Project Proposal, Semester 1 2012
Information MUST be typed and in this format. DO NOT EXCEED WORD LIMIT.
First drafts should be presented in class in Week 1.
Revised and refined version to be presented with the body of work for assessment.
Student Name: Emma Barry
Student No.: z3335085
SART3340 Drawing/Painting 4A and SART3360 Drawing/Painting 4B
Draft no.: 1 Date: 26/2/2012
1. Title of Project (optional):
2. Brief description of project (50 words):
An exploration of the ancient concept of the ‘genius’ or ‘daemon’: a divine intellectual spirit that enters an artist and is responsible for creative works. I hope to create artworks that represent this idea as a redeeming grace for artists who become overwhelmed with responsibility, depression, doubt or fear of the creative act.
3. About the project (300 words).
Concept
Author Elizabeth Gilbert stresses that more than practitioners in any other field; artists are seen as prone to being mentally unstable. Ancient Greek/Roman artists would practice their craft to a high degree of mastery and only then would be considered capable of executing the ideas given to them by a visiting daemon/genius. My artwork will be offerings/invitations to the daemon to bring inspiration, and signify an undercutting of the ego: through sacrifice of technical skill an artist renounces the fear, depression, anxiety and egoism that can come from the creative process/laying claim to creativity. My artwork will take the form of technical drawings imitating the practice undertaken by ancient Grecian art students coupled with a performance of the sacrificial destruction of these works (documentation of this performance will be considered based on further research into sacrifice).
Research methodology
The main research process will be the practice of attempting to reach verisimilitude in drawing from life and busts, informed by literature on the drawing processes taught to Ancient Greek/Roman art students. For the project to expand and be flexible I intend that research into the spiritual/religious origins of the daemon/genius and research of current cultural practices that invoke the genius will allow me to experiment with different options as far as the visual form and process of my artmaking (and its destruction) is concerned.
Contextualisation
Creativity is a philosophical question not yet answered and its exploration is often the subject of artmaking, as such this work is a continued exploration of ancient ideas in an attempt to understand its relevance in the contemporary artworld. I envisage that actions of “offering” ones “talent” to a higher force is liberating from the dysfunctional outlooks of narcissism or depression that can result from an outlook of ownership over artmaking (a very pervasive cultural notion of artists). If the genius/daemon concept could be represented as a positive and viable psychological construct to assist in being resilient against these negative polar states of being then this work is timely because our future depends on capable and constructive creative practitioners.
Had our second tutorial today and my tutor gave me good feedback. One interesting ideas that came up which I will need to consider and develop:
- using the self as conduit for other peoples creativity, example suggested was the procurement of other peoples artworks and being a medium for their exposure i.e. becoming a dealer in art. This would eliminate the personal self. However this does not relate to the genius/daemon.
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