The metanoetic goal of reaching beyond the mind's cognitive limitations is not regarded as attainable through art, yet the Dutch author envisions that new figuration presents the potential of temporarily short-circuiting self-referential faculties and unleashing otherwise confined awareness. Previous modern figuration is described as anchored in mimesis and therefore strived for comprehension, whereas new figuration feigns an allegorical representation, subject to comprehension, in order to trick the viewer into overcoming nous, the mind (Esmann). Under these terms, two courses of action might be employed, namely presenting two mutually exclusive narratives or excluding any narrative from the action, and thereby deconstructing comprehension. "There is no story, no meaning, no allegory; only metanous" (Esmann), therefore the mind either rejects the installment as devoid of meaning, or stills into a perceptive ideal characterized by non-conceptual awareness of being. Interestingly, abstract expressionism is incompatible with expressing...

Hence, new figuration is perceived as the authentic medium for indirectly and unintentionally achieving metanoesis.
All in all, it can be asserted that new figuration marks the most recent artful installment of representational painting which goes beyond the modern and post-modern confinements and functions as primary resource for realizing the metanoetic ideal.

References

Esmann, Jan. "The New Figurative Painting. An Essay on Metanoetic Art." Copenhagen: 1998. Available at www.janesmann.com [Retrieved on 20 May 2013]

Hart, Jane. "From Traditional to Contemporary: The Evolution of Figurative Art." Art Business News 2009 February. Vol. 36, No. 2

Owens, Craig. "The Allegorical Impulse: Toward a Theory of Postmodernism." October, Vol. 12, 1980 Spring: 67-86

Speed, Julie. "Under the Chinaberry." 2012. Nicolaysen…