Author: Faye Tikic

I want to explore the relationship between outsider art and art therapy. Outsider art traditionally explores the expressive works of psychiatric patients and prisoners while art therapy practices artistic expression as a form of therapy; I want to highlight the shared past and history of these art fields drawings from art created in psychiatric care. I feel by uniting these two fields I can eplore their link: how idenity is revealed and explored through artistic expression.

 

Outsider art or art brut – Jean Dubuffet

Jean Dubuffet played a large role within Outsider art, he was the founder of the movement Art Brut and is well known for the collection Collection de l’art brut. Jean was aware of traditional artistic principles and sought to dissolve these ideals by embracing so called “low art” and favoring humanistic, raw, emotive expression. Dubuffet refers to fine trained arts as ‘cultral art’ while refering to graffiti, street art and untrained works of artists, prisoners and children as ‘Art Brut’.

In 1948 ‘The Compagnie de l’Art Brut’ was founded by: Jean Dubuffet, Andre Breton, Jean Paulhan, Charles Ratton, Henri-Pierre Roche, Michel Tepie and Edmond Bomsel. These artists broke boundries and provided opportunity for the study of unconventional, human expression. I feel inspired by Dubuffets practice to explore outsider methods within the development of my work – I will create a series of works inspired by the works of artists involved in the Compagnie de l’Art Brut.

Der Blaue Reiter

Throughout my art brut research I came across the group ‘Der Blaue Reiter’ this group was formed through artists Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, August Macke, Alexej Von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, Paul Klee. This band of artists formed in response to the rejection of Kandinsky’s former group Neue Künstlervereinigung München founded in 1909 in the belief that its principles had become too traditional and restricted. The movement Der Blaue Reiter lasted between 1911 and 1914 and was considered to be fundamental to furture art movements Expressionism and Die Brucke. The movement lacked a manifesto unlike most established art movements however the principle theories were centred around Kandisky and Marcs ideaologies around spiritual truths.

Der Blaue Reiter – Outsider Group

Wassily Kandinsky
Auguste Macke
Franz Marc
Alexej Jawlensky
Albert Bloch
Lyonel Feininger
Gabriele Munter
Marianne von Werefkin

Colour Symbolism

I am interested in the groups approach to painting and im also intrigued by the origin of the movements title, Der Blaue Reiter. It is said that the painting ‘Der Blaue Reiter’ 1903 by Kandinsky was used as the movements title however throughout my research I have learnt that the name could derive from Marc’s love for horses, Kandinsky’s admiration for riders combined with their shared appreciation for the colour blue. In the artists vision, blue is the colour of spirituality – the deeper the blue the more it awakens human desire for the eternal. The group shared a common interest in expressing spiritual states and truths through their work, they strongly believed in a spontaneous, intuitive approach to painting while promoting modern art through spiritual and symbolic associations of colour. I am inspired by the principle beliefs of this movement; particularly exploring colour symbolism, I intend on exploring this within my practice through connecting colours and words then applying these colours to portrait paintings.

 

 

 

Purpose of this project

–  To further sculpture my art theory through the practice of art therapy and psychoanalysis- exploring the self and identity through visual communication and practical research in relation to my understanding of arts role in supporting mental health.

Phsychoanalyst Influence

A strong influence in my work is psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach’s and his personality projective methods such as the ink blot test. My concepts and theories directly link to the expression of personality and therefore I feel Rorschach’s influence will encourage direct creative play around expression and identity.

A synthesis of my art theory and influences

I want to focus my work in relation to my art theory and influences, my core inspirations were philosopers: heleg, danto and goodman forming understanding of aesthetics and judgement in creative expression and the definition of art. My last project explored the meaning of art and set out to investigate what art really is, my conclusion, art is human and art is a feeling, which to me says more about the viewer and observer of a work – this understanding shares vivid links with the concept of art therapy, drawing understanding of an individual through creative language, I feel inspird to further explore my ideas by teaming up with the ideologies of outsider art and occupational therapy. I plan to research the basis of art theory and art therapy to further explore personality and identity in relation to creative expression.

Art Theory – Influences

George Hegel (August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831)

Throughout the development of my art theory, Hegel’s most influential notion was Das Absolute or Absolute Idealism. in Hegel’s terms this referred to complete awareness of the self and world; in order for the aware subject to comprehend is object there in some sense must be identity of thought and being. This concept has played a role in my art theory highlighting importance of the self and thought – this inspired my understanding that as we interact with our environment and art, we can continuously hone in an understanding of our identity and our place in the world which is also the basis of a range of concepts in psychology and psychoanalysis.

Books I have looked at and will read further into:

• Art and the Absolute: A Study of Hegel’s Aesthetics By William Desmond

Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804)

Kant’s exploration of aesthetics is interesting to me as he believes that a human’s response to the mere appearance of an object without the determinate guidance of what it is, means we are exploring or responding to its aesthetics. Kant argues a variety of ideas such as his belief that the mind forms the foundation for human experience he argues that reason is the source of ethics and morality, he believes aesthetics rise from judgement and that space and time are shaped through human sensibility, that the world as is “in-itself” is independent of humanity’s understanding and concepts of it. I felt inspired by Kant’s belief’s of pleasure, that it is a basic signal of visual comprehension. So aesthetic judgement determines human cognition rather than the object itself, these ideas are fundamental within my work’s core; exploring the aesthetics and judgement as a means of exploring idenity and the human mind.

Books I have looked at and will read further into:

• The Critique of practical reason (1788)
• The Critique pure judgement (1790)
• Critique of Pure Reason (1781)

Nelson Goodman (7 August 1906 – 25 November 1998)

In Goodman’s Book, Ways of World-making (1978) I felt captivated by his questions: what is art? When is art? And what is good art? I feel particularly engaged with his exploration of symbolic language and concepts on the the power of audience. Goodman see’s everything as a symbol that classifies areas of reality for one’s self, as do such things as mathematical or scientific theories that make up common understanding of our world. Goodman furthered this concept through the notion of  exemplification,  I felt intrigued by the ideas that symbols can express qualities such as sorrow and movment without literally possessing them and in that expression is not bound to emotion but harnessed from the audience. This was an influence in my art theory as it draws attention to emotion and audience; I feel this could hold potential in exploring my studies exploring individuality and identity, I will use the foundation of Goodman’s importance of symbols in relation to my resreach on art therapy and physchoanalysis.

Books I have looked at and will read further into:

• Languages of Art (1968)
• Ways of worldmaking (1978)

 

Arthur C. Danto (January 1, 1924 – October 25, 2013)

Danto is an important influence in my work, I was initially inspired by his creation of the term “Art world” suggesting conceptual artworks are incomprehensible without the input of art communities interpreters, critics, artists and curators, I feel this works well with my theory as it furthers my ideas that art begins and ends with the viewer and is based on the identity of the artworks observer therefore the idea that knowlegde in the field aids the viewers ability to comprehend the work stregthens my statements. I was also interested in Danto’s declaration of the end of art in one of his latest books, this claim was inspired by Hegel’s belief that postmodern art holds no boundies, there is no spirit or special way that art has to be, I feel this applies to my exploration of art as the practice of my project will work of the basis of “no right answer” outcomes. I admired Danto’s belief that to be an artist, means to become a philosopher and I feel this rings true in my art practice.

Books I have looked at and will read further into:

• After the End of Art (1997)
• What Art is (2013)
• The Abuse of Beauty (2003)