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.
