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Art and the Unconscious Mind Asta Sutton Art and the Unconscious A Semiotic Case Study of the Painting Process ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented with the permission of the Faculty of Art and Design of the University of Lapland, for public discussion in lecture hall 2 on October 24th 2014, at 12 o’clock Acta Electronica Universitatis Lapponiensis 155 University of Lapland Faculty of Art and Design Copyright: Asta Sutton Distribution: Lapland University Press P.O. Box 8123 FI-96101 Rovaniemi, Finland phone + 358 40 821 4242 [email protected] www.ulapland.fi/lup Printed Acta Universitatis Lapponiensis 287 ISBN 978-952-484-765-0 ISSN 0788-7604 Pdf Acta Electronica Universitatis Lapponiensis 155 ISBN 978-952-484-766-7 ISSN 1796-6310 Contents Acknowledgments �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������7 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................9 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 11 1.1. The Case Studies and Research Questions ....................................................16 1.2. The Main Sources ..................................................................................................21 1.3. The Research Methods .........................................................................................23 1.4. The Importance of the Artistic Production ..................................................27 2. History of the Unconscious ........................................................................................ 30 2.1. Views of the Ancients and the Early Philosophers .....................................30 2.2. Inner Freedom’s First Steps in the West and the East ������������������������������31 2.3. Spiritualism Flourishes among European Philosophers and Artists .....33 2.4. Toward the East �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������38 2.5. American Philosophers: Against the Spiritual and Toward the Logical ��41 2.6. Pioneers Freud and Jung ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������43 2.7. Bridge between East and West .........................................................................44 2.8. Short Review of Freud’s Theories of the Unconscious ...............................47 2.9. Key Features of C. G. Jung’s Theory ................................................................51 2.9.1. Personalities ............................................................................................55 2.9.2. Consciousness and the Unconscious ..............................................58 2.9.3. Personal and Collective Unconscious .............................................61 2.9.4. Archetypes as Symbolic Images in Artworks ������������������������������62 2.9.5. Anima and Animus—Hidden Effects on an Artist’s Life .......64 2.9.6. Self-individuation Experienced in a Painting Process ..............66 2.10. Dreams as Symbols or Visual Messages from the Unconscious .............69 2.11. Art and Inner Values ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������80 3. Research Method Based on the Semiotic Theory of C. S. S. Peirce ............ 88 3.1. Semiotic Sign .........................................................................................................96 3.2. Sign as Icon, Index, and Symbol ................................................................... 102 3.3. Sign Interpretation ............................................................................................ 106 3 4. The Artwork Interpretation Model ....................................................................... 110 4.1. Artwork as Qualisign, Sinsign, and Legisign—Icon, Index, and Symbol.................................................................................................................... 118 4.2. The Interpretation of Possibilities .................................................................. 128 4.3. The Collected Facts and the Amplification Method ............................... 131 4.4. The Intellectual Interpretation ....................................................................... 139 5. Case Studies: Salvador Dalí and Jackson Pollock ........................................... 140 5.1. Chronological Development of Jackson Pollock ....................................... 141 5.2. The Deep by Jackson Pollock ............................................................................ 147 5.2.1. The Interpretation of Possibilities................................................. 147 5.2.2. The Collected Facts and the Amplification Method ............. 150 5.2.2.1. Nature’s Fractal Patterning in Pollock’s Art ........ 150 5.2.2.2. Zen Principles in Pollock’s Art ................................ 153 5.2.2.3. Inspirations from Indian Sand Paintings, Jazz, and Literature ................................................................ 157 5.2.2.4. Desire to Create New Techniques ......................... 159 5.2.2.5. Painting Has a Life of Its Own—Psychic Automatism is Not Automatic ................................. 162 5.2.2.6. The ctA of Painting as Synchronicity—No Beginning, No End ...................................................... 165 5.2.2.7. Archetypal Explanations ............................................ 172 5.2.2.8. A Painting as Mandala ............................................... 174 5.2.2.9. The Mother Archetype .............................................. 177 5.3. The Chronological Development of Salvador Dalí .................................. 179 5.4. Assumpta Corpuscularia Lapislazulina by Salvador Dalí .......................... 188 5.4.1. The Interpretation of Possibilities................................................. 188 5.4.2. The Collected Facts and the Amplification Method .............. 191 5.4.2.1. Science and Religion ................................................... 192 5.4.2.2. Classical Techniques to be Improved ��������������������� 194 5.4.2.3. Dreams and Hallucinations: Leveraging Sources to Enhance Imagination ........................... 196 5.4.2.4. Archetypal Explanations ........................................... 200 5.4.2.5. Gala as Condensation ................................................ 204 5.5. The Intellectual Interpretation of Dalí and Pollock ................................. 207 5.5.1. Different Personalities and Creations.......................................... 208 5.5.2. Individuation Process ....................................................................... 211 5.5.3. To Connect with the Unconscious in the Act of Painting ... 216 4 6. The Artistic Production: To Give a Form to the Unknown ........................... 223 6.1. TheVerbal Protocol Method to Reveal the Unconscious ...................... 224 6.2. The First Painting Project: Brainstorming and Automatic Techniques ........................................................................................................... 226 6.2.1. Word Association by Jung �������������������������������������������������������������� 229 6.2.2. The Importance of the Past ............................................................ 230 6.2.3. Active Imagination by Jung ............................................................ 232 6.3. The Second Painting Project and Techniques to Stimulate the Unconscious .......................................................................................................... 236 6.3.1. The Flow Moment ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 239 6.3.2. Free Association by Freud ��������������������������������������������������������������� 241 6.3.3. Depressed Thoughts .......................................................................... 242 6.3.4. The Importance of the Explanation ............................................. 246 6.3.5. Higher Consciousness with Yoga ................................................. 247 7. Unwrapping the Unconscious from the Artistic Production ..................... 251 7.1. Thinking-aloud Technique to Connect with the Unconscious Mind .. 252 7.2. Emptying the Mind to Become a No-mindedness ���������������������������������� 254 7.3. Trusting Intuitions and Emotions so that Inspiration Can Occur ..... 257 7.4. Doing Something Without Thinking: Absentminded, Semiautomatic, and Nonconscious Processes in Relation to Incubation ......................... 261 7.5. Rapid Associations in the Act of Painting—Similar to the Incubation ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 264 7.6. Archetypes Unveil Hidden Thoughts, Personal Consolations, and Losses ..................................................................................................................... 268 7.7. Childhood Memories and the Fear of Loss ............................................... 274 7.8. Identifying Repeated Words to Uncover Unconscious Content ���������� 275 7.9. Seeing is Thinking .............................................................................................. 280 8. Epilogue �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 283 Appendices ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
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