Taking inspiration from the outsider artists I have been studying, I have began creating collagraphs without planning and thought, like my previous plate. Instead, using masking tape on card, I let my hands do the work and tried not to think too heavily on what I was doing.
This form of creating led me to wonder, is this art? Are these shapes and colours representative of what i’m feeling, or are they completely random?
Adolf Wolfli was one of the first artists to be associated with outsider art. Wolfli, a Swiss, former farmer and laborer, suffered from schizophrenia and was institutionalized at the age of 33. The work he produced in his cell at Waldau Mental Asylum achieved artistic greatness, and has influenced many modern artists. Andre Breton described his work as “one of the three or four most important oeuvres of the twentieth century”.
Working mostly in pencil on newsprint, Wolfli created a stunningly detailed interwoven series of poems, musical compositions, collages, and illustrations. His thousands of drawings depict an alternative reality, starting from his childhood, which in reality was abusive, to his future.
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972, as the English term for Art Brut. Art Brut was a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture. People who haven’t had any formal training within their disciplines, but have managed to create thought provoking, contemporary pieces.
I have found myself thinking about art as a physiological reflex, movements and marks symbols of our inner psyche. Outsider art is a perfect example of this, taking, for example, a mental illness and harnessing their turmoil and creating an outlet in art.
Nick Blinko, is a prime example of art a an outlet for inner turmoil. Once medicated and mentally stable, his ability to create work diminishes. His extremely detailed pieces give us an insight into his mental instability, with often then pieces seeming really noisy/ busy.
JJ Cromer, a once a librarian, became obsessed with drawing in later life, the objects he grew up around, his families collection of rocks, bugs, plants, and animals have all become subject matter for his work. Is this an unconscious move to revert back to his childhood?
In my research into outsider artist, I have noticed a similarity between a large amount of artists. Large scale works, extremely detailed and controlled imagery, usually a lot going on without one single focus point. Is this a representation of their mental state? With each exhibiting similar work, could it be that these outcomes are similar to symptoms?
Examples –
Adolf Wolfli
Winfred Rembert
Kate Bradbury
Continuing to experiment with printmaking, I attended an etching workshop.
Preparing the plate, wet and dry paper with water, polishing pads with brasso, and finally whitening and ammonia. After these steps the plate is ready for the next step, with this plate I decided yo use an oil based marker to create a pattern.
After creating the design on the plate, I placed it in the acid bath for 30 minutes.
Final print.
I also experimented using acetate to create different backgrounds.
Moving on from sketches, I have began creating drypoint prints, inspired by microscopic cells found in the human body. I have found the idea of chemicals in the brain producing creativity very interesting, with heightened creativity in those with mental disorders, or suffering with brain damage, or even those with a degenerative brain illness. Some scientists believe where linguistic and other communications tools break down, other ways of expression takes over.
Using a drypoint needle on acetate, I created an A5 plate inspired by the patterns found in human anatomy.
Using intaglio ink, I inked up the plate and using skrim removed the excess ink. I placed the damp paper on the press first, followed by the plate face down.
The end result.
Up to this point I have been looking at the links between brain function and creativity, the formation of cells and chemicals in the brain have become the main focus of my research. I find there is a beauty in the microscopic images of human cells, the texture and colour are extremely pleasing to the eye. But this has raised the question, why do we as a species even posses the ability to find thing aesthetically pleasing?
Is art an evolutionary trait? The brain’s way of communicating things language cannot, a window to the psyche? Could this be an explanation for the age old notion of madness creating creativity? Questions I will research further into.
Images taken from my sketchbook, ideas I am going to incorporate into printmaking.
The relationship between artistic creation and psychopathology has been a lengthy one, discussed and debated as early as ancient Greece. Plato brings forth the issue of whether illnesses of the mind are in fact biological, or individuals not conforming to expectations of society? This leads to two categories, the first being the “biological diseases”, an imbalance of chemicals causing irrational behaviour. The second, free thinking people, devoid from what is constructed as socially acceptable.
I have found the notion of a chemical unbalance in the brain creating creativity very interesting, which has lead me into research on neurobiologists, who are trying to pinpoint where creativity is located to gain a better understanding.
The research into neurological reasons for art, has resulted in discovering the beauty in microscopic cells, the things that make up our entire being.
Does mental illness make more sense in colour and shape than words? How do we recognise abstract pieces of work as a particular emotion. Have we been taught to express through words and not with all ranges of tools at hand? I have been researching Hans Prinzhorn, a psychiatrist from the early 20th century. He believed art was an invaluable tool into understanding the inner mind, and created an alphabet of marks and shapes which he believed belong to certain emotions.
August Natterer (1868 – 1933), a schizophrenic German outsider artist, Prinzhorn Collection, Heidelberg
We have been given free rein over our final year project. I have always been interested in the scientific aspect of art, using it as a therapeutic tool, a way to express the inner workings of the brain that we may not be able to communicate through language, to determine illness, etc…
In my project, I will be exploring the use of art as a way of understanding the psyche. Can we use it to diagnose an illness? Why are we as a species drawn to art, is it hardwired into our genetic makeup? These are some of the questions I hope to tackle within my work
Example- Edna Clarke Hall
Enfys Radley 