Original interests
I mentioned in an earlier post that I started reading The Age of Insight, The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain, by Nobel Laureate, Eric Kandel. Part One is entitled, A Psychoanalytic Psychology and Art of Unconscious Emotion. I was hoping that Kandel would discuss art in context of emotions of children and those considered ‘insane’, as studied by Paul Klee. My interests lie in being able to simplify, or at least distill my own emotions to the point where I can depict them graphically in an expressive painting.
However, Kandel discusses art and science in the context of early 20th century Vienna, Austria where the psychology of Freud and modernism in art were asserting themselves. Kandel’s discussion of the visual arts is restricted to Klimt, Kokoschka and Schiele. Thus far, I have only read in depth about Klimt, whose treatment of women’s sexuality was unlike that of any artist before him. Klimt was familiar with Freud’s emphasis on sex as an unconscious force in the psyche, as well as the work of Charles Darwin regarding the importance of biological forces. But Klimt was also sensitive to a woman’s point of view, a most uncommon stance in the Victorian Era. Here is a site that discusses Klimt’s life and work.
Comfort zone
Most of my blogging has been about my experience as a brother of a severely handicapped older brother. Mike is profoundly retarded, autistic and has never spoken. I am comfortable in confronting these feelings in writing (Message to Siblings, Empathy Take 1, Empathy Take 2), photography (A Walk with Mike; Those Moments; Mike and Dad; Mike’s Moods; Photography Assignment Revisited; Familiar Relations; My First Show) and, recently, in watercolor painting (Back to Abstract?, Variation, My Niche, Sketching, Barrier #5 Completed). I have grappled with the feelings for a such a long while; they are very familiar to me.
Write about what you know
Perhaps this is why I am not so comfortable writing about, photographing, or painting subjects relating to sexuality. Today, I stepped out of my comfort zone today and painted a watercolor study relating to sexuality.
This is another latex-masking-fluid composition, but since I knew the subject I would be trying to portray, it governed how I placed some of the dripping; some, but not all of the drips. I still had to think quite a bit about all but the obvious symbols on the paper.
I don’t know what I was trying to articulate in this study, if anything. I am not even sure if it holds together compositionally. All in all, I am very uncomfortable with it.
Untitled Study 1-18-14
7″x10″ 140# Hot Pressed Watercolor Block
You may feel uncomfortable with what you have produced, but it is a wonderful composition nevertheless with a sensitive balance of colours. I like it a lot. As an expressive of artist of any kind I think it’s quite normal to produce pieces that you might not like, but that provide release in some way. I think it’s healthy to explore all angles of one’s self expression. The quality of a piece you produce doesn’t diminish, nor does it have less impact because you dislike it. I find often that the work that I like the least tends to be the most popular with others. A phenomenon that I have come across with other artists too, no matter the media or form of expression.
Warm Regards
M
Yes, I have heard that it is best to be outside of one’s comfort zone. It’s funny, there are some types of discomforts I’m more comfortable with than others (if that makes any sense). I mean there is the lack of coordination discomfort that arises when one first attempts a new thing – I find that to be tolerable; the other is using those skills with which one is comfortable, to create something embarrassing. There are also different types of embarrassment: the embarrassment of “Cripes, this is too ugly for words”; the embarrassment of “Cripes, I didn’t want anyone to know THAT about me”.
Thank you for your kind words about the work in this post. I appreciate that.
Warm Regards,
YF
J