Artist as shrink

Artist as Shrink.

In relation to my practice I wish to look at how art is a translation from the internal to external – the unconscious mind to the conscious mind and into viewable artwork. I will look at psychoanalytic theories of the unconscious mind and the components of the psyche. I want to explore the idea of our unconscious mind harbouring thoughts and desires that on an unconscious level are translated into art.

When looking at the concept of the unconscious the first person to come to mind is the psychologist Sigmund Freud, unconscious meaning separate from the our consciousness.  The exploration of the unconscious was founded by Freud with a system known as ‘psychoanalysis’ but also includes contributions, other smaller systems stemming from the main system, from (his disciples) other psychologists; Carl Gustav Jung’s involvement with a separate yet valid system ‘analytic psychology;’ Alfred Adler with ‘individual psychology.’ The main understanding of this concept is “the belief that much human experience and behaviour springs from motives of which the individual is unconscious.” This system explains how there are three components of the psyche: “ p26…the id exerting instinctive, libidinous force, the superego representing cultural, civilised forces and the ego which achieves some balance between the other two.” A Textbook of Psychology, 1980. Page 27

When imbalances in the components of the unconscious arise, such as great stress on the ego which is the decider between one’s desires and conscience, then it can cause disturbances in a person’s mentality causing mild to erratic behaviour. Freud did a study on hysteria looking at how the mind fell to a mental breakdown because of internal disturbances – these disturbances often can be seen as being produced by external features, in particular Freud’s experiments to induce hysteria for the point of study. In relation to art, especially in relation to my own practice, I believe that internal disturbances are often used on an unconscious level to produce artworks – a relationship between the internal and external levels of consciousness. The film piece, “Vertigo” looks directly at the issue of hysteria and the symptoms brought on by inner conflicts – looking at circumstances that go beyond ordinary realms and into dark places which we find connecting to another part of ourselves. My opening point being that art and psychology go hand in hand as the effects of our own mentality on an unconscious level are translated into art forms because art itself is a meaning of expression – turning internal into external – and also a sheer morbid curiosity with subjects relating to the unknown.  

                Contained in the mind of someone – consciousness.

             Circumstances that go beyond – connect to another part of us.

(“Vertigo” – hysteria) (The Birds) 

 

Looking at therapeutic techniques, “free association to the elements of the patient’s dreams and the interpretation of the patient’s statements in terms of symbolic meanings…,” which are used by art forms such as abstract expressionism where techniques are used to express thoughts and emotions from the unconscious (example here). The Stream of Consciousness, a  Freudian concept, looks at how one can express elements from the unconscious by allowing themselves to write without intent or even thinking about what they write, thus to express their mentality or collective of ideas from within the mind that they did not know they had. I use similar methods in my practice to get an insight to my mentality, thoughts and memories stored in my unconscious – I am interested in the concept of hidden desires and ideas.