture of the painting associated with? Synesthesia is a unique and rare ability. Scientists say that one can develop synesthetic feelings.

Synesthetic metaphors in the paintings of Jan Astner

A fascinating alliance of perception and feeling is created with the elusive lightness of symbolist suggestion. The author studies indirect relationships between the form (color, shape, texture) and its extrasensory reference. The cognitive threshold here is Nature, imagined as an abstract garden. By regarding a picture, the viewer can enter the path of individual interpretation, evoke new associations or emotional memories. The multi-sensual perception of painting is to be involuntary, it is to result from concentration and focus.

Astner recommends viewing images closely, looking at its selected elements. The goal is to intensify the sensual perception of the image. Jan Astner’s paintings are not so much about the decorative form of the works, as they are about stimulating the senses. Jan proposes a new formula for the reception of art based on the multi-sensual reception of painting. He proposes to go beyond the existing conventions of sensual feeling.