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Amplification.

 


Thinking about the purpose of my writing and artistic practice I would say that it is a naturally occurring form of amplification. Each time I translate a visual motif into different artwork new associations arise that amplify the visual image. Amplification was a method Carl Jung used in the interpretation of dream images. Jolande Jacobi writes that,

‘In Jung’s amplification method the various dream motifs are enriched by analogous, related images, symbols, myths, etc., which throw light on their diverse aspects and possible meanings, until their significance stands out in full clarity.’

Jolande Jacobi, The Psychology of C.G. Jung (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973), 86.

 

Rather than the significance of the image standing out in full clarity, the amplification process occurring within my artistic practice produces a constellation of related analogies, memories and collective associations that cannot be reduced to one meaning or significance. I find it easier to interpret my dreams than to interpret the visual images haunting my artworks. In many ways this process appears to be interminable. It is failing to lay the ghosts to rest and they continue to haunt me. Perhaps these memories and associations are facets of an archetype.

Jung suggests that amplification naturally occurs in series of dreams,

‘… the dream-motifs always return after certain intervals to definite forms, whose characteristic it is to define a centre. And as a matter of fact, the whole process revolves around a central point or some arrangement around a centre, which may in certain circumstances appear even in the initial dreams. As manifestations of unconscious processes the dreams circulate or circumambulate round the centre, drawing closer to it as the amplifications increase in distinctness and scope.’

C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, trans. R.F.C. Hull (London: Routledge, 1993), 289.

 

The central point around which the amplification process within my artistic practice circulates is the original image translated into an artwork many years ago. I have always felt that my artistic process occurs in a state of waking dreaming, the resulting artworks often seem uncanny, both familiar and unfamiliar.

In order to try and understand each visual motif and the related mental associations I began to write denkbilder or thought-images. These short blocks of text are an ideal writing form. I do not have to worry about narrative sequence or the inevitable descent into nonsense. Anything longer and my texts self-destruct. I have begun to post pages of these thought-images. Denkbilder also embody a form of visual thinking, they are the ideal writing form for a visual thinker. Perhaps this is why I am drawn to dreams and their interpretation as both involve a form of visual thinking.

Many years ago, one of my closest friends informed me that I had the developmental age of a four-year-old. At the time she was teaching Psychology and Sociology, so I asked her why she thought this. She told me it was because I think in images. At the time I dismissed her comment as an attempt to provoke a reaction.  Provoking a reaction involved the utilisation of a grain or seed of truth that would either irritate the other person or grow out of control in their psyche. This was a mind game we both found highly amusing. I think it is safe to say that the seed of truth planted in my psyche by my friend has grown, blossomed and borne fruit.

I thought the creation of a copy book was practical and rational but now I am wondering if my artistic process will overtake my rational mind and the images will sprout copies like weeds. On the first page there is a Moon. Somewhere I read that souls of the departed are drawn up to the moon like drops of morning dew. The fact is that I am drawing what I come across but somehow these things take on a particular significance. Perhaps I should burn the copy book before it takes on a life of its own.

Below are three more images from the copy book I am working on.










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