Back2Basics

I'm in my first year of grad school, my first quarter of my first year. Although I attended art school for undergrad I feel like this is my first year of art school. This is the real deal. We're finally getting to the meat. I could have had more meat introduced in undergrad but I was not prepared/developed enough to grasp it in it's entirity (still am not, but oh well). I wonder if this sense of, "shit, I just figured something really fundamental out and I'm pretty old to be finally grasping fundamentals" which illuminates how many more fundamental building blocks are floating out there for me to encounter.  Anyhoo, here are some of my basic thoughts that I've been grappling with this week:

Perhaps the basis of perception is that everything we know and trust is measured with our senses. What role does intuition play? That impulse that negates and supercedes our empirical senses is a powerful, undeniable force. Our empirical senses are our equipment with which to measure and navigate the world. And art is one of the forerunners that fucks with them.

As an art viewer, do you willingly subject yourself to surrender? Do you willingly engage in order to question your empirical senses? Suspend your disbelief? How willingly do you disengage with habit and familiarity in order to engage in another form of reality and ideology? What does my work demand of you, the viewer? Is it purely rewarding? Is that enough to satisfy me? If not, exactly why?

How can a visual trope without a clear/literal allusion challenge or inform a viewer? How can marks, colors, composition, and facture reward, challenge, answer, question, stand the test of time (resonate after 50 years and not appear dated or exemplary of a specific decade?- and if it successful enough to do that, what would it look like???)? 

The million dollar question: So, if my interest is (insert interest/content/research subject here)  perception  then why painting?

What will researching the perception subject bring to the content and form of the paintings?

What kind of interweaving process of research/conceptualizing/planning and making can I develop to produce objects and situations?

What is the method in which I will pursue/research the subject?

In what way will I then approach the paintings?

In what way do I approach the relationship with those that buy my paintings?

In what way do I approach museums, galleries, or art spaces that would like to feature the work?

What role then does the research play?

What form does research take in terms of archiving?