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Description
MANIFESTO OF PERISCOPICAL ART

Written by Gromyko Padilla Semper, this collection of thought and research concerns the Union of Artists working together though different modes and methods, and how they present situation in art, the spiritual in art and post post-modern art:

  The first thing that came to my mind, when it come to fleshing this out, is realizing that a revolution is essentially the individuals who are part of it. That is, the whole shall always be composed of individuals who play a major part in defining the essence of the whole. Each individual revolutionises aspects of reality in their own way, but they all are tied by a common goal. Though they may stand on their own independent fields of specialization, one cannot deny the common thread that binds them all: Art.
  Art is the common thread, and the link between each individual thread, diverse in ways and virtues, always standing in unison. They are comparable to the atomic structure, in how the protons, neutrons, and electrons are different entities with different "personalities" yet act together as a whole. The living organism is made up of entirely different systems, with each system made up of uniquely varied organs. Each organ is made up of various tissues which are then divided into several different cellular units that work together, hand in hand, to make a living organism. Likewise, there are different artists, employing different techniques, and working in different styles.
  Those artists that work in this way are convinced that there is still hope, there is still the light that we need to see, that meaning is still here for us. Yet there are those convinced of the death of art, which have remained loyal to the nihilism that continually possesses culture.  It is this evil that needs to be summoned out of culture and, consequentially, for true artists - like the cells in our bodies - to work out together a sustenance to continue the legacy of the living art. Nihilism is not the solution but the problem that we need to exorcise.
  This living art is not of the physical, as exemplified by those faithful to the reproduction of nature to the minutest detail, believing that the only true art is art that "imitates" actual reality. They are blinded to believe that an artist must be faithful to outside reality, to norms and traditions of society, and, in terms of religion, be faithful only to the dogma of that religion.
  There are those that psychologically embrace, those that are enraged by the academies, those that rebelled against them because they weren’t financially, or socially satisfactory, those are concerned with the subjectivity of objects. The above mentioned are known as the following:
• Impressionists, who rebelled against solid form and colours;
• Abstractionists, who, dissatisfied with representation, totally dissolved the image in favour of its more formal qualities, that is, the abstraction of art's elements stripping away all they could find in art.
• Expressionists, who favoured the emotion
• Dadaists, who, dissatisfied with the bourgeoisie society and influenced by nihilism and the theories of Nietzsche, declared that art is Dead, God is dead and that all there is embodies chaos, and that the ultimate destiny is the void of emptiness,
• Surrealists, who turned Dadaism into a more positive ideal, looking at the importance of dreams and the unconscious/subconscious, symbolisms, and the endless possibilities of imagination.
• Abstract expressionists, who dissolved forms, yet retained emotion.

(The rest to follow are the post modern, the minimalists, pop artists, maximalists, happenings, etc, a revival of DADA, reviving the concept that art is dead).

  Throughout the whole history of ART, there are few unique groups and individuals that undeniably helped maintained the "life" art. These individuals and groups are the cells in the being of ART. They existed in their respective period in time; continually revolutionizing the way art should be viewed. They rebel against the conventional rebels.
  None so far have matched the powerful stylisation of Michelangelo, the mystery and characterization of Leonardo, the symbolism of Bosch, the sacred symbolism of the mannerists Parmigianino, Fillipino Lippi, Boticelli, the visions of Blake, the golden portraits of living souls by Rembrandt, the humanity of Caravaggio, Titian, Velasquez, Goya, Delacroix, Millet. These and more are somewhat connected to each other by one common thread: They all seem to share a common "spiritual" essence, regardless of the subject/object of their works. This spiritual essence is of most importance. It is what makes a work of art not only immortal, (in the sense that it is not about the perishable idealism of the physical, nor the stylist/nihilist tenets of mental, nor that of the sterile monotony of post modern art) but absolute and non-dual. The spiritual essence is all encompassing and by itself concerns the universal. Though they may represent, the representations are only vessels, or as michelangelo would have said, "spirit dressed in physical forms". Others are abstracted to the point of reference, but without sacrificing the universality of being, as those of the works of Rothko. A work of art could be in essence spiritual, regardless of subject. If a work of art is spiritual it transcends all--and is the highest form of art.

  This same spiritual essence exists not only in western art, Eastern Art is(when viewed on its own right without the influence of the west) always imbued with the sense of the spiritual. Being a much older civilization, the east produced some of the world’s greatest spiritual art. Chinese calligraphy and painting are great examples of the spiritual art. The thangkas of Buddhism, the Zen landscapes and Shibuis, the Hindu iconography, the Japanese prints, the Tibetan paintings, Balinese masks, tribal devices, the pagan idols of Borneo, Sumatra and Samoa, the great Pagodas and icons of Thailand, the native ingenuity of Filipino woodcarvings, tribal tattoos and icons, the mystical Angkor Wat of Cambodia, etc.

  Together, these eastern spiritual arts are interconnected with western ideals, the only difference being the culture that produced it. This cultural diversity seems isolated during those times, with what that is common to one culture is unique or exotic to others. When the advent of communication and transportation paved the way towards exploration of cultural diversities, artistic borrowings were a common way of influencing other cultures. This is evident in the borrowings of Japanese writing and painting to the Chinese or the French and Germans from the Italians. Cultural influences also made it visually, at least idealistically through art. Most noteworthy are the borrowings of Picasso from Aboriginal sculpture, Wilfredo Lam's borrowings from South American sculpture, and Delacroix's Asian costumed figures. These borrowings works best only if they are fully realised, and if the artists are spiritually connected with the original from hence they borrowed.
  Artistic borrowings are also not limited to culture but also to other arts. Music for example, serves as the main influence for Kandinsky. Other artists are influenced by literature, others still by science. Yet one thing is certain in how they all strive towards the realisation of the spiritual. Carl Jung theorized that there exists a universal consciousness that interconnects all of us, artists or not. The Artists of the Mayan Culture, though geographically far from the artists of Egypt produced similar works in the manner of the pyramids. These are the factors that influenced artistic developments.

After considering these, we are lead to question: What will be the art of the 21st century?

  We are ultimately lead again to reconsider what history has taught us. Shall we continue to follow the trend of nihilism? The decadence and sterility of neo-dada concepts, of the snobbish, commercialists/capitalist abstractions, of mass media protected pseudo-primitivism, spiritualists, minimalists, etc?
  Artists are then lead to choose from two path. One leads to the physical/mental , into the Spiritual darkness, the insecurity of ignorance and fear which pervades in the world in which we move, while the other transcends all and leads to the spiritual.
  The future is now approaching faster and faster, the remarkable improvements in communication have leaded us firmly and irreversibly into a global culture. The specific boundaries and limitations of the individual cultures are quickly evaporating and will soon be no more. This isn't to say there wont be as much diversity and specific cultural identities in the new global culture, there will actually be much more diversity. Yet people can now see their culture as the historical development it is and not be chained by its old structures.
  It’s the same way with art. We have so much artistic development from the past that we can look to and build on although, in the same way, we are not bounded by any specific constraints.
  Within this larger perspective there are specific interests we have that tie us all together. What would be considered the visionary, fantastic, surrealist threads? What then is it, in that conceptual framework, that binds us (and that of which we want to present to the larger global culture) and how does that lead into the future? The solution would hopefully bring a new vocabulary of post post-modern art. This can be seen as a conversation we are all having throughout time, having a dialogue with the past, our contemporaries globally, and with the future. What we have come to is the currency with which we operate as “creativity”. The tools we use to communicate are visual metaphors. Culture itself can be defined as the creativity of individuals adopted and developed by the group and passed on through time.

  Before the Tower of Babel was destroyed, humanity had only one culture and one tribe. However, the desire to Sin came to consciousness and humanity dreamed of reaching the Heavens by material means. This is a symbolism for Man’s inherent lust for achieving happiness/success by utilizing all that the world, in its materiality, could offer. Humanity was doomed when God cursed them to misunderstand each other by changing their languages, their tongues. The once singular and unified culture was broken into multicultural rubble.  Yet God did not totally eradicate the, once unified, culture-consciousness in man. Memory was persistent, with something still tying humanity together. That tie is implanted in man’s consciousness.
  The first thing that caused misunderstanding was language, and when language was tainted and riddled, those that had similar languages banded together, grouped themselves together, and formed unique cultural practices that are fundamentally inspired by their lingual commune. These autonomous cultures, or micro-cultures, allowed their people their own beliefs, traditions, customs, ethics, religion, politics, and arts. This cultural diversity is most puzzling as what is common to one culture is alien to another and vice versa.
  This leads into misunderstanding: War results from this disagreement of beliefs. This plague of misunderstanding cultural differences leads Man into constant disharmony and chaos with his fellow brother. The cult of Nihilism resulted from the degenerate belief that culture is fettered towards destruction and that there is no hope in this desolate world. Their cry of sympathy for the void is so caused by this grave misunderstanding. Culture for them can never unite as they look only at the significance of micro-cultures. They oppose, even in idea, the possibility and general realisation of a grand unification of all culture.
  Nations have tried to do this, but through politics and self interest. The United Nations sought to readdress the issue of unification but failed miserably as a consequence of trying to reconcile with the micro-cultures. The UN did this with hopes of converging with them by the use of philanthropic acts, monetary investments, and pseudo-intellectualisation (false understanding of other cultures). Yet war stands imminent in every disagreement and religion also caused great conflict, belief systems ravaged each other. Customs like beliefs befall each other. The thread seems to be weak in these vainglorious efforts to unify and we are thus ultimately lead to rely on the only remaining aspect of culture where the thread of the Grand Culture still persists, even though in silence, throughout the history of humanity: I’m talking about Art.
  Art, though diverse and different in every micro-culture, seems to share a common similarity in the way it evokes associations. Similarities in the Art of the Mayans and the Egyptians are a good example of the persistence in the art from the era of the Grand Culture, where humanity is at once one. Art, through the passing of the centuries, also has difficulties in realizing the grand culture’s former glory. There were disagreements during every era and movements of Art resulted from this. However, even though there are disagreements, there are more similarities that could be found among these movements. There has always existed the thread that binds the Art of the centuries and the thread, as I mentioned, was stronger in the field of Art than in any other, above mentioned, aspects of culture. This strength is achieved by focusing on the universal. The distinction between eastern, western, northern, and southern arts resulted from a grand disagreement of ideas, but even though they differ from each other, there remains one absolute essence that ties them all, with the greatest Art of these areas all share a common spirituality in them. Their transcendent qualities enables them to communicate harmoniously with each other, each having its own way of doing this and, though different, they always arrive at the absolute transcendence of spirit, no matter what they depict. Ideas may be religious, concrete, abstract, mental, or a combination of all, but they always focus on the dissolving of ego, of dissolving the remnants of micro-culture. This persistence and inherent transcendence through Art is the only hope we can look for in order to solve the misunderstandings, disagreements and objections that leads, eventually, to war. We have witnessed so much of this and it is time that we converge, through Art - the only solution we have to look forward.
  This eventual realisation of the once glorious grand-culture could only be achieved if Mankind, particularly gifted artists, unite. Though diverse in their ways, and though these micro-cultural influences are still intact, they must first learn to express, through their uniqueness, the universal and the absolute to the best they can. This in turn could be achieved by communication. To commune with other cultures, artists from other cultures, to study with an ever vigilant sense of interest and an open minded wisdom to accept what once was thought incoherent, will lead them to the realization of the once grand art of the grand culture. This isn’t to say that they must totally change their style, but instead to use what they learn from others and from the world and beyond. Thus, the artist continuously understands and meditates on the mysteries of life and the universe, and expresses it in their unique way. This is the beginning of the realization of the grand culture. This is the beginning of realization of the highest form of art, and the spirit is the way in order to achieve this.

Gromyko Semper 2008

Further notes:
Gromyko stands opposed to Laurence Caruana’s Manifesto of visionary art, especially with his definition of God excerpted from Aldous Huxley's agnostic theorems.  He believes that the visionaries, though not all, equate God only as a universal consciousness and not as an existing being in itself, while he contests that universal consciousness is a major evidence of the existence of a creator.
  Also, Contemporary Visionary Art, particularly "Psuedo-Visionary Art" is oft "impure”, it is sometimes induced, and not from the pure "imaginative/spiritual" state. Alex Grey, Robert Venosa, Laurence Caruana and even  Ernst Fuchs have at times during their artistic careers sought the influence of hallucinogens and psychotropic drugs in order to gain "vision". Gromyko denounces this act as an uninspired psychedelic. “There's nothing revolutionary in that method. Their visions are only chemically(hallucinogenically) induced and therefore he consider them as synthetic visions. Gromyko prefers "pure" and "inspired" vision, the one that Blake showed, the one Bosch exemplified, the one Salvador Dali does best.”  Gromyko quotes Dali's words, “The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” These words are like a poison dart to synthetic visionaries, for Dali, unlike them, did not need drugs, Dali said he is Drugs.

Description
MANIFESTO OF PERISCOPICAL ART

Written by Gromyko Padilla Semper, this collection of thought and research concerns the Union of Artists working together though different modes and methods, and how they present situation in art, the spiritual in art and post post-modern art:

  The first thing that came to my mind, when it come to fleshing this out, is realizing that a revolution is essentially the individuals who are part of it. That is, the whole shall always be composed of individuals who play a major part in defining the essence of the whole. Each individual revolutionises aspects of reality in their own way, but they all are tied by a common goal. Though they may stand on their own independent fields of specialization, one cannot deny the common thread that binds them all: Art.
  Art is the common thread, and the link between each individual thread, diverse in ways and virtues, always standing in unison. They are comparable to the atomic structure, in how the protons, neutrons, and electrons are different entities with different "personalities" yet act together as a whole. The living organism is made up of entirely different systems, with each system made up of uniquely varied organs. Each organ is made up of various tissues which are then divided into several different cellular units that work together, hand in hand, to make a living organism. Likewise, there are different artists, employing different techniques, and working in different styles.
  Those artists that work in this way are convinced that there is still hope, there is still the light that we need to see, that meaning is still here for us. Yet there are those convinced of the death of art, which have remained loyal to the nihilism that continually possesses culture.  It is this evil that needs to be summoned out of culture and, consequentially, for true artists - like the cells in our bodies - to work out together a sustenance to continue the legacy of the living art. Nihilism is not the solution but the problem that we need to exorcise.
  This living art is not of the physical, as exemplified by those faithful to the reproduction of nature to the minutest detail, believing that the only true art is art that "imitates" actual reality. They are blinded to believe that an artist must be faithful to outside reality, to norms and traditions of society, and, in terms of religion, be faithful only to the dogma of that religion.
  There are those that psychologically embrace, those that are enraged by the academies, those that rebelled against them because they weren’t financially, or socially satisfactory, those are concerned with the subjectivity of objects. The above mentioned are known as the following:
• Impressionists, who rebelled against solid form and colours;
• Abstractionists, who, dissatisfied with representation, totally dissolved the image in favour of its more formal qualities, that is, the abstraction of art's elements stripping away all they could find in art.
• Expressionists, who favoured the emotion
• Dadaists, who, dissatisfied with the bourgeoisie society and influenced by nihilism and the theories of Nietzsche, declared that art is Dead, God is dead and that all there is embodies chaos, and that the ultimate destiny is the void of emptiness,
• Surrealists, who turned Dadaism into a more positive ideal, looking at the importance of dreams and the unconscious/subconscious, symbolisms, and the endless possibilities of imagination.
• Abstract expressionists, who dissolved forms, yet retained emotion.

(The rest to follow are the post modern, the minimalists, pop artists, maximalists, happenings, etc, a revival of DADA, reviving the concept that art is dead).

  Throughout the whole history of ART, there are few unique groups and individuals that undeniably helped maintained the "life" art. These individuals and groups are the cells in the being of ART. They existed in their respective period in time; continually revolutionizing the way art should be viewed. They rebel against the conventional rebels.
  None so far have matched the powerful stylisation of Michelangelo, the mystery and characterization of Leonardo, the symbolism of Bosch, the sacred symbolism of the mannerists Parmigianino, Fillipino Lippi, Boticelli, the visions of Blake, the golden portraits of living souls by Rembrandt, the humanity of Caravaggio, Titian, Velasquez, Goya, Delacroix, Millet. These and more are somewhat connected to each other by one common thread: They all seem to share a common "spiritual" essence, regardless of the subject/object of their works. This spiritual essence is of most importance. It is what makes a work of art not only immortal, (in the sense that it is not about the perishable idealism of the physical, nor the stylist/nihilist tenets of mental, nor that of the sterile monotony of post modern art) but absolute and non-dual. The spiritual essence is all encompassing and by itself concerns the universal. Though they may represent, the representations are only vessels, or as michelangelo would have said, "spirit dressed in physical forms". Others are abstracted to the point of reference, but without sacrificing the universality of being, as those of the works of Rothko. A work of art could be in essence spiritual, regardless of subject. If a work of art is spiritual it transcends all--and is the highest form of art.

  This same spiritual essence exists not only in western art, Eastern Art is(when viewed on its own right without the influence of the west) always imbued with the sense of the spiritual. Being a much older civilization, the east produced some of the world’s greatest spiritual art. Chinese calligraphy and painting are great examples of the spiritual art. The thangkas of Buddhism, the Zen landscapes and Shibuis, the Hindu iconography, the Japanese prints, the Tibetan paintings, Balinese masks, tribal devices, the pagan idols of Borneo, Sumatra and Samoa, the great Pagodas and icons of Thailand, the native ingenuity of Filipino woodcarvings, tribal tattoos and icons, the mystical Angkor Wat of Cambodia, etc.

  Together, these eastern spiritual arts are interconnected with western ideals, the only difference being the culture that produced it. This cultural diversity seems isolated during those times, with what that is common to one culture is unique or exotic to others. When the advent of communication and transportation paved the way towards exploration of cultural diversities, artistic borrowings were a common way of influencing other cultures. This is evident in the borrowings of Japanese writing and painting to the Chinese or the French and Germans from the Italians. Cultural influences also made it visually, at least idealistically through art. Most noteworthy are the borrowings of Picasso from Aboriginal sculpture, Wilfredo Lam's borrowings from South American sculpture, and Delacroix's Asian costumed figures. These borrowings works best only if they are fully realised, and if the artists are spiritually connected with the original from hence they borrowed.
  Artistic borrowings are also not limited to culture but also to other arts. Music for example, serves as the main influence for Kandinsky. Other artists are influenced by literature, others still by science. Yet one thing is certain in how they all strive towards the realisation of the spiritual. Carl Jung theorized that there exists a universal consciousness that interconnects all of us, artists or not. The Artists of the Mayan Culture, though geographically far from the artists of Egypt produced similar works in the manner of the pyramids. These are the factors that influenced artistic developments.

After considering these, we are lead to question: What will be the art of the 21st century?

  We are ultimately lead again to reconsider what history has taught us. Shall we continue to follow the trend of nihilism? The decadence and sterility of neo-dada concepts, of the snobbish, commercialists/capitalist abstractions, of mass media protected pseudo-primitivism, spiritualists, minimalists, etc?
  Artists are then lead to choose from two path. One leads to the physical/mental , into the Spiritual darkness, the insecurity of ignorance and fear which pervades in the world in which we move, while the other transcends all and leads to the spiritual.
  The future is now approaching faster and faster, the remarkable improvements in communication have leaded us firmly and irreversibly into a global culture. The specific boundaries and limitations of the individual cultures are quickly evaporating and will soon be no more. This isn't to say there wont be as much diversity and specific cultural identities in the new global culture, there will actually be much more diversity. Yet people can now see their culture as the historical development it is and not be chained by its old structures.
  It’s the same way with art. We have so much artistic development from the past that we can look to and build on although, in the same way, we are not bounded by any specific constraints.
  Within this larger perspective there are specific interests we have that tie us all together. What would be considered the visionary, fantastic, surrealist threads? What then is it, in that conceptual framework, that binds us (and that of which we want to present to the larger global culture) and how does that lead into the future? The solution would hopefully bring a new vocabulary of post post-modern art. This can be seen as a conversation we are all having throughout time, having a dialogue with the past, our contemporaries globally, and with the future. What we have come to is the currency with which we operate as “creativity”. The tools we use to communicate are visual metaphors. Culture itself can be defined as the creativity of individuals adopted and developed by the group and passed on through time.

  Before the Tower of Babel was destroyed, humanity had only one culture and one tribe. However, the desire to Sin came to consciousness and humanity dreamed of reaching the Heavens by material means. This is a symbolism for Man’s inherent lust for achieving happiness/success by utilizing all that the world, in its materiality, could offer. Humanity was doomed when God cursed them to misunderstand each other by changing their languages, their tongues. The once singular and unified culture was broken into multicultural rubble.  Yet God did not totally eradicate the, once unified, culture-consciousness in man. Memory was persistent, with something still tying humanity together. That tie is implanted in man’s consciousness.
  The first thing that caused misunderstanding was language, and when language was tainted and riddled, those that had similar languages banded together, grouped themselves together, and formed unique cultural practices that are fundamentally inspired by their lingual commune. These autonomous cultures, or micro-cultures, allowed their people their own beliefs, traditions, customs, ethics, religion, politics, and arts. This cultural diversity is most puzzling as what is common to one culture is alien to another and vice versa.
  This leads into misunderstanding: War results from this disagreement of beliefs. This plague of misunderstanding cultural differences leads Man into constant disharmony and chaos with his fellow brother. The cult of Nihilism resulted from the degenerate belief that culture is fettered towards destruction and that there is no hope in this desolate world. Their cry of sympathy for the void is so caused by this grave misunderstanding. Culture for them can never unite as they look only at the significance of micro-cultures. They oppose, even in idea, the possibility and general realisation of a grand unification of all culture.
  Nations have tried to do this, but through politics and self interest. The United Nations sought to readdress the issue of unification but failed miserably as a consequence of trying to reconcile with the micro-cultures. The UN did this with hopes of converging with them by the use of philanthropic acts, monetary investments, and pseudo-intellectualisation (false understanding of other cultures). Yet war stands imminent in every disagreement and religion also caused great conflict, belief systems ravaged each other. Customs like beliefs befall each other. The thread seems to be weak in these vainglorious efforts to unify and we are thus ultimately lead to rely on the only remaining aspect of culture where the thread of the Grand Culture still persists, even though in silence, throughout the history of humanity: I’m talking about Art.
  Art, though diverse and different in every micro-culture, seems to share a common similarity in the way it evokes associations. Similarities in the Art of the Mayans and the Egyptians are a good example of the persistence in the art from the era of the Grand Culture, where humanity is at once one. Art, through the passing of the centuries, also has difficulties in realizing the grand culture’s former glory. There were disagreements during every era and movements of Art resulted from this. However, even though there are disagreements, there are more similarities that could be found among these movements. There has always existed the thread that binds the Art of the centuries and the thread, as I mentioned, was stronger in the field of Art than in any other, above mentioned, aspects of culture. This strength is achieved by focusing on the universal. The distinction between eastern, western, northern, and southern arts resulted from a grand disagreement of ideas, but even though they differ from each other, there remains one absolute essence that ties them all, with the greatest Art of these areas all share a common spirituality in them. Their transcendent qualities enables them to communicate harmoniously with each other, each having its own way of doing this and, though different, they always arrive at the absolute transcendence of spirit, no matter what they depict. Ideas may be religious, concrete, abstract, mental, or a combination of all, but they always focus on the dissolving of ego, of dissolving the remnants of micro-culture. This persistence and inherent transcendence through Art is the only hope we can look for in order to solve the misunderstandings, disagreements and objections that leads, eventually, to war. We have witnessed so much of this and it is time that we converge, through Art - the only solution we have to look forward.
  This eventual realisation of the once glorious grand-culture could only be achieved if Mankind, particularly gifted artists, unite. Though diverse in their ways, and though these micro-cultural influences are still intact, they must first learn to express, through their uniqueness, the universal and the absolute to the best they can. This in turn could be achieved by communication. To commune with other cultures, artists from other cultures, to study with an ever vigilant sense of interest and an open minded wisdom to accept what once was thought incoherent, will lead them to the realization of the once grand art of the grand culture. This isn’t to say that they must totally change their style, but instead to use what they learn from others and from the world and beyond. Thus, the artist continuously understands and meditates on the mysteries of life and the universe, and expresses it in their unique way. This is the beginning of the realization of the grand culture. This is the beginning of realization of the highest form of art, and the spirit is the way in order to achieve this.

Gromyko Semper 2008

Further notes:
Gromyko stands opposed to Laurence Caruana’s Manifesto of visionary art, especially with his definition of God excerpted from Aldous Huxley's agnostic theorems.  He believes that the visionaries, though not all, equate God only as a universal consciousness and not as an existing being in itself, while he contests that universal consciousness is a major evidence of the existence of a creator.
  Also, Contemporary Visionary Art, particularly "Psuedo-Visionary Art" is oft "impure”, it is sometimes induced, and not from the pure "imaginative/spiritual" state. Alex Grey, Robert Venosa, Laurence Caruana and even  Ernst Fuchs have at times during their artistic careers sought the influence of hallucinogens and psychotropic drugs in order to gain "vision". Gromyko denounces this act as an uninspired psychedelic. “There's nothing revolutionary in that method. Their visions are only chemically(hallucinogenically) induced and therefore he consider them as synthetic visions. Gromyko prefers "pure" and "inspired" vision, the one that Blake showed, the one Bosch exemplified, the one Salvador Dali does best.”  Gromyko quotes Dali's words, “The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” These words are like a poison dart to synthetic visionaries, for Dali, unlike them, did not need drugs, Dali said he is Drugs.