ABSTRACT OF PH.D.THESIS

'Reflections On, and Refractions in, Painting Practice'  (2004)

The thesis is a consideration of the incursion of unconscious processes (as per psychoanalytic theory as seen by Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Anton Ehrenzweig) into painting practice, from a practioner's point of view.

My aim in the written thesis is to  scrutinize a particular stage in the process of image making by means of ideas generated by psychoanalytic theory, in particular Lacan's concept of the gaze. I propose a three stage model of image making: 1) planning, 2) absorption or 'un-thought', and 3) judging; they are seen together as a spiral process. My primary interest is the second stage, both in my studio practice and in the written thesis. In the studio this can be seen in the conjunction between  passages emphasizing energy, for instance passages emphasizing a 're-invigoration' of the figure by means of an investigation into mark making and cartoon elements, and passages emphasizing form and colour.

In the written work, I consider what I term the 'un-thought' stage of image making from the point of view of libidinal as well as semiotic processes. I do this by using Lacan's concept of the gaze as template, then employing ideas such as 'figure' and 'dissimulation' within the libidinal economy (Jean Francois Lyotard), syncretistic scanning and the ability of the primary processes to learn and develop (Ehrenzweig), and the matrixial gaze (Bracha Lichtenberg-Ettinger). By including aspects of schizoanalysis (Deleuze and Guattari), I critique Lacan's concepts of 'lack' and the empty signifier, but retain other Lacanian ideas relating to the gaze. Schizoanalysis, in providing an extended concept of the unconscious, aids in my re-considering Lacan's concept of the gaze within the context of the process of image making.

Working from this basis I propose a grouping of (existing) ideas into what I call the 'libidinal gaze', brought together for the purpose of reflecting on the un-thought stage in the process of image making. In doing so, I consider concepts of perception as influenced by the processes and energy of the unconscious, and also concepts of the unconscious as reflected through post-Freudian and post-Lacanian psychoanalytic thought.