MERIDIAN — Have you ever looked at a work of art and asked: "What's it suppose to be?"

    I get that all the time with my paintings, even when it's suppose to be something, but my usual answer is, "It's an emotion."

    I know my paintings are done when I'm through reliving whatever it's about, or else I run out of paint, whichever comes first.

    With the idea that art should do more than reflect our surroundings, and actually aspire to capture the energetic essence of life, the Energy Art Movement was launched in 2008.

    An international contemporary multimedia art movement, Energy Art defines itself with three primary values: quality, diversity and evolution — on the common ground of energetic depictions.

    The next large-scale exhibition of this movement, "The Energy Spectrum 2011," is coming to the Meridian Museum of Art, Oct. 5-Nov. 26. A reception has been scheduled for Oct. 29, from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.

    Members of the movement believe enhancing their creations with energy, either in composition or subject matter, adds artistic value to their depictions.

    With more than 100 members world-wide, from Romania to Japan, including two from Mississippi, the movement claims its intention is to build a multi-span bridge between various parts of the art world.

    "The current exhibition intends to show the breadth of what energy art is able to express as a "spectrum" of concepts and their depictions, analogously to the scientific idea of the electromagnetic spectrum," The Energy Spectrum 2011 Press Release says. I'm not sure I understand that, but all the images found on the Web site, www.energyartmovement.org are really cool.

    Joe MacGown, who lives in Starkville, is part of this movement. He does highly detailed drawings, some that have taken up to 300 hours to finish. He refers to his surrealistic drawing style as "Neogothic Surrealism" or "Subconscious Meandering."

    MacGown works at the Mississippi Entomological Museum at Mississippi State University as a research technician/scientific illustrator. The following about MacGown is from the Energy Art Movement Web site:

    "The structure of my artwork is based on the drawing of random shapes, after which I then draw shapes in the negative spaces created by the first shapes, and so forth. Although I find subject matter everywhere, much of my inspiration comes from my love of science fiction and from my studies of nature. For example, it should be obvious that I work in entomology, as my art is often intermixed with various insectoid body parts. All of my observations are thrown into my mind where they are intermixed with memories and other thoughts. They are later expressed in random ways in my drawings. When I begin a drawing, I usually have no preconceived idea of what I am going to draw, other than at most a minimal idea or a basic shape. I do not do underlying pencil sketches, but instead start working directly with the pen. This allows for more spontaneity and subconscious flow, which is the basis for all of my surreal art. Does my art mean anything? Possibly, however because I typically put minimal to no thought into what I am doing, any meaning has more to do with who I am as an individual and where I am in life at any given time."

    The exhibition promises a wide range of styles, techniques, and mediums from "cutting edge digital fractal flame art," to the detailed ink drawings of MacGown, to "the emotive brushwork of energetic expressionism."

    Organizer Giorgio Vaselli said: "I would like our messages to be revolutionary, yet non-radical. Heard, yet not loud. Influential, yet non-confrontational. Clear, yet deep."

    The greatest thing about art — whether it's suppose to be anything or not — is that if it makes you think, or feel something, it's done its job. Visit energyartmovement.org. Go to the museum. See what you think, and feel.



    Steve Gillespie is managing editor of The Meridian Star. Email him at sgillespie@themeridianstar.com.