Essay by Ella Simpson for Contextualising Practice
Every work of art is a child of its time, while often it is the parent of our emotions
-Kandinsky (1911:9)
Writing about the creative process of making art is difficult – specifically, finding inspiration for a new work. I am not able to make a mind map of ideas or sketch out different compositional possibilities. Purposefully planning an artwork feels disingenuous. I start to doubt myself, and my ideas become watered down, even insincere. I feel most receptive to new ideas when walking through the city or flicking through old magazines, waiting for inspiration to hit me hard and fast. The need to speak about my work and creative practice has led me to question and consider my ways of coming to artistic conclusions. It was only upon reading Patricia Townsend’s book Creative States of Mind: Psychoanalysis and the Artist’s Process that I realised my artwork was influenced by my unconscious. This essay will, therefore, examine how an artist can create work with the assistance of the unconscious. This question will be examined alongside artistic and psychoanalytical theories, such as Patricia Townsend’s idea of the ‘pre-sense’, Freud’s theory of the unconscious and Kandinsky’s description of abstract art as a concept.
The unconscious has always been an intriguing subject to me. I often wonder if the voice I hear inside my head is separate from myself. I question the influence and meaning of my dreams. There are no better writings to turn to to help explain the unconscious than those of Sigmund Freud. As stated by Roudinesco (2016:109) ‘Freud opened the way to the development of … psychoanalysis and to a vast reflection on human sexuality’. In Freud’s (as quoted by Hobson (1988:98)) opinion, the unconscious is a ‘distinct entity operating under its own volition’. Psychoanalysis suggests that certain unwanted thoughts and feelings can be repressed from the conscious mind, in which they then go into a state of unconscious so that they cannot be recognised by the conscious. It can, however, perforate to consciousness in ways that may be physical, such as artworks (Freud 1915). Carl Jung is another psychoanalyst who worked closely with Freud for some time on the theory of the unconscious. Jung (1968:4) describes the unconscious as ‘nothing but the gathering place of forgotten and repressed contents’. Jung also coined the idea of the ‘collective unconscious’ or ideas and thoughts that can be found universally in all individuals, made up of ‘archetypes’. The differences between their theories are summarised well by Jung’s student Erich Neumann, who writes that the unconscious, and the art it creates, transcends individual lives (Neumann 1959), which reveals the more holistic and spiritual approach taught by Jung. I will next endeavour to explore how the artist knows that these thoughts have moved from the unconscious into the conscious.
Something that I, and many artists, struggle with is communicating the process of creating an artwork. Patricia Townsend suggests that this process begins when the artist has an inkling that they have an idea for a new artwork. Townsend (2019:2) also gives a name to this inclination, utilising the term ‘pre-sense’, which is a type of ‘hunch’ that describes the ‘experience of sensing the potential of something external’. This external factor, which resonates with the artist’s inner world – for whatever reason- influenced by the artist’s past, culture, and state of mind, leads to an idea for an artwork. Similar to Townsend’s idea of the ‘pre-sense’, Lumer and Oppenheim (2019:18) articulate the beginning of an artwork as ‘a sudden revelation, [when] beauty breaks into an object’
Creating art can also be a cathartic and necessary experience. Using Venetian artist Ida Barbarigo as an example, Lumer and Oppenheim consider that making art is an ‘act of exorcism’, which brings forward repressed and intimate emotions and imagery in the form of symbols. According to Lumer and Oppenheim (2019:18), these symbols are brought by the artist from their mind into the physical realm in order ‘to make sense of [the] chaos’ in their life. This idea is not dissimilar to Freud’s theory that thoughts, fears and desires that are considered unbearable or frightening must be situated into actuality so that they can be understood and overcome. Freud (1923:72) declares that there are ‘manifestations of hysteria in the portrayals of possession and ecstasy that have been preserved for us in the production of art’, which suggests that these hysterias ‘[have] arisen in the patient’s internal life, where they have their abode’. It is suggested by Clark (2004:77) that this psychoanalytical process of actualisation is important not only for the mind but also to the artist’s process, as ‘the iterated process of externalising and re-perceiving turns out to be integral to the process of artistic cognition itself’.
One genre of painting that employs the use of the unconscious is the abstract. Abstract art in the West first surfaced around 1910 due to the work and theoretical writings of Frantisêk Kupka and Wassily Kandinsky (Wünsche 2016). Both artists shared the same technique of working intuitively. Speaking about the nature of abstract art, Kandinsky (1911: 90) concluded the practice ‘inadvertently lifts itself beyond the painting, and which, therefore, is meant less for the eye than for the soul’. Kandinsky, therefore, contends that a key feature of abstract painting is the use of the artist’s unconscious as a guide for making. Another artistic movement that uses the unconscious and psychoanalysis to create is Surrealism. The difference between Abstraction and Surrealism is the emphasis on colour and form in abstract painting to create meaning rather than sympolism (Kandinsky 1911). Kandinsky also sheds light on the process of inspiration and creating ideas for new works, stating:
‘The artist’s soul, when alive and vital, needs no assistance from various theories or cerebrations. It has something of its own to convey … utterly incomprehensible to the artist. The inner voice of the soul points out the form he needs and where to obtain it, from exterior or inner ‘nature.’ Every artist who works from the so-called “feeling,” knows with what suddenness and unexpectedness he often perceives the wrong sound of some form previously evolved, and how”automatically” the correct one comes to replace it.’ Kandinsky (1911:94)
It is clear then that abstract painting has consistently been connected with the unconscious and deeply engaged with the potential for introspection.
The Knight of Malta created in 2023 is a 140 x 140cm acrylic work on canvas. The work depicts a partially nude figure adorned with a medieval knight’s chest plate and helmet, lying across the canvas on a green armchair. The red outline of a creature floats above the figure. The piece is presented unstretched, as seen in Figure 1, with the uneven edges of the canvas on display. The work is contained within a jagged border on murky, streaky ground. The use of watered-down acrylic on unprimed canvas creates a stain-like effect.
The use of materials and materiality is also a consideration of the unconscious mind when assisting in the production of art. When creating The Knight of Malta, I used chance when I painted on the canvas. I used watered-down acrylic paint, which gave me little control over the medium. The paint dripped and bled onto the canvas in an unpredictable way, taking over the work. This was not a conscious effort on my part, at least to begin with. The paint was spread on unprimed canvas, which means the work is not archival and will not last, it will only exist for a short moment in time, similar to how it started. As stated by Watson (2020;180) ‘concepts of chance … with no preconceived idea of the end results’ are central to unconscious thinking and art making. Watson also contends that ‘so-called pure psychic automatism often reveals some degree of preconception on the part of the artist’; in terms of my work, this is true. I control how much water is added to the paint and where the paint is placed onto the canvas. I also apply chance when deciding where to search for inspiration for new artworks. For example, if I decide to go for a walk around my neighbourhood to trigger an idea to come to my mind, I won’t know what exactly I will see or find when out on a walk, and I therefore cannot know which direction and aesthetics this future work will take. The use of materials being left up to chance is one method used by artists when creating abstract works influenced by the unconscious.
When creating this piece, I initially had no intentions. We (the students) were tasked with deciding our own topics to explore. At the best of times, I find making any sort of decision difficult. I tried my best with brainstorming ideas and themes and felt stuck. It was flicking through old National Geographic magazines and being drawn to certain images, like a knight’s chest plate, a medieval door knocker and a portrait of Catherine Dickens that inspired my work. The use of symbols is often found in art of the unconscious. Thorburn (1921:591) reveals that these ‘symbols spring up from the unconscious of the artist … and shape themselves in aesthetically pleasing form in the picture.’ These symbols did not conjure in my mind but were rather selected by my unconscious. I came across each image, things started falling into place. Thinking of the elements combined felt like things finally made sense, and that I had been waiting to find these photos so I could make this artwork. After deciding I now had an idea for a new work, I felt that I could not wait any longer to get it down on the canvas. I chose to use watered down acrylic paints on unprimed canvas to continue experimenting with a staining technique I had previously used. The fluidity of the paint also allowed me to move the paint across the canvas quickly and smoothly; I was able to expel the ideas out of my mind onto the canvas, my body as an instrument of my unconscious mind. As affirmed by Merleau-Ponty (1993:123) ‘[i]t is by lending his body to the world that the artist changes the world into paintings’.
I thrive when creating fast and loosely, with almost a need to expel this idea or feeling from my mind onto the canvas with no time to spare before it’s lost forever. In the moment, I’m often unsure of the potential reasoning and meaning behind certain images and symbols I have chosen. It can sometimes feel confusing and intimidating when creating works with symbols, as the symbols seem to have no relation to one another. Breton (1969:20), however, contends that the apparent contrast between symbols is important to the meaning of the work as this makes ‘greater its emotional power and poetic reality’. Breton quotes Pierre Reverdy when stating: ‘[t]he more the relationship between the two juxtaposed realities is distant and true, the stronger the image will be’. It is not until after I have finished creating a work that I can look at it and see what I was trying to tell myself, and how these symbols belong. When a work is complete, there is a sense of relief.
I was unsure of the meaning behind the work, even after seeing all the images. It was only when it was completed that I understood, like I had finally been let in on a secret. This piece conveys a feeling of something that cannot be put into words. Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1921:250) suggests that ‘[t]here are, indeed, things that cannot be put into words. They make themselves manifest. They are what is mystical.’ Finding the meaning in this work felt similar to how Thorburn (1921:591) describes an encounter with an abstract: ‘[t]here is the acceptance of its apparent meaning, an impression of simple beauty, and there is the impression that comes through the re-interpretation of its symbolism, beauty of a much greater and profounder kind.’
Through a range of examples, it is clear that the unconscious can heavily influence abstract painting. This is due to the genre’s tendency to be receptive to the unconscious and that the unconscious minds need to actualise and interpret repressed thoughts and feelings. The theories explored in this essay provide insight into the complex and enigmatic ways the unconscious mind can be found in abstract painting and help me and other artists better understand and communicate their practice.
Reference List
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