Robyn Thomas

TITLE

Playing Painting Personas

PROJECT AIMS

●  To explore as part of my painting practice how the multifaceted nature of identity might be expressed through the object—a painting—as well as the act of painting.

●  To develop a reflexive artistic research methodology grounded in concepts of play to systematically examine the multifacetedness of identity and expand the artist’s ability to see as both subject and object in the artist-object-spectator relationship.

●  To enhance the function of paintings as metaphors of identity by establishing a playful approach in my studio practice for the questioning and contextualization of identity through painting.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How do personas applied within the framework of a self-reflective methodology based on psychological understanding of play and as a tool in my painting practice impact the form and content of paintings?

2. How might a visual artist employ play as a means to accommodate the multiple perspectives of the artist-object-spectator relationship model within a painting practice?

3. How can tools and methods atypical to my painting practice and stemming from non-object making creative practices aide in the construction of a playful self-reflective methodology in which the consistency of identity is preserved?

BACKGROUND TO RESEARCH

In a series of lectures at the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C in 1984 British philosopher Richard Wollheim presented a model of the relationship formed between artist-object-spectator necessary for painting to be identified ‘as an art’ and not like other types of painting.1This relationship begins when the artist standing before the easel sees the painting —object and art— as the spectator. A visualization of this triangular relationship might look something like this (Fig. 1).

In this relationship each node has an objective identity; in the case of artist and spectator they also have a subjective existence, a self. Out of this consideration arose the question: what happens to the (subjective) self when seeing (objectively) as another and how does this relate to identity?

Dictionary and thesaurus2 entries for self and identity reveal s elf as a synonym for identity when referring to a person’s individuality. Identity remains the same in different situations while self constantly changes in response to the culture in which it is momentarily found. Mutability implies multiple options are available to and contained within self. Therefore if self is sometimes a synonym of identity then that identity could somehow incorporate its changeability; paradoxical to identity’s (supposed) sameness. That identity like a gemstone remains fixed in its setting, sparkling through positioning of the spectator; it is a multifaceted identity. To elucidate this multifaceted identity I employ the term persona harking back to its Latin origins —a theater mask to be put on or taken off— and the plural personas to encompass the term’s psychological connotations of projection and reception.3

In Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory (1988) Judith Butler wrote about gender identity as a constructed identity, describing it as “not a seemingly seamless identity” rather transformable through “breaking or subversive repetition” of the stylized acts by which it is typically formed. Butler follows if “gender might be understood as constituted” then it is “capable of being constituted differently.”4 This understanding of gender identity speaks to its multifacetedness.

How might multifaceted identity be expressed and perceived through painting? Abstracted form and content can provide spectators greater agency to interpret what is seen by not representing a given subject or object. By applying the foundational visual design technique of figure-ground reversal both sameness and mutability can be expressed formally in and through painting (Fig. 2). A flipping of the image or parts often creates a playful, oscillating experience for the spectator, raising the question: what am I actually seeing?

This slippage between figure and ground is analogous to the complexity and shifting of subject and object, self and identity when forming a whole —a facet is highlighted, a facet is hidden, the spectator’s gaze shifts and playfully chases the sparkle but the image remains the same.

American painter Milton Avery (1885-1965) pushed the exploration of figure-ground reversal in painting to its abstract edges. For example in Black Sea5 (Fig. 3), spectators see not just the water or the sand —subject or object— but the shoreline—a shifting playful space where sand castles are built. Here I build the hinge upon which identity and self move. In language this hinge is the conjunction and.

In the popular song Love and Marriage6 Frank Sinatra sings about and as the force binding two inseparable concepts together:

Love and marriage, love and marriage They go together like a horse and carriage This I tell you, brother
You can't have one without the other ...

Sinatra sings not about love or marriage, but love and marriage; in figure-ground reversal it is not about figure or ground, but figure and ground. The multifaceted identity is not identity or self, it is identity and self.7 I have an identity and a self; I am both myself and a persona.

If Avery is an example of how multifaceted identity might be approached vis-a-vis formal methods in painting then French-American artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) provides an example of how this multi-faceted identity could be approached using conceptual methods. The playful means by which Marcel Duchamp questioned the identity of the object, the artist and most of all art has had a lasting impact on many forms of art created in the one hundred years since the Society of Independent Artists rejected a urinal8 signed ‘R. Mutt’ —possibly an alias of Duchamp’s— for exhibition. It is Duchamp’s most notorious alternative identity9, Rrose Sélavy, who first emerged in a series of photographs (1921) that is the matriarch of artistic alter egos. Rrose’s dada-esque origins and purpose to extend the playfulness of the pun beyond the visual (retinal) into the language of art reflected in her name.10

It is important to note the terms for alternative identities such as alter ego, alias, pseudonym, nom de plume have different meanings dependent upon the form and context in which they exist; however they are often used interchangeably even when referencing the same form and context. The term heteronym is used primarily in reference to the 72+ identities attributed to Portuguese poet-novelist-philosopher Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) because his characters are developed far beyond the scope generally found in the other terms.11

Duchamp with his many identities established a discourse on identity through the twentieth century among artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Carolee Schneemann, Eleanor Antin, Martha Wilson, Cindy Sherman, and the Guerilla Girls that continues to this day. For painters this was meant to challenge the fixed identity of bête comme un peintre12; some took this up willingly (Johns13, Rauschenberg14) and others begrudgingly (Richter15). Carolee Schneemann16 takes the challenge beyond the canvas and into the realm of photography, film, video and performance art. Eleanor Antin17 and Martha Wilson18 employ alter egos, adding questions of female identity in performance-based work often translate into the media of film, video and photography. Cindy Sherman19 uses prosethetics, makeup and costumes to alter her own body creating characters pictured through the medium of photography.20 The Guerilla Girls21, a collective of artists formed in the mid-1980s have stripped themselves of personal identity by wearing masks and assuming names of historical female art world figures, create through actions and advertising awareness of the politics of identity and the status of female artists today. The questioning of identity through making is not limited to female or other traditionally marginalized artists however, the political and cultural shifts that have taken place over the past half-century in both practice and theory have developed an atmosphere conducive to the artist questioning her role as both subject and object.

1 Wollheim, Richard. Painting as an Art. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1987. Print.

2 Primary dictionaries and thesauruses consulted are Merriam-Webster, New Oxford American Dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus and The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus in addition to a variety of online options.

3 According to the New Oxford American Dictionary persona is the aspect of someone’s character that is presented to or perceived by others, or a role or character adopted by an actor or author. Two variations of the plural are currently used: personas and personae. This dictionary does not differentiate between the two while Merriam-Webster assigns personas to projected or perceived character and limits personae to the adopted role. Most thesaurus do not list persona as a synonym for identity or self however the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus does list both identity and self as synonyms of persona.

4 Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-31. Http://www.jstor.org/stable/3207893. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. p.520

5 Haskell, Barbara, and Milton Avery. Milton Avery. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art in Association with Harper & Row, 1982. Print. p.119

6 Written by James Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn • Copyright © Peermusic Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Imagem Music Inc. First recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1955.

7 In her essay Butler equates gender identity with the gendered self. “In this sense, gender is in no way a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts proceed; rather, it is an identity tenuously constituted in time-an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts. Further, gender is instituted through the stylization of the body and, hence, must be understood as the mundane way in which bodily gestures, movements, and enactments of various kinds constitute the illusion of an abiding gendered self.” p. 519

8 Fountain. (1917)

9 Goodyear, Anne Collins, and James W. McManus, eds. AKA Marcel Duchamp: Meditations on the Identities of an Artist. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly, 2014. Print.

10 Rrose Sélavy, = Eros, c’est la vie [English- Eros, that’s life]. See also: Harvey, Robert. "Rrose Sélavy, Is Marcel Duchamp." Rrose Sélavy,Is Marcel Duchamp. Milan Golob, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2016. <http://www.golob-gm.si/5-marcel-duchamp-as-rectified-readymade/p-rrose-selavy-is-marcel-duchamp.htm>.

11 Bellaiche-Zacharie, Alain. "Kierkegaard and Pessoa: The Use of Pseudonyms and Heteronyms." - Cairn International. N.p., n.d. Web.

12 French: stupid as a painter. A phrase attributed to Duchamp across many sources.

13 Crichton, Michael. Jasper Johns. New York: H.N. Abrams, in Association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994. Print.

14 Tomkins, Calvin. Off the Wall: A Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg. New York: Picador, 2005. Print.

15 In his studio notes Richter’s comments reflect his slight resentment but ultimate acknowledgment of the impact this challenge from Duchamp has had on painting in terms of form and content: “We often neglect this side of things by concentrating on the formal, aesthetic side in isolation. Then we no longer see content in form, but form as embracing content, added to it (beauty and artistic skill slapped on)- this is worth examining. The fact is that content does not have a form (like a dress that you can change): it is form (which cannot be changed).” Obrist, Hans-Ulrich, ed. Gerhard Richter: The Daily Practice of Painting: Writings and Interviews 1962-1993. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1995. Print. p.102

16 Reilly, Maura. "The Paintings of Carolee Schneemann." Feminist Studies Fall 37.3 (2011): 620-48. Print.

17 Antin, Eleanor, Huey Copeland, Malik Gaines, Alexandro Segade, Henry M. Sayre, and Emily Liebert. Multiple Occupancy: Eleanor Antin's "selves" New York: Wallach Art Gallery, 2013. Print.

18 Wilson, Martha. Martha Wilson Sourcebook: 40 Years of Reconsidering Performance, Feminism, Alternative Spaces. New York: Independent Curators International, 2011. Print.

19 Tomkins, Calvin. "Cindy Sherman." Lives of the Artists. New York: Henry Holt, 2008. 21-45. Print.

20 Also working with photography and video to explore identity and self are the artists Polixeni Papapetrou and Elina Brotherus; Papapetrou with masks, costumes and her children as simulacra for herself and Brotherus using herself in poetic, historical gestures to question the identity of the artist and model in relationship to the art.

21 http://www.guerrillagirls.com

RESEARCH METHODS AND STRATEGIES

This artistic research project is informed by my nearly three decades long studio-based painting practice in which I explore questions of identity through the objects and acts of painting.

My research will consist of making paintings, reflective writing, and a scholarly research of methods, methodologies and examples of how research of my project relate to examples found in other creative practices in both fine arts and popular culture. I describe my methodology for this project as a self-reflective methodology; informed by “reflection-in-action” as defined by Donald Schön in The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (1983) and grounded in concepts of play found in the field of developmental psychology.

Self-reflection, engaged as a tool in a systematic process of looking back at experiences and behaviors in order to gain understanding of how and why actions undertaken impact the painting, provides access to knowledge —such as postures assumed, choices of color, composition, materials and/or topics/ideas and enables me to move more productively forward by helping to create and define identity through increased awareness of the shifting roles of subject and object. Dutch historian Johan Huizinga in his book Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-element in Culture (1955) identified five characteristics of play22 which I draw from in the development of my research methods and strategies. Diane Ackerman opens the first chapter of her book Deep Play (1999) with the sentence “Everyone understands play” but soon follows with the question “But why play at all?”23 Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky posited our desire to play is so strong we cannot help but to play and through the structure of play24 we learn to exercise self control.25 Personas are the key tools in my practice-led methods with which I will play during the act of painting to give both freedom and structure in accessing the multiple viewpoints available through multifaceted identity.

In this research I will employ the following three strategies: 1 . Persona development 2. Active collaboration and 3. Identity fragmentation.

1. Persona development is the conceptualization of personas through writing and image making in a variety of media and forms. This may include short character biographies, autobiographical texts, memoirs, poetry, prose, correspondence and social media postings (to be generated from the creating-personas’ own email/social media accounts) and two-dimensional images to aid in the development of identity and presence. The experiments will be documented digitally with photographs and journal/blog postings and reflected upon using tools suggested by procedures of ‘reflection-in-action’ per Schön and notions of play.

2. Active collaboration consists of the collaborative creation of objects and texts by myself and a persona. I will apply tools similar to those used in the first method with the addition of a written experiential analysis addressing the impact and relevance of the separate personas, the space of their interaction, and the choices made in materials and approaches to the making of the resulting works. All the work produced in active collaboration will be made by a single artist —me— with conceptual contributions by a persona.

3. Identity fragmentation is the strategy where I will fabricate paintings and record in writing or by other means texts on behalf of a persona. In addition to the tools used in the previous strategies I will employ knowledge acquired through examples from other creative practices and my research of self-reflective and playful methods applied in non-painting practices. From my personal perspective I will document through videos, photographs and journal/blog writings my experience fabricating and recording works on behalf of a persona, and from the perspective of the persona my actions on his or her behalf. This documentation will then be subjected to similar tools of experiential analysis applied in active collaboration.

To further visualize my project and the methodology, methods and strategies by which it is given form through my painting practice, I offer the playful image of a mouth filled with an Everlasting Gobstopper26. As it dissolves upon the tongue the hard layers of varying colors and flavors surrounding —protecting— my potentially answer-filled center melt away. First the outermost layer, the acts of painting, disappear as the layers of self-reflection emerge, only to melt into layers of persona development, active collaboration, and identity fragmentation; each layer a distinct flavor until the taste of the next layer mixes in making the previous barely identifiable. Finally, the mouth almost empty and the taste buds exhausted a new flavor emerges —the objects of painting— the core of my research (Fig.4).

The aims and questions of this project will be supported and responded by way of a written exegesis documenting, interpreting and critically analyzing the scholarly research in conjunction with the outcomes of my studio-based research. An exhibition of paintings and process-related artifacts together with the exegetical writing will serve as the means of dissemination of the studio-based research conducted for this project.

22 1. Play is free, is in fact freedom. 2. Play is not "ordinary" or "real" life. 3. Play is distinct from "ordinary" life both as to locality and duration. 4. Play creates order, is order. Play demands order absolute and supreme. 5. Play is connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained from it. Huizinga 1955, p.8-10.

23 Ackerman, Diane. Deep Play. New York: Random House, 1999. Print. p. 3

24 Huizinga's fourth characteristic.

25 Gray, Peter, PhD. "The Value of Play I: The Definition of Play Gives Insights." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC, 19 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Jan. 2017. <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200811/the-value-play-i-the-definition-play-gives-insights>.

26 As envisioned by Roald Dahl in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964).

STATEMENT OF ETHICAL RESEARCH

I do not intend to research with human participants and therefore do not need to complete an application for ethical approval.