On a recent trip to Copenhagen I found the inspiration for this particular project. Copenhagen, for anyone who hasn’t been, I a city based around cycling. Everyone cycles everywhere, cars are a second class mode of transport and parking is difficult (if you, like me, don’t like to pay for it); for the duration of the trip I was, for the most part, resigned to a borrowed Victorian style bicycle. When exploring new destinations I often find my general focus shifting as I attempt to flesh out the small details of my surroundings. Often I day dream without being aware of what I am consciously doing.
While waiting at an intersection for the lights to change, thinking about something utterly irrelevant, I suddenly became aware that I had been staring at a woman’s derrière. I have no idea how long I had been doing this. At first I felt a little embarrassed, but then I started to laugh at myself. Having researched evolutionary psychology, I knew that female buttocks are particularly sexually attractive to males as they are a good indicator of the ‘waste to hip ratio’.
According to various studies the female ‘waste to hip ratio’ or WHR is particularly attractive to males for a number of reasons. High fertility and improved cognitive abilities in offspring being two of said reasons. I found it curious that in contemporary society where the needs of a relationship are so complex that the primal instinct is so strong. I reasoned that some attractive qualities must now appear so absurd if rationally exposed that it would make quite an interesting creative project.
I intend to examine biological, historical and psychological reference points to contextualize this endeavor. I will post material I have looked at as the blog progresses. I shall use techniques such as automatic drawing as a source of unconscious sexual self-analysis throughout.
I am also looking for suggestions and contributions from other artists and anyone with a professional or personal interest in the subject. Contribution to this project via constructive discussion will be welcome. Please contact me by sending me a message on AN or through my website:
www.markedmondsart.com
Here is the original archetype painting for those of you who missed it the first time,,,enjoy
“In my ongoing project ‘Goddess’, I use painting and collage to create archetypal references which attempt to represent traditionally feminine characteristics, in that, when encountering the image, the viewer may experience a sensation linked to the subject matter which, according to the theory of evolutionary psychology, is burred deep within their unconscious mind; this is representative of a holistic approach to the collective human psychic, perhaps reflecting an aspirational shift in contemporary thinking as we potentially move from the Freudian era into a Jungian one.”
One month into the project blog, I have been attempting to psychoanalyze myself. I thought my own psyche was as good a place as any to begin. I’m currently reading through the book ‘Man and his Symbols’ witch was the last work of the very famous Karl Jung. The general theme is: psyche for the ‘Lay-person’, well up to chapter 2 (I’m a slow reader). My favorite part so far is when young states that the more primitive a culture is the more they fear the unknown or anything different. The next time someone says that they don’t like my paintings, I shall the’ll them it’s because they are primitive – ha
So what have I discovered so far? Difficult to say, Jung recommends dream analysis as the most direct way to access the unconscious mind. This is in apparent contrast to Freud’s method of ‘free – association’. Jung believed that dreams were the unconscious mind sending messages to the conscious mind, therefore dream analysis is an effective way of communicating with the unconscious and seeing what it wants. Or perhaps there is a more effective way for me personally, as an artist, to undertake this process of self discovery.
So how does any of this relate to artwork? I’m not quite sure yet. I’ve never really questioned why I use painting as my primary means of visual communication. Just who am I attempting to communicate with? A wider audience or an audience of one.
Presumably the first of many automatic drawings. Based on a magazine image the body lines appear to correspond with body chakras. My first book to read on the subject will be : Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung
