Visionary Art - Sounds Cool But What Defines It?

Hey Steemtribe, have you ever come across the term visionary art but wondered what it actually is or what style it describes? Here's a brief essay that hopefully sheds some light on the subject and also gibes you a few examples from myself and other artists.

For way too long society has been stuck living by outdated Newtonian theories which promote that reality is exclusively defined by matter. This 'I believe it when I see it' way of life puts a lot of emphasis on our perception of the outer world and discourages and often ridicules our longing to connect with the mystic, the fantastic and the magical, which is being dismissed by traditional science as unrealistic and childish.

The visionary realm becomes accessible to us when we turn our eyes away from the perceived materialist reality and look inward. By doing this we draw inspiration from our inner visionary realm, which includes everything that makes us who we are on the deepest level. From our hopes and fears to intuition, dreams and glimpses of divine wisdom, when seeing with our inner eye we have a ticket to the infinite. LaoTzu says, the key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.

Visionary art has the potential to open the door to these higher planes and to make parts of the unconscious conscious, thus freeing us from the collective shackles of limitations. Every great idea, may it be a brilliant invention, a fantastic piece of art or a journey to explore the farthest reaches of our galaxy, starts from within. Everything material starts with the immaterial, that's how it's always been and forever will be because it's divine truth. Visionary art's purpose is to remind us of that truth so we can turn inward to create our own version of reality instead of being tossed around by perceptions of external circumstances.

This is one of my recent pieces, created using predominantly Illustrator, Photoshop and Painter.

I Am What I Think

Here are some detail shots in which even the Joker makes a guest appearance, lol.

I Am What I Think - Waterfall

I Am What I Think - Hummingbird

I Am What I Think - Joker

Below are a few artworks by other visionary artists you can check out. Obviously this is a very limited selection but I intentionally wanted to support only the ones I found here on Steemit.

The Avatar and The City of God by @elohprojects

Happy Earth Day by @chrisdyer

Arcana de la Medicina by @jkobrinart

Rainbow Unicorn Pegasus Xenomorph by @michaelgarfield

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As you can see, visionary art is not a specific painting style, it's almost somewhat of a life style, because it requires some soul searching and paying attention to what's and who's inside of us. I Am What I Think is not only the title for an art piece, it is something I firmly believe in. Attention creates focus, and where focus goes, energy flows. Eventually we become what we think of the most. We are creators, not only as far as art is concerned, but we create our lives and surroundings through our focus.
Fortunately we have the freedom to decide what we pay attention to. What's your focus?

Hope you enjoyed, don't forget to support your local Steemit artist community. We're trying hard to rattle cages, create movements, and bring positive change.
Peace and light