I am well into my explorations in color and want to share an image.
I have concluded that the white and black backgrounds are not so good for color Rorschachs. As such my grounds are something I put a lot of work into. In order to remain true to the ambiguous nature of the Rorschach I am using mostly “found” color. These found colors are actually ambiguous in nature and thus it will be interesting to see what colors people project when they perceive the artwork.
Rorschach paintings spring 2011
Hello All, it has been a while. I am going to upload some examples of my most recent blot paintings. Even as I do this I have moved on to experimentation with color. Rorschachs, according to art historian and critic, Patricia Sloane in a 1960 wonderful article critiquing this approach to art and aesthetics, are very interesting when they are monochromatic or achromatic (See: The Ink Blot Test, “Psychodiagnostics” and Hermann Rorschach’s Aesthetic Views. Author(s): Patricia SloaneSource: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Autumn, 1970), pp. 105-119.) She posited that, “ Hermann Rorschach was among several major figures of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who attempted, in one way or another, to formulate a theoretical basis for a
visual aesthetic.” (page 106 of the reference just cited). Ms. Sloane thought that Rorschach was not as successful with the use of color as he was with bisymmetic forms. I generally agree with her statement and I have spent most of the summer addressing this weakness. I will soon share some of my discoveries with you but until then I just want to weigh in with my monochromatic work. I would like to point out that while this work does not make a unique contribution to this form of work, as far as formalism is concerned, it is very much informed by my Psychoanalytic work and the images were chosen for their evocative power as opposed to, for example, the decorative style of a Warhol Rorschach.
I should point out that my advisor at Brooklyn College, Archie Rand, pointed out that the viewer’s capacity to dialougue with my Rorschach images would be enhanced by treating them like paintings. So, I committed to making them on canvas and stretching them. Most of the paintings that I made this past spring were 24 by 30 inches. I no longer impose my own visual associatons to the Rorschach as that inteferes with the viewer’s capacity to formulate an independent response.
Me and Pollock
My art history studies are helping me define both my art form and the experience I want to offer the viewer. Abstract expressionism was all about painting as an “event” performed on the canvas. It was heavily influenced by Psychoanalytic concepts like free association and automatism,or acts performed unconsciously. Jackson Pollock was a master of this type of painting.
There are interesting correlations between Hermann Rorschach and Pollock in that they both started a painting with splotches of paint on a blank surface. Rorschach went on to add the further action of folding the blot to produce a bysymmetrical composition. Pollock performed gestural actions to develop his splotches and specifically focused on drips. Art writers have made similar connections between Pollock’s work and Psychoanalysis ( Google Mellon lecture on modern art and abstract painting by Katie taylor. The link that I have does not work). Pollock’s work has been likened to a Rorschach in that his paintings are pieces of art that allow people to look at an ambiguous stimulus and create their own meaning as to what it might be. So, I am in good company I suppose!
In my work I have repeated Rorschach’s approach to the canvas with some minor modifications. I have also brought events to the canvas in that I have had visual associations/reponses to the blot that I drew on the blots themselves. So the work from time to time has been used as a site of action for me.
What I seek most in terms of the viewer’s response is a moment of reflection. I am not like Rothko in the sense of wanting to create a sublime experience for the viewer. I am not God. I want to help people use what they have to create sublime experiences for themselves IF they so choose to have them. I will not make that choice for them. I am as expressionistic as Rothko in my color usage but I want to create a characteristically psychological space for people to encounter themselves. I want them to reflect on the content in their own minds (direct their visual gaze inward) and to emerge from their contemplation to act with a more informed,responsible externally directed visual gaze. ( I will address the concept of visual gaze more fully at a later time.)
I anticipate that some people will say so why turn to art to do that? Why not just keep working with individual patients in the office? Individual patients come with their own agenda and my task as a professional in the mental health field is to help them with their agenda not mine. Plus, this is about more than a few individuals for me. My ambition is to have a cultural impact and art is a better medium than Psychoanalytic therapy for that goal.
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