Painting Has a Life of Its Own—Psychic

—Psychic Automatism is Not Automatic

Pollock believed that he could liberate the imagery of his unconscious by exploiting a painting technique called psychic automatism, which had been developed in the 1920s by the surrealists. Using this tech-nique, the surrealists painted rapidly and spontaneously and with such speed that conscious intervention and censorship were thought to be suppressed. Thus, it was believed that the artists’ gestures were guided by the unconscious mind. While practicing psychic automatism, the

artists viewed themselves as spectators at the birth of their own works (Ades 1974, 126; Bunuel 1993, 130).

Surrealism embodied an artistic impulse toward more instinctive and irrational modes of understanding than had previously been avail-able to Western artists. The ideas behind automatism were later incor-porated into Abstract Expressionism, a movement named as such by art critique Robert Coates (Pasanen 2004, 119). In the United States, action painting, or gesture painting, was influenced by the presence of the immigrant artists. During the years of the Second World War, several European painters escaped to New York (Vallier 1970, 243, 251). Pollock (1999, 15–16) admired European modern artists Picasso and Miró and believed that it was important that they were living in the United States. Valliere (2000, 238–39) wrote that Pollock was influenced by the Dadaists and Surrealists; however his work was dif-ferent from theirs and was his own.

Automatism is similar to Freud’s free association method. Artists let their unconscious impulses guide the hand in matters of line, color, and structure, without rational or planned “interference.” This method enabled artists to express their inner state. Surrealism followed the romantic principle of a belief in the inspirational—and even the obses-sional—nature of their gifts, repudiating in deeds, if not in words, the rigid bonds of classical theory (Read 1951, 105, 109–10).

Pollock’s abstract art is the product of a spontaneous act of painting.

The automatic painting method has garnered a great deal of criticism.

Herbart Read claimed that the theory of aesthetic automatism aban-doned the intellectual freedom of personal creativity and responsibil-ity in favor of the automatic projection of images of the unconscious.

The process of automatism was not essentially artistic but scientific, since art involves an original act of creation and invention that previ-ously had no existence (Read 1951, 53–54).

However, the fractal patterns found in Pollock’s paintings prove that Arnheim’s opinion—that the actions of automatism could only result in disorganized and aimless doodling—is incorrect (Taylor,

Micholich, and Jonas 2000, 146–48). Thorburn (2001, 73) stated that

“it is quite as unacceptable to regard art as the automatic product of brain and nerves as it is to regard the human being as an automaton in the sphere of conduct.”

It is essential to remember that an artwork is never the automatic product of an artist. Although Pollock did start with the automatic method, his act of painting was conducted in collaboration with his artistic skills. Artists can be spontaneous and allow their inner mind to create without previous plans, and automatism can be an extremely effective artistic method to allow creativity to flourish.

Even so, the act of painting is not automatic because emotions are always involved in creativity. While in the art-making process, the medium itself can stimulate an artist’s creativity. Colors and forms can remind an artist about his or her past, present, or future; they can comfort or irritate. Colors influence the artist’s emotions and can stir up old memories. Simultaneously, a multiplicity of new ideas can appear in the artist’s mind.

In the act of painting, unconscious impulses can be hidden in the spontaneous activity. Pollock explained that painting has its own rules, which he had to obey. The act of painting involves coordinated interaction of the medium and the artist’s emotions. Jung (1989, 107) proposed that an artwork is a living being that uses man only as a medium, employing his capacities according to its own laws and shap-ing itself for the fulfillment of its own creative purpose. Artists can be amazed by the thoughts and images that they never intended to create, and through which their own inner nature reveals itself. Artists can only obey the apparently alien impulse within themselves and fol-low where it leads, sensing that their work is greater than themselves and wields a power that is not theirs and that they cannot command (Jung 1966, 71–72).

Pollock said that painting has a life of its own. This concept can be explained by the Jungian theory of active imagination, which is a type of dramatized thinking (see chapt. 6.2.3.). It appears that automatism

and free association methods are also similar to Jung’s active imagina-tion. Pollock first became familiar with Freudian theories, and soon afterwards, he started reading the writings of Jung—biographical facts substantiating the claim that Pollock’s painting techniques were influ-enced by Jung’s active imagination techniques.

In this study, my goal was to be as unconscious as possible—to have no plans, no emotions—just nothing. I believe that because I emptied my mind, I was able to create something unique and special.

The painting I made during the experimental painting process con-ducted for this study was a surprise to me. During the act of painting, I noticed that I wanted to give colors their own life. As I painted, I explained: “The red is created here. From that dark, from that gloomy dark to become there. But she must keep going. She does not remain in one place to live, but leapt, and continues a small curly trip on here.

What does she do, and where does she go? One cannot know. It has its own life. What went and went and took a little shook, shook, there and here, Haa. It is, however, a fine red, as you can see. She delicately takes the red. Now we need to take another color. The red was there.”

Perhaps this event chimes with Pollock’s belief that he had to obey the painting.