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The Viral Sublime and the Bodily Experience of Oil Painting

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The Viral Sublime and the Bodily Experience of Oil Painting THE VIRAL SUBLIME AND THE BODILY EXPERIENCE OF OIL PAINTING SUZI MORRIS A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the school of Arts and Digital Industries, University of East London, for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Fine Art 2017 27th April 2017 i ii Abstract The Viral Sublime exposes a symbiosis between oil paint(ing), virology, and contemporary concepts of the sublime. It explores how the sublime is portrayed by the dual identity of viruses as both malevolent and beneficial in regenerative medicine and genomic science. My painting embodies my imaginative relationship with being in the world knowing that my body is shared with an unwanted virus that has the potential to destroy or possibly save me. To convey my sense of being in a viral world, my painting takes the form of viral landscapes in which oil paint is treated as having some characteristics inherent to viruses, in the ways in which oil paint behaves on a substrate. In fostering these viral dimensions of oil paint in my paintings, an homologous relationship between oil paint and viruses is demonstrated. Meeting with scientists and managing the medical intervention necessary, virology and genomics have become sources of inspiration in relation to the regenerative potential of the sublime. The Viral Sublime is not designed to provide answers, but to question whether it is through the gaze of technology, medicine or science that postmodern ideas of the sublime continue to thrive. Since Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, artists have conceived the sublime as a distinctive aesthetic category that is magnificent but overwhelming, awe-inspiring but terrifying, dangerous and life threatening (Burke, 1757). My lifelong experience of dealing with forces unseen to the naked eye has motivated the contextualisation of my practice within the art histories of invisible energies and virology. Drawing upon Burke and Immanuel Kant’s theories, and postmodern concepts of the sublime within contemporary art, the terrifying and overwhelming power of the contemporary sublime in the form of viruses is explored in my painting. As genomic medicine opens the doors to personalised medicine, one of many objectives is to expand the dialogue between science, medicine and art to initiate change in society’s perceptions of disease, particularly viruses. I propose the Viral Sublime as a new category and extension to knowledge within the canon of art history surrounding the concept of the sublime. iii iv Table of Contents Abstract p. iii Table of Contents p. 01 List of Figures p. 03 Acknowledgments p. 07 Introduction p. 09 Personal and Creative Context p. 12 Part 1. Creative Art Practice and Theory Defining the Viral Sublime p. 27 Ways of Seeing p. 29 The Language of Colour p. 38 Historical Influences and “Le Monde Invisible” p. 41 Paint(ing) and the Invisible Dimensions of the Sublime p. 49 Making Paintings p. 52 Thresholds into Invisible Worlds: Panopticism, Biometrics The Medical Gaze and Keratitis p. 54 Cornelia Parker: Capturing Construction/Deconstruction and Nature Unseen p. 59 Luke White and Claire Pajaczkowska: the Cinematic And Domestic Sublime p. 62 The Viral Sublime as a Form of the Contemporary Sublime p. 63 Part 2. Giant Viruses and Art Practice p. 66 The Families p. 71 The Importance of Line p. 76 The Virus in Relationship with the Sublime p. 80 Art meets Science p. 82 The Pandora Series p. 88 Part 3. Professional Practice Exhibitions p. 97 Curation p. 98 Residencies p. 98 Conferences p. 98 Public and Corporate Collections p. 98 Publications p. 99 Public Art Projects Film and Media Commissions p. 99 Teaching – online workshops p. 100 Reflection on Professional Practice p. 101 Film and Media with da Vinci p. 101 Schmincke p. 102 Da Vinci Artist Residency p. 103 Conferences and Workshops p. 104 Meeting with Science p. 105 Conclusion p. 111 Bibliography and References p. 114 Appendices Appendix 1: Private view cards p. 121 Appendix 2: Private commissions p. 123 Appendix 3: Installation shots of exhibitions p. 124 Appendix 4: Review cuttings p. 130 Appendix 5: Publications p. 131 Appendix 6: Further selected reading p. 132 2 List of Figures Figure 1.0. Morris, Suzi (2015). Homage to Morris. Figure 1.1. Morris, Suzi (1979). Illustration in pencil. Figure 1.2. Morris, Suzi (1983). The Maternity Unit. Figure 1.3. Morris, Suzi (1983). Untitled. Figure 1.4. Bleckner, Ross (1984). Memory of Larry. Figure 1.5. Scene from the documentary Spitfire Sisters. 2010. A Fact Not Fiction Films Production. Figure 1.6. Morris, Suzi (2011). Introducing the Lenticular. Figure 1.7. Blake, William (1805). Christ in the Sepulchre, Guarded by Angels, Figure 1.8. Morris, Suzi (2013). The Forgotten Realm. Figure 1.9. Morris, Suzi (2013). Mach 3. Figure 1.10. Morris, Suzi (2013). Sense of Longing. Figure 1.11. Still shot highlighting depth of field and the lenticular, taken from the documentary Shady Lady, 2012. Figure 1.12. Morris, Suzi (2014). Fumarole. Figure 1.13. Morris, Suzi (2015). The Naked Virus. Figure 1.14. HSV-1 or Herpesviridae virus. Figure 1.15. Morris, Suzi (2015). War Against Beauty (triptych). Figure 1.16. Image courtesy of Sussex Eye Hospital. Figure 1.17. Marine dinoflagellates showing bioluminescence. Figure 1.18. Morris, Suzi (2015). War Against Beauty (triptych). Figure 1.19. Shave, Terry (2010). Milk in its Time. Figure 1.20. Titian (1520-23) Bacchus and Ariadne. 3 Figure 1.21. Redon, Odilon (1879). Germination from In the Dream (Dans le rêve). Figure 1.22. Morris, Suzi (2017). The Holobiont. Figure 1.23. Kupka, František (1912). Disks of Newton, Study for Fugue in two colours. Figure 1.24. Mehretu, Julie (2013). Liminal Squared. Figure 1.25. Robbin, Tony (2015) Untitled. Figure 1.26. Duchamp, Marcel (1912). The Bride. Figure 1.27. Kupka, František (1912-1913). Organisation of Graphic Motifs. Figure 1.28. Morris, Suzi (2016). Transcending the Abyss. Figure 1.29. Morris, Suzi (2015). Arresting Contagion. Figure 1.30. Morris, Suzi (2015). Truth Lies in the Hidden Realms. Figure 1.31. Parker, Cornelia (1993). Neither From Nor Towards. Figure 1.32. The Rothko Room, Tate Modern. Figure 1.33. Lou, Liza (1991-1994). Kitchen. Figure 2.0. The Mouth of the Pithovirus, Aix-Marseille Université. Figure 2.1. Mimivirus, Aix-Marseille Université. Figure 2.2. Lines showing folds on the slide. Aix-Marseille Université. Figure 2.3. Morris, Suzi (2015). On the Origin of Species, Homage to Darwin. Figure 2.4. Suzi Morris’ viewing slides of recently discovered ‘giant’ viruses. 2015, Image courtesy of Chantal Abergel and Jean- Michel Claverie at Aix-Marseille Université. Figure 2.5. Morris, Suzi (2016). The Families. Figure 2.6. Morris, Suzi (2016). Phytogenetic Tree of Life. Figure 2.7. Morris, Suzi (2016). Complexities of Viscera. Figure 2.8. Morris, Suzi (2016). The Progeny Virion. 4 Figure 2.9. Morris, Suzi (2016). Mama Virus. Figure 2.10. The Tree of Life design by Alistair Mc Caulay. The Wellcome Genome Campus Conference Centre, Summer 2016. Figure 2.11. Morris, Suzi (2016). Reverse Transcription. Figure 2.12. Morris, Suzi (2016). Silencing the Neurons. Figure 2.13. Preparation of paint samples at Imperial College London. Figure 2.14. Samples of bohemian earth green pigment combined with linseed oil, linseed oil and turpentine, turpentine. Figure 2.15. Francis, Mark (2012). Hadron. Figure 2.16. Ellsworth Kelly, Three Panels: Orange, Dark Gray, Green 1986, Oil on canvas, three parts, overall 9 feet 8 inches by 34 feet 4½ inches. Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art New York. Figure 2.17. An image of a Pandoravirus particle, created using an electron microscope. Image courtesy Chantal Abergel and Jean-Michel Claverie. Figure 2.18. Morris, Suzi (2017). The Birth of Pandora. Figure 2.19. Morris, Suzi (2017). A Genus of Viruses. Figure 2.20. Morris, Suzi (2017). Waiting for CRISPR Cas-9. Figure 3.0. Filming for da Vinci Artists Brushes, 2015. Figure 3.1. Suzi Morris consultation with Dieter Kohlbauer, da Vinci, Nürnberg, making the da Vinci DUROPLUS commercial. December 2015. Figure 3.2. Atelier-und Galeriehaus Defet, Nurnberg. Figure 3.4. Morris, Suzi (2015). The Unseen Virion. Figure 3.5. Morris, Suzi (2016). Little Marburg. Figure 3.6. Installation view of Professional Doctorate Viva Showcase, University of East London, 2017 Figure 3.7. Installation view of Professional Doctorate Viva Showcase, University of East London, 2017 5 Figure 3.8. Installation view of Professional Doctorate Viva Showcase, University of East London, 2017 Figure 3.9. Installation view of Professional Doctorate Viva Showcase, University of East London, 2017 Figure 3.10. From the Studio Floor, Cambridge Guildhall (2016). Figure 3.11. Landscapes of Mind (2016). Institut für moderne Kunst Nürnberg. Figure 3.12. 2016, Professional Doctorate Showcase, University of East London. Figure 3.13. 2016, Professional Doctorate Showcase, University of East London. Figure 3.14. 2015, Professional Doctorate Showcase, University of East London. Figure 3.15. 2015, From the Studio Floor, Anise Gallery, Shad Thames, London. Figure 3.16. 2015, Selected Recent Graduates Group exhibition, Battersea Park London. Figure 3.17. 2015, Virus, Platform 1 Gallery, London SW12. 6 Acknowledgements Primarily I would like to thank leading German companies, Schmincke Paints and da Vinci Artists Brushes, for their championing my undertaking this doctoral programme. Their support has enabled me to explore paint and its application to a much higher degree, than would have otherwise been possible. I am particularly grateful to my supervisors Professor Fay Brauer and Karen Raney for all their guidance and support. Professor Brauer for augmenting my art historical knowledge and Karen Raney for her insight into my painting and encouragement of my written prose. I am also thankful to Eric Great-Rex, Hedley Roberts and Tim Allen for their encouragement and discussion, and to Dr Caroline Dunmore for her inspirational postgraduate workshops that initiated connections for me with PhD students in the new sciences.
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