Cathays Library Exhibition

Earlier this month I took part in a small art show in Cathays Library, loads of my peers from uni exhibited their work too and it went down a treat. It was sightly limited as we weren’t allowed to hammer nails into the walls (which is understandable) so we had to make the most of the space we had.

It was a nice way to exhibit work, less clinical than a usual gallery exhibition because our work could be found in all the nooks and crannies of the library, this meant we could choose particular spots for our work that we thought would be effective.

I instantly knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to place it: a small horror themed painting placed in the dark corner by the Sci-Fi/Horror section, so it was somewhat hidden away but still noticeable.

Here is how it looked from start to finish.

And here is how it looked displayed in the library

I used the painting techniques I learnt from our painting workshops in uni e.g. layering colours upon colours, using fine lines and patterns to create certain textures etc. I really enjoyed painting it, I’m glad I took part. Here’s me and the boyf, my inspiration for the whole idea…

Dissertation Proposal Planning

I have really left my proposal too late, i’ve been focusing really hard on my Subject work but it has also been a means of avoiding my dissertation research and i’m panicking quite a lot!

I am worried because I haven’t been reading any where near enough to inform myself and back up my ideas. I have decided to work with the literature i’ve got that is available to me whilst I am home for Easter.

I have a book by Carl Jung titled ‘Man and his Symbols Conceived and edited by Carl Jung’ I will be reading the early portion about dreams and symbolism the most intently, though the latter parts of the book contain evidence as to the importance of symbolism and the unconscious mind in the visual arts, so I shall relish this book as part of my dissertation ‘food’.

Things Carl Jung said in relation to Dreams and Symbolism:

Here is a painting by Swiss artist Erhard Jacoby inspired by a dream he had. Jung explains it is a painting with a sign on the right we all know to mean ‘look out for animals crossing’ but instead of a deer we see an elephant and even a dinosaur on the road. There are the shadows of two (apparently) bikers at the bottom who are witnessing the scene Jung says it: ‘Accurately depicts the apparently illogical, incoherent nature of dream imagery’ (pg 28). The use of animals as a way of twisting an otherwise normal scene and making it surreal is a technique I have been practicing in my own work for Subject.

Jung explains how primitive people such as the Indians of South America for example, are in touch with their unconscious and perhaps psychic minds. It is in our society that we are deprived of this connection. Jung writes: ‘What psychologists call psychic identity, or “mystical participation” has been stripped off our world of things’. (pg 31). By this he means our western society has a certain dismissive attitude towards our unconscious minds when in fact they are more: ‘vivid than the concepts and experiences that are their waking counterparts’. (pg 29).

What I want to write about in my dissertation is the relationship between dreams and painting, and I shall be referring to my Subject final piece (below) as dreams have been the main focus of my work this year. This is something I feel excited about as I get to combine my research with the work I have been making and sum it all up in my dissertation.

Jung also writes: ‘We have lost it to such a degree (meaning lost touch with our unconscious minds) that we do not recognize it when we meet it again.’ This quote is very relevant to my dissertation as I believe artists – more specifically Surrealist painters – felt the need to face their audiences with their own unconscious thoughts and make them appreciate the rich symbolism of the images within them. Perhaps it was our western society’s logical, self righteous state of mind that irked the Surrealists to bring the unconscious mind to the forefront in art, outrageous they may have seemed, but they were not random in their processes.

Subject Final Piece

My final piece is based on a recent dream I have had (would you believe it). But the funny thing about this dream is that it was obviously brought on by the work I have been making, it’s been handy having my unconscious mind come up with art works for me! After drawing out what I dreamed in my sketchbooks and planning a composition for my painting, I made my canvas and got to work. It is what I would call a medium sized canvas (about 2 ft by 3 ft). The materials I used were emulsion and acrylic paint.

Here it is from beginning to end.

Above is the finished version and i’m really happy with it. Not only have I sped up this year, but I have learned to loosen up my painting style and create work that I consider to be much more interesting than the work I made in my first year.

I’m also glad I didn’t ignore the dog that is responsible for this complete change in my work (the dog that I painted whilst taking Robert Pepperell’s lectures in Art and the Conscious Mind, below.) I think I have neglected to acknowledge how much of an influence Salvador Dali’s work has had on my own. Perhaps this is because his work seemed too obvious to reference being one of the kings of Surrealism, especially as I have been trying to push my research further this year.

First of all, Dali’s use of animals is an obvious link to my work, I think the role of animals in Surrealism is even more important than the role humans have. I think this because animals, depending on their nature, are the embodiment of symbols, and Dali brought animals into his work in a very raw and powerful way. Dogs interest me in paintings because they have a level of intelligence not often seen in many other animals. They are capable of showing guilt, sensing bad moods, and one can even hold eye contact with them as if they were human. They are known as ‘Man’s best friend’ so when I see a dog in a painting I assume there is a human near by, even though they are wild animals after all.

In Dali’s ‘Dali Nude, in Contemplation… the Visage of Gala’ (above) he has borrowed a dog from a 16th century painting by Ayne Bru titled ‘The Martyrdom of Saint Cucufa’ (below).

 I find it interesting that Dali placed the dog in the bottom right hand corner just like Bru did, but he immersed it in water. I had forgotten about this piece before I dreamed of – and then painted – the underwater dog, but perhaps it stayed in my unconscious mind somewhere, considering they even look like the same breed!