August, 2015

Automatism was a technique that was first practiced by the Surrealists. It started from automatic writing then to painting. The automatist space played a significant role in artistic development as it inspired surrealism. Art can be therapeutic and spaces can be explored using the subconscious. This study aims at exploring and expressing the subconscious in mixed media painting. it will involve using detritus for artistic expression while expecting aesthetic results thereafter. it will be a practice led study exploring the automatist space. Results will be conceptualized and will not follow a formal rendition but a subconscious approach. Recommendations are made to encourage artists and visual enthusiasts to explore the subconscious.

www.medicinenet.com sees Automatism as An unconscious movement that may resemble simple repetitive tics or may be a complex sequence of natural-looking movements. This curious type of behavior occurs in a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders.

•In art, automatism usually refers to the

accessing of material from the subconscious or unconscious mind as part of the creative process – as seen in the art of the surrealist movement……tate.org.

Difference btw Automatism and Robotic painting• Automatism is painted from the subconcious… it explores the subconcious….(surrealist Automatism)

• Automatic or Robotic Painting is……Painting done by robots or

machines

• From Wikipedia

Statement of the Problem•Artists do paint with many things on their

mind reflecting their environment. Sometimes they may be rigid in their expression

•Art is therapeutic to many mental patients but when they are restricted to basic artistic and classic art fundamental, they lose their art willingness and drive

Aims and Objectives•1. to explore and express the

subconscious in mixed media painting•2. To explore space using the automatist

style•3. To give a therapeutic means of artistic

expression to mental patients.

Significance of Study•Automatist Painting will encourage

artistic development in art enthusiasts and mental patients who love art but are limited in their artistic expression. Beyond artistic studies, with the passion everyone can be an artist, everyone can be artists.

Scope of Study•This study is limited to artistic creative

expressions and may not be restricted only to humanoid forms. The researcher will make an attempt to express his unconscious mind in painting while expecting and working towards potent results.

•. An involuntary act such as sleepwalking that is performed in a state of unconsciousness. The subject does not act voluntarily and is not fully aware of his or her actions while in a state of automatism.

Wikipedia (2014) says• Automatism is the same as free association, the

method used by the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud to explore the unconscious mind of his patients. Freud’s ideas strongly influenced French poet André Breton who launched the surrealist movement in 1924 with the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism.

• In the manifesto, Breton actually defined surrealism as ‘Pure psychic automatism the dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason and outside all moral or aesthetic concerns’. The earliest examples of automatism are the automatic writings of Breton and others, produced by simply writing down as rapidly as possible whatever springs to mind.

SCHORCH (2007) states that• Automatism, or “Automatic Painting, is an two-

stage artistic technique developed by a group of artists, the Surrealists, as a way to visually communicate the subconscious mind (the thoughts, ideas, dreams, & fears we are not always aware of or consciously, mindfully, thinking about).

• The first stage of Automatism is similar to “doodling” with paint; the artist “empties” their mind and freely paints a variety of lines, shapes, colors, and forms. As the abstract (not-real) imagery develops, the “paint doodles” start to become something, and may resemble strange versions of things from the real world: the artist may interpret a swirl of grey & white to be a tornado; a brown half-moon shape angled downward in a mass of blue may be a sinking canoe

•.

•Automatic drawing was pioneered by André Masson. Artists who practised automatic drawing include 

•Joan Miró,•  Salvador Dalí, •Jean Arp •André Breton.

According to Mutango (2008)•The technique was transferred

to painting (as seen in Miró's paintings which often started out as automatic drawings), and has been adapted to other media; there have even been automatic "drawings" in computer graphics. 

•Pablo Picasso was also thought to have expressed a type of automatic drawing in his later work, and particularly in his etchings and lithographic suites of the 1960s.

• Automatic drawing (distinguished from drawn expression of mediums) was developed by the surrealists, as a means of expressing the subconscious. In automatic drawing, the hand is allowed to move 'randomly' across the paper. In applying chance and accident to mark-making, drawing is to a large extent freed of rational control. Hence the drawing produced may be attributed in part to the subconscious and may reveal something of the psyche, which would otherwise be repressed.

• Examples of automatic drawing were produced by mediums and practitioners of the psychic arts. It was thought by some Spiritualists to be a spirit control that was producing the drawing while physically taking control of the medium's body

Wikipedia.com

Encycloepedia Britannica says• In the 1920s the Surrealist poets André Breton, 

Paul Éluard, Robert Desnos, Louis Aragon, and Philippe Soupault tried writing in a hypnotic or trancelike state, recording their train of mental associations without censorship or attempts at formal exposition. These poets were influenced by Freudian psychoanalytic theory and believed that the symbols and images thus produced, though appearing strange or incongruous to the conscious mind, actually constituted a record of a person’s unconscious psychic forces and hence possessed an innate artistic significance. Little of lasting value remains from the Surrealists’ attempts at “automatic” writing, however.

Automatism and Surrealism

•Automatism was a more productive vehicle for the Surrealist painters. André Masson, Arshile Gorky, andMax Ernst, in particular, experimented with fantastic or erotic images that were spontaneously recorded in a kind of visual free association, without the artist’s conscious censorship; the images were then either left as originally conceived or were consciously elaborated upon by the artist.

The abstract art design of “Visual Layers: Red and Black” (mixed watermedia on Yupo, 20×26) is built on contrasts: dark versus light values; large versus small shapes; saturated versus neutral colors; geometric shapes versus organic, gestural lines. What holds these contrasting elements together? A simple H composition. Both vertical sides of the H are handled differently; the lower left extends farther, firmly anchoring the other three arms.http://www.artistsnetwork.com/articles/art-demos-techniques/abstract-paintings-mark-mehaffey

Danny O'Connor always bring some surprises to us, he uses acrylic, spray paint, emulsion and correction fluid creates these vibrant paintingswww.rabbit38.com640 × 639A

Untitled by Donnor O Connor

André Masson. Automatic Drawing. (1924). Ink on paper, 91⁄4 × 81⁄8" (23.5 × 20.6 cm). Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Methodology•Research design•It will follow a Practice Led Research

design.

•Collection of Data•Papers, plastic covers, fabric pieces, cork,

buttons,Oil colours, etc

Summary•This study hopes to express the

automatist space and artistic expression using subconscious rhythmic manipulations by the artist.

Recommendations•Artists should also explore the automatist

space to increase conceptualization in art.•Art should be taught also in mental homes

as a therapy for patients

Bell, M (2010) Automatism, http://www.ukessays.com/essays/arts/automatism-and-veristic-surrealism-comparison-art-essay.php, surfed on the 6thof August, 2015Mutango, J. (2008) The Surrealists: Revolutionaries in art & writing 1919–1935, pp. 15. Schorch , A.(2007)http://aaschorsch.com/_ae/01_Curriculum/18_Projects/2D/Automatist_Painting.htmWikipedia (2015), Automatism,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatism surfed on 6th, August, 2015.

Thank you for listening