On our final day in college before christmas, I printed my last large scale woodcut.  It's 180cm x 1m and it took 2 and a half weeks overall.  Trump's strong stance on the refugee crisis led me onto working on it.  I also wanted to work on it because it's contemporary.  I'm happy with how it came out!  I printed it on paper but not on a bed sheet this time because I ran out of time to buy one.  Here it is!  

Tom Huck

Tom Huck is a well-known printmaker, currently working in St. Louis, Washington.  In 1995 he received a masters in Printmaking from Washington University in St. Louis and he runs his own press there called “Evil Prints”.  He’s best known for his large scale satirical woodcuts which are impressively detailed.  His influences are Albrecht Durer, Jose Guadalupe Posada, Honore Daumier along with some other great masters of art. 

I’m a fan of his work.  I like that he works large scale and includes satire and humour in his work.  I’ve always loved making woodcuts and I intend to work large scale this year.  I’ve already made work that’s 180cm by 100cm and I find that my message is delivered more effectively at this size.  I have Tom Huck to thank for inspiring me to go this size and to use fine detail in places as well as incorporate humour and comedic qualities into my work.

Here’re some of his prints.

 

Bill Fick

Bill Fick is a printmaker currently working in Durham in North Carolina.  He’s director of the art studio “Supergraphic” which is dedicated to producing satirical fine art prints and fine art media.  His work can be found in many places such as Harvard University, The New York Library, Fogg Art Museum and so on.  Bill has exhibited both nationally and internationally and he’s currently a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies at Duke University.  His work deals with satire as well as socio-political and scary themes which attempt to bridge the gap between fine art and lowbrow art (an underground visual art movement from the 1970’s).  Bill creates scary images that reflect people’s fear of anything unconventional and unfamiliar.

Bill’s work appeals to me for its satire and its bizarre and uneasy imagery.  The images are comical in my opinion as they take on strange unfamiliar characters who are often grinning, yet they have something sinister in their face we can’t really pin down.  They keep the viewer drawn to them as we’re trying to figure out the real emotional expression the characters are conveying.  My work deals with satire through bizarre imagery also and I hope to bring in sinister and evil aspects as time goes on. 

Here’s some of his work.

David Hayward


I enjoy art that exposes the loop holes and the faults of our society as well as being funny.  It's a change from the boring abstract and conceptually droll works I often see in gallery spaces.


David Hayward or "NakedPastor" is a cartoonist who takes on the loop holes of religion.  Like me, he works with satire, exposing everything wrong with religion.  His art is funny and speaks the truth.  While my art is political and not religious in any way, I was inspired by Hayward to look at what's going on in the world around me and laugh at how ridiculous it is.  Like me, Hayward uses the "one two punch" method of humour to make art.  First see the truth of the subject being ridiculed then laugh.


Here's the link to his website.


http://nakedpastor.com/2014/11/10-virtues-of-the-question/

Here's what the T-shirt looks like being worn.

Feels good seeing someone wearing something I made!

Moving onto my final piss take of Donald Trump.  After all the woodcutting my right hand was in bits!  So I moved onto a less intense method of printing, screen printing.  I hadn't done screen printing since 2nd year and it doesn't help that they're like a MILLION different steps in this process so it's safe to say I hadn't a clue what I was doing.  After many tears, screams and much needless frustration followed by more tears at the peril of my friends, I relearned how to screen print.  Go me! 


Anyway, I'd been working with black and white up to now so I wanted to bring colour back into my practice.  I like making work that's publically engaging so I started making T-shirts and selling them.  I used 5 colours, black, yellow, blue, green and brown.  Registration is also a massive pain in the ass, but I knew that going in.  This is the result of my effort as well as some preparatory work. 


Not bad for a guy who's so accident prone he could potentially burn a house down with a toothbrush.
(Wish I was joking).

Now here're the T-shirts.

Combined with the things Trump has said along with my own crude sense of humour, I thought this image to be an effective one.  I made 6 of these and sold all of them!  I didn't think they'd sell.  I didn't know there was a market for my sense of humour.  This was a happy discovery!  I want to make more T-shirts in the future but I think it's time I left the Donald alone for a while and pick on someone else.  Maybe he'll make a good president (fingers crossed!).

About half way through October I started my latest large scale woodcut. Here it is before I explain it. 

Here're a few close ups.

This took around 3 weeks to complete.  Its the same size as the last large woodcut (180cm by 1m).  Again, I printed it on paper and a bedsheet.  The paper print turned out good but the bedsheet had a problem with crumpling..... (can't blame a guy for trying).  The image is a fat cat with Donald Trump's hair looking mischievously as he's spraying cat stuff all over the word democracy.  (It's not peeing.  Aparently cats spray for some reason.  I don't know why.  It's digusting.  Ew).  The fat cat is a symbol for somebody who's well off  and who's also a liar.  Trump was notorious for lying during his campaign for presidency so I think this fits well.  Regarding the Cat-ass-trophy part, I took the word catastrophe and separated it into cat (for the big cat) and ass (for the spraying out of its ass... ew) to make a double pun, bringing in the humour part. 



While we're on the subject of nuclear weapons, America currently has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, holding 6970 warheads.  There's also a list of the nuclear weapons the rest of the world has.  It's safe to say that we have enough nuclear weapons on this planet to obliterate all life on earth multiple times over.....  Yay..........  Here's a link to this uplifting info.....
http://www.icanw.org/the-facts/nuclear-arsenals/


I always found it funny that the leaders of these countries say they would never resort to nuclear warfare, yet they keep these weapons of mass destruction in reserve just in case.  Does this sound contradictory?  I think so.  Why would you hold onto something you never intend on using?  And why would you invest so much money into that thing you never intend on using???  These things aren't cheap!  Anyway I took an image on google of the Tsar Bomba which is the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated and constructed by the Russians.  I know it's not American but America isn't far behind regarding the destruction of any given bomb.  And the US has more of them!


So I did a woodcut of this nuclear bomb and I put a face on it.  It's minding its own business and it's saying the phrase "They'd never use me!  But... Um... Just in case they uh..... need to."  Here it is.

This size is A1 and I carved and printed it over a 2 day period.  While this started on a comment on what Trump could do with nuclear weapons, it finished on what anybody could do with them.  I don't think it's fair to pick on Trump and leave everyone else out when it comes to nuclear warfare.  This is why I chose not to link the image to any country in the end.

While I was working on a second large scale print, I made some more woodblocks about what worried me about Trump.  The threat of a possible nuclear war was on my mind so I played with the idea of the destruction of America and possibly the world under an order from Trump.  These were some woodcuts I did.

This was just preliminary work which never turned large scale.  I attached Trump's hair to a nuclear bomb for the purpose of humour as well as conveying the message of the threat of a possible fallout under Trump.  While this is unlikely to ever happen, stranger things have occured in the past.

This is the final woodblock print.  It's 180cm by 1m.  This is the largest size the presses can print without bringing in a steam roller!  It's also the largest print I've ever done.  Since it's my final year of college I'm pushing myself to work on a much larger scale than what I'm used to.  I printed it on paper as well but this one is printed on a bed sheet because I wanted to make a banner out of it since the subject matter is political.  This print took me 9 days to carve and a day to draw the design on as I drew it from memory.  Since my project is about social commentary I wanted it to be open to the public so I hung it in the hall of the college the day Trump won the election so people could react to it.

I moved onto how I could joke about him being such a terrible presidential candidate.  Since making puns are what I do best anyway I wanted to incorporate this into my work!  I was baffled by just how little Trump seemed to know about the world and how much he didn't seem to care to find out about it.  He was very out of tune with world affairs and since Trump sounds similar to trumpet I came up with this image!

I edited this slightly by putting the butt of a shotgun at the end of the trumpet since Trump is so trigger happy and I put a stick of dynomite in the middle instead of the musical buttons because he will surely cause destruction if he does what he says he will do!

After the drawings, I wanted to be able to capture his features through woodcuts as this was the medium I was going to be using.  I planned on making these images large scale so I felt strongly that if they're big, they should be good!  So this is a practice woodcut I did before I moved onto the large scale pieces.

For an experiment and just for fun, I took the wood chippings I carved out of his hair and glued them back onto one of the prints to get the light colour in his hair.  This took ages and this was the outcome!

This was a pleasant moment of pure madness!  Cross hatching and tonal values are not a strong point for me so I have to work on this!

Before I could start ridiculing Donald Trump through my art practice, I had to be able to capture his main characteristics well.  These were his hair and his thin eyes along with his angry expression.  To me, he always looked like he was smelling something bad, so I tried to capture this.  The only thing is, portraiture is not one of my strong points!  So I had to work on this first.  While I was practicing this I was playing around with caricatures to add the humour aspect to the project.  These were my first attempts.

I drew multiple images from google first in my sketchbook and I moved into caricatures after.  I had a lot of fun doing these!!

"Art and Laughter" by Sheri Klein is a very informative book for the subject I'm dealing with.  Between pages 16 and 18 it splits humour different categories and clearly defines all of them.  Now it's not just humour I'm working with.  Its parody, satire, puns, irony, paradox and dark humour.  Below I list the definitions in the book along with my own simplified definitions.


Parody
"Parodies gently mock art, cultural and historical icons through appropriating and altering images, and layering them with new meanings” (Page 13).

In other words, parodies are slightly altered icons which trigger a humorous response because they portray a different meaning to the original.  Often at times we can’t laugh at the original because it’s too serious or too well respected.  An example of a parody would be the Mona Lisa with a mustache.  This evokes a humorous response because it’s such a famous and respected painting.  Drawing a mustache takes all the seriousness out of it.

Satire
“Visual satire mocks art and life with zest and fury and asks us to pay attention to social norms, standards, morals and human foibles.  The visual satirist mimics the knowledge and behaviour of a culture or group to overemphasize and exaggerate aspects of life and its foibles with the hope of provoking laughter or a change in attitudes or ways” (page 16). 

In other words, satire uses the enforcement function of humour here in an attempt to provoke laughter while also making people aware of the errors of our world and hopefully attempt to correct them through non-violence.

Pun
“A pun can be described as an image with two or more concurrent meanings resulting in the understanding of images on more than one level” (page 17). 

In other words, an image or caption with more than one meaning.  Eg.  I can’t think of a joke about beavers.  Dam.

The word dam is related to beavers because they create them in their environment while damn is also the word we say when we can’t think of something.  So the word dam is the source of amusement here as it carries more than one meaning here.

Irony

“Irony is enabled by using words or a combination of words and images to express something completely different from the literal meaning of the word or subject” (Page 18-19).

In other words, an ironic response is responding with the opposite answer expected to any given question or statement.  For example, if someone drops a glass and it smashes into shards on the ground and someone says “well done”, that’s an ironic response.  It’s typically use to mock someone or something.

Paradox

“Paradox is incongruity achieved through the juxtaposition of images, words and images, techniques, media and/or ideas, and at first they can seem false, but then we see the contradictions made apparent and the revealing of something true” (Page 18).

In other words, it’s a sentence that contradicts itself and at first doesn’t make sense, however it makes the reader think, leading them to discover some hidden truth to it.

For example, Oscar Wilde is famously quoted as saying “I can resist anything but temptation”.

Other examples include “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” or “I am nobody” and so on.

Dark Humour

“Dark humour relies on the effect of morbidity, absurdity and anarchy.  Dark humour confronts topics such as death, chaos, violence, disasters and personal crises.  It provokes laughter in the face of tragedy” (Page 19). 

In other words, dark humour allows us to make light of terrible situations we would normally be traumatised by or deeply affected by such as those listed above.  This kind of humour is often the source of offence for many people as they feel like there are some things we shouldn’t joke about.  Some artists on the other hand delight in using this kind of humour to trigger a response from the audience.  Artists listed in this book include Patty Carroll, Red Grooms, Shag (Josh Agle), Isabel Samaras and Saul Steinberg.

On page 19, the book talks about the various techniques which can be used to trigger a laughter response.

Techniques to Trigger Laughter (Page 19)

• Association – Two images put together giving contrasting effects.
• Transposition – Relocating something in an unusual or new environment.
• Transformation – Altering of a form.
• Exaggeration – Change or distortion of a subject.
• Disguise – Subtle change or meaning.
• Appropriation – Altering a borrowed image.
• Contradiction – Paradoxical or ironic compositions.

The essay "Humour used as a double edged sword" not only explains these theories and how they work, but it also talks about why we use humour and its four functions.


1) Identification
2) Clarification
3) Enforcement
4) Differentiation


The first 2 are used to unite people while the 2nd two are used divide certain groups from others.


Identification
This is an ice breaker.  This is when you're getting to know someone and want them to like you so you tell a joke to make them laugh.  Now the conversation is initiated and ye're now friends!


Clarification
This is putting forth an opinion.  You win over the approval of the people you're talking to by making a joke that makes them laugh and simultaneously agree with you. 


Enforcement
This corrects unacceptable behavior.  This would be when your friend does something stupid which ends badly for them and those involved.  His or her friends will make fun of them and joke at their stupidity.  As a result of this kind of humour, the individual will refrain from doing the act againg in case they get mocked.


Differentiation
This humour contrasts oneself from others when standing on a particular issue.  For example, if a non religious person jokes that God is an invisible floating man in the sky, they immediately separate themselves from religious people while also making alliances with non religious people in a comical manner.


I've looked at many websites (which are listed in a previous post) and read a couple of books on the subject of humour and how it works.  They all talk about these theories and functions in different ways.  The two sources that were of most use to me were "Humour as a double edged sword " by John C. Meyer and "The joke and its relation to the Unconscious" by Sigmund Freud.  Freud talks about the Analytical, the Synthetical and the Theoretical aspects of humour, however its along similar lines of what I've already explained. 

Now that I had my subject to ridicule (Donald Trump), I had to learn how to apply satire to the facts.  However at the start of the year I had no idea how humour worked.  All I knew was that surprise was a factor like saying unexpected things and I could judge the level of humour of an idea by how much I laughed at it myself.  After reading various essays and articles which are linked 3 posts previous to this one under the Donald Trump websites, I learned a little bit about how humour works.


There are currently 3 humour theories.


1) Superiority Theory
2) Relief Theory
3) Incongruity Theory (Dominant Theory)


Superiority Theory
This theory says that we laugh at unfortunate things which happen to others that are not currently happening to us, like someone slipping on a banana peel and falling.  Or all those epic fail compilations on YouTube we've all come to love and adore!  There is a problem with this theory though.  It doesn't always apply.  When we see homeless people or orphaned children, we don't laugh at them.  So while this theory has some merit, it doesn't explain everything we find funny.


Relief Theory
Relief theory says an amusing reaction is the result of built up feelings within us which no longer apply to a situation.  An example would be if a friend is telling us about money they sent to a relative abroad who recently passed away.  We build up empathetic feelings for the person.  If they go on to say they wasted money on them because they can't use it anymore, we see they don't care about the relative and they're heartless.  However we built up feelings of empathy which don't apply anymore so they're released through laughter or amusement.


Incongruity Theory
This is the most accepted theory today.  This theory says that laughter is triggered from interrupting our natural thinking pattern and presenting us with an outcome we never expected.  An example would be a Frankie Boyle joke.  "I got a book on cooking road kill the other day.  I tried one of the recipes and it was delicious!  But I still don't know what to do with his bike...."  The incongruity of this joke is when he mentions road kill, our natural thinking pattern thinks of birds, badgers or fox's etc.  However this thinking process is interrupted by the fact that he mentioned "bike" meaning the thing he killed was a human!  Now he goes from cleaning the road of a carcass and making use of it to being a murderer, a cannibal and a sociopath!  These are not outcomes we would expect from the joke but this surprise of incongruity is why we laugh.

So what makes Donald Trump so different from the rest of the other politicians?  While politicians are often greedy, corrupt and in power for their own benefit, I think Trump has set a new low standard.


After reading various articles about him which are linked in the previous post, I learned some scary things about him.  Here's what's on his to do list.


1) Build a wall between the US and Mexico to keep immigrants out.
2) Make Mexico pay for that wall.
3) Round up and deport the 12 million immigrants currently working in the U.S.
4) May use nuclear warfare (the U.S. has currently the highest nuclear arsenal in the world with 6970 warheads)
5) Encourage gun use under the 2nd amendment.


There's a lot more but these are a few things he want s to put forth.  These goals are chaotic and very unrealistic.  Building the wall is laughable.  Getting the Mexican people to pay for it is even more hilarious. 


Rounding up 12 million US immigrants and sending them home is immoral, impractical and impossible!  Most of these people are hardworking who do the jobs most Americans don't want to do anyway like driving taxis, being nannies, caretaking etc.  If they go, a large workforce will be terminated.  They probably won't want to go either so they'll be most likely be forced to leave at gun point!  It's a waste of money and deeply immoral.


Sam Harris makes these points very well as well as pointing out that Trump has very destructive views on reality.  Like the notion of human caused global warming is a "Chinese hoax meant to destroy our manufacturing base" (12:12 in youtube podcast, link below).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3RnrIZxGyE


Given that Trump has a frighteningly little grasp on reality, approves the use of guns and nuclear weapons, wants to spend money destroying Americas workforce and will spend whatever time he has in office spreading his hateful, racist ideology, there's no doubt that this guy is a dangerous candidate to be in the white house.  The American president is one of the most powerful people in the world today.  If Trump is granted this power, I would imagine all hell breaking loose.

For my 4th year studio project, I've reverted back to commenting on social issues in a satirical manner which is what I was doing in my 2nd year of college.  This year the most prominent issue that caught my attention was the possibility of having Donald Trump as the next American president. 

I haven't written about them yet but these are links to all the sources I've read since the start of the year.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/6-ways-donald-trump-really-7447955 Article on the faults of trump

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform Immigration laws of Trump

http://time.com/4437089/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons-nukes/ Trump on Nuclear weapons

http://www.icanw.org/the-facts/nuclear-arsenals/ Nuclear weapons

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/second-amendment-rights DT on gun control

http://science.howstuffworks.com/5-most-popular-guns.htm Top 5 guns in America

http://uk.businessinsider.com/americas-gun-problem-2015-6?r=US&IR=T/#more-than-6-in-10-americans-think-having-a-gun-in-their-home-makes-it-a-safer-place-including-81-of-republicans-2 Dangers of gun ownership

http://www.techinsider.io/how-nuclear-weapons-work-2016-1 Nuclear bomb website

http://www.aestheticrealism.net/essays/art-as-humor.html Art Humour essay

http://www.artnews.com/2004/09/01/whats-so-funny-about-contemporary-art/ Contemporary art humour (Interesting Read)

(1) http://www.artspace.com/adam_mcewen About the artist

(2) https://whitecubediaries.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/the-jokes-on-you-humor-in-art/ Article on humour in art

https://heavylittlepeoplecomic.wordpress.com/category/social-status/ Dark humour simplicity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgzFwTG_-wQ Youtube video explaining how humour works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya8LkqZolf4 Anti humour Robert Mankoff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFZuZcvctu0 The science of laughter

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/ Essay explaining how humour works

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.466.1116&rep=rep1&type=pdf            Pier reviewed source on humour as a double edged sword (Read)

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=superiority+theory+of+humour&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiX0Kjyy_3OAhVoCcAKHUDCAAcQgQMIGTAA Link to google scholar on how humour is used in various ways

http://grammarist.com/usage/schadenfreude/  Schadenfreude definition-not Wikipedia-ok to use

 

 

Conny O’Connor – K00185158

CCS Dissertation - Kieran Cashell

Review of Studio Practice

 

 

This dissertation is a close examination of my studio practice which is based on the study of symbolism.  It considers artists, some contemporary as well as certain Renaissance predecessors who have helped drive the development of my studio project: Symbolism and Transformation.  This essay proceeds to critically question the function of symbolism in contemporary art.  Primarly, the ways such artists use symbolism in their work but also questioning the reasons why they do not just communicate directly but choose to use the symbolic - a form of indirect expression. 

 

Currently, my project uses symbols to create surrealistic and autobiographical images as a way of exploring common themes and emotions that anyone can relate to.   A few of these would be self-doubt, anxiety, death, depression as well as peace, serenity, kindness and so on.  In other words, the images created in this project are meant to evoke something in the viewer, be it an emotional response or a memory.  There is a symbol or a series of symbols based on the themes mentioned above in every piece of work made for the project thus far.  Much of it is purposely left open ended by using something that has multiple symbolic meanings and connotations such as the dog or the stone.  This immediately gives the piece greater depth in its conceptual meaning and the viewer is inclined to study the piece further.  While some of the work appears to be scenarios which are nothing out of the ordinary, much of it is purposely put together in a surreal way.  The reason for this is that certain scenarios, such as a lake in an eye being supported by a clasped pair of hands or a living dog with half a face (examples of prints made in my practice) does not happen in the physical world.  Much of the time these images do not make sense literally but as a result of putting different symbols together to express an emotion, the objects combine to convey interesting and diverse connotations.  In this case, the subjects used act as metaphors as a means of self- expression.

 

Drawing is the central component in developing all my ideas in the studio.  The prints created here are made mostly from woodcuts and drawings (with pen and pencil) however there are a few etchings and some photographs taken in the photo studio as well.  One of the main inspirations to take this approach for me was the discovery of a Dubai-based artist called Moosa Al Halyan.  His practice consists of mainly drawings and paintings and his attention to detail in all of his pieces have informed the methodology I have developed in the studio since I saw some of his work in the Venice Biennale. 

Moosa Al Halyan is an artist who uses symbolism in a contemporary context which deals with the question addressed in this paper.  In an online interview with Moosa and his practice in “The National-Arts and Life” (2015) he explains that he draws the horse to represent human beings in order to “escape issues of discrimination and racism” (Reference).  He also draws the horse in a contorted and sometimes semi-abstract way to represent in his words “a state of being”.  So depending on what mood the viewer may be in, they are more drawn to one piece than another as there are different emotions conveyed in each picture.  To sum up, Moosa Al Halyan is a contemporary artist who uses symbolism as a way of conveying emotion.  His art is intended to be engaged with by everyone and the horses he draws reject everything that makes humans different such as race, gender, religion and so on.  This is just one example of the function of symbolism in contemporary art.  While Moosa uses the symbol of a horse in a subtle way to avoid offending the viewer, other contemporary artists use symbols for satirical value with the sole purpose of making fun of people.  One such artist is a printmaker based in Wisconson in the USA, Raymond Gloeckler. 

 

Gloeckler is a contemporary artist who appeals not only for his use of symbolism but also his philosophy on the woodcut medium and its challenging nature.  In a book called Progressive Printmakers (YEAR) he talks about why he is so driven to create woodcuts.  The introductory title to his chapter in the book is “The Woodblock/ Without Pretense/ Black and White/ Tool and Block/ There is no place to hide” (Reference).   Throughout the chapter Gloeckler explains what he means by this.  He says that the woodblock medium is the “ultimate test of artistic and technical skill” (page 69) meaning that there is no shortcuts or ways of cheating for the artist.  Once a mark is made, there is no erasing it or covering it up.  If a mistake is made, you live with it or start again.  The approach seems simple as it is just cutting into wood with a tool.  However the very nature of the woodblock is quite direct and honest or to use Gloeckler's words, “what you see is what you get” (73).  This way of thinking about the woodblock print is what attracted me to work with the medium.  It challenges the artist to make ones strongest work as there is no room for error. 

 

Similar to Moosa Al Halyan, Gloeckler uses animals for symbolic purposes.  However he uses them for satirical value rather than to convey emotion.  Gloeckler (75) says that he uses all kinds of animals like cows, donkeys, wrens, jackasses among many others as a way to satirize specific types of people in the hope that we see what we are doing and attempt to “mend our ways” (page 74). Many of these animals are used in an autobiographical way as he explains that they usually also represent himself.  Gloeckler uses the warthog as a “symbol to deal with male mid-life problems” (75) as it is considered the ugliest creature in the animal kingdom, at least according to him. 

 

 

Much like Gloeckler and Albrecht Durer (who will be discussed further on) my work and prints can also be considered autobiographical as many of the themes dealt with in my practice often relate to my life and my own mood at any given time.  One symbol in particular that is revisited in my work time and time again is the dog.  Humans have shown an interest in dogs for multiple millennia for their useful qualities in hunting, their unflinching loyalty to their masters and their overall likeability.  Over the years humans have come to associate dogs with multiple different meanings and connotations.  In The Book of Symbols-Reflections on Archetypal Symbolism (296 and 298) the dog's symbolic meanings are explained.   Martin (2010, 296) discusses how the dog has been a human companion for thousands of years and has been seen by multiple mythologies as a guide between the living and spiritual world for humans to follow.  The dog has been associated with evil or hellish ideas, often being referred to as “hellhound”.  It is in the dog’s nature to dig holes and bury bones in the ground as well as eat the flesh off the remains of other dead animals.  In Maurice Bloomfield’s book “The Dog of Hades” he talks about the dog of the underworld going back as far as ancient Greek and Roman mythology known as “Cerberus”.  It is a multi-headed dog that supposedly guards the Gates of Hell.

 

While the dog has multiple connotations, one of the most common ideas associated with our animal companion is depression, linked in particular with the black dog.  There is an online website called “Bipolar lives” that promotes the success of people with bipolar disorder or depression in an attempt to inspire people to be successful and to take control of their own mental health.  It uses Winston Churchill, one of Britain’s most inspiring twentieth century politicians, as an example.  The source says that Churchill used to refer to his manic depression as his “black dog”.  This is also mentioned in an essay titled “Black Dog: The History of an Expression” (2005) by Linda Michael.  According to Michael’s paper, this phrase has been used by humans for over two millennia stating that the first time the expression was used to describe depression was by Roman satirist and poet Horace from 65 to 68 BC. 

 

The main work that stood out for me in my research of the dog being used as a symbol for depression was an engraving by Northern Renaissance master Albrecht Durer.  According to an essay on the work by Ginny Berndt, it was most likely created by Durer to “depict his melancholy” (page 1).  It discusses the many symbols the artist used to illustrate his depression such as the slouched position of the figure, her clenched fist which is said to represent helplessness as well as her dark face and so on.  At her feet is a dog that looks like it is on the verge of death.  Its ribcage is clearly seen through its body which appears to be wasting away.  What is interesting about the dog is that it is engraved just as a dog would look.  In contrast to the previous artists which were discussed who exaggerated their animals to portray their symbols, the features of Durer’s dog are not exaggerated in any way.  In fact it is not obvious that it would symbolise depression and its meaning could be easily missed by the viewer if they do not understand the dog’s symbolic meaning. 

The idea of melancholy being centre stage in this print is backed up by German art historian Erwin Panofsky in his book “The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer”.  He comments on the location of the figure in the print, stating that it is a “chilly and lonely spot not far from the sea” (156).  Saturn and its relation to geometry as well as the spleen are also discussed at length as they represent melancholy (one of the four humours) in ancient Arabic and Greek writings.  German-Jewish philosopher and art critic Walter Benjamin discusses the allegorical content of the engraving in his book “The Origin of German Tragic Drama”.  On page 152 Benjamin mentions that dogs are best for tracking and running, however this dog seems to be almost lifeless.  He puts forth the fact that artists, especially humanists at this time “write with concrete images” (169).  In other words, they used allegory as a means of expressing ideas, opinions and emotions through visual content rather than words.  With this thought in mind, it can be argued that Albrecht Durer used allegory as a means of expressing his melancholy with a life which he was not content.

 

Being inspired by Albrecht Durer, Raymond Gloeckler and Moosa Al Halyan, I am currently working on creating a body of work using symbolism as a way of evoking an emotional response through drawing, photography, etchings and woodcuts.  It is important to note that as this is third year work my studio practice is not yet fully developed and is still in its early stages.  As mentioned earlier, the main symbol being worked on to date is the dog.  I own a black labrador and my constant interaction with her helped trigger my interest in the animal.  The first theme dealt with is the dog being referred to as a metaphor for death.  It is said to be a guide for humans to get from the living world to the afterlife when they die.  The print made in response to this is a drawing which later became an etching of a dog’s face, half living and half dead.  The connotations are left open ended for the viewer to come to their own conclusions about the piece.

 

The symbolism of the dog was taken further with an A3 woodblock print (Fig 3) done soon after the etching.  The symbol dealt with here is that of the hellhound.  Bringing in the themes of depression and death, this print is meant to convey a sense of fear, hopelessness, helplessness, despair, anxiety and self-doubt.  This print was influenced by the giant three headed dog Cerberus who guarded the Gates of Hell in ancient Greek mythology.  In contrast to this however, my fictional creation only has one head and is portrayed as clawing its way out of the very pit of hell.  It has jagged teeth with eyes almost like a snakes for a truly evil looking expression.  Its jaw is wide open ready to devour the unfortunate condemned souls who end up there, one of which can already be seen suspended over the dog’s mouth.  Gustave Dore’s etchings of Dante Alighieri’s “Dante’s Inferno-The Divine Comedy” were another source of inspiration here.  There are two main prints of these.  One black and white, the other drawn on top with a red marker.

 

 

The last dog print that will be discussed is an A2 woodblock (Fig 4).  This print is dark in mood, appearance and subject matter.  An influence in the mood and style is a German Expressionist printmaker called Kathe Kollwitz.  Her woodcuts were generally very dark and conveyed intense sorrowful emotional content.  My print attempts to apply some of the dark elements of her work, seeing as the theme explored here is the feeling of depression or that of the “black dog”.  In this piece, the dog is portrayed holding onto the person’s shoulders because like depression, the dog will always stay with the figure whether they like it or not.  The figure shown has his or her hood up so we cannot see their face.  The background is completely black, totally devoid of all colour, creating a sense of despair.  To make it even more tragic looking, the work can be read as the dog trying to help the figure, but to no avail.  Not even man’s best friend is capable of bringing any joy to this hopeless figure.  The symbol was meant to be subtle here in contrast to the rest of the prints, making the viewer work to find out what it was all about.

 

Although the dog is the symbol most explored in my practice, my work deals with other symbols as well.  As a change of pace from the morbidly depressing subject matter being dealt with thus far, I looked to a different symbol which would have positive uplifting connotations.  The symbol chosen was the lake.  This stemmed from the many days of my childhood spent looking out over a wide lake in Cratloe woods, wondering what lay beneath its waters and feeling a sense of peace and stillness, a feeling at times that only being out in nature can give us.  The book of symbols describes the lake as a “tranquil eye” which gives way to “dream, reflection, imagination and illusion” (44).  It is compared to a mother, giving nutrients and a safe environment for her inhabitants to dwell in.  In her reflection, the image of the world appears to be reversed, which is interesting to note because the very nature of a woodblock print is to print out its carving in reverse.  There are many other connotations associated with lakes such as mythical creatures like nymphs, nixies and water demons and myths and legends such as The Lady of the Lake of Arthurian.  However the focus of this print was the tranquil eye, the stillness of the water and the calming scenery of lakes to convey a feeling of scerenity, positive thinking and general happiness. 

 

Based on the research carried out for this study, it is clear that symbolism or the use of allegorical content in artistic practice can take many forms.  Artists such as Albrecht Durer appear to have used it as a means of self-expression while others like Raymond Gloeckler use it on occasion to satirise certain groups of people including himself by turning them into various animals.  Then there are those such as Moosa Al Halyan who unlike the other two artists mentioned, take themselves out of the equation by using allegory not to express themselves but to draw an emotional response from the viewer.  There seems to be endless uses for symbolism.  The way they are used in my studio practice varies.  Having been inspired by all three artists above, my work takes on all three of these approaches rather than just one.  When I started to incorporate the concept of allegory into my practice, I simply illustrated the symbols themselves.  Examples of these prints are photographs (Fig 10 and Fig 11). 

As time went on I was unsatisfied with merely drawing the symbols as they were.  This is when I started using the concept of allegory as a way of communicating an emotion.  I took some of the most common emotions among human beings and created images using specific symbols which related to that mood.  Figure 8 is a print specifically aimed at creating a joyful and meditative mood for the viewer.  Lakes are symbolic for peacefulness and stillness which is why it was selected for this feeling.  Other works are darker in nature.  Figure 9 is a dog with the characteristics of Satan.  The dog was used for its relationship with the underworld and the feeling I was conveying here was anger and hopelessness.  The dog has two human hands which are both clenched and we learned from Irwin Panofsky’s analysis of Durer’s Melancholia 1 in “The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer” that clenched fists suggest insanity because it is a sign of a “ problem which cannot be solved” (163).  In this book also, Dante Alligueiri says people feel like they “imagined themselves holding a treasure” (162) suggesting they have gone insane. 

 

My latest works have moved on from conveying emotion to satirising global issues.  The issue in question is the mass extinction and endangerment of multiple animal species at the hands of human greed.  Many animals like the great apes are going extinct because humans are destroying their habitats.  I am currently studying an essay that goes into great detail on this topic called “Roots of the Modern Environmental Dilemma:  A Brief History of the Relationship between Humans and Wildlife”.  The latest work done in my practice is Fig 7.  This is a drawing of a gorilla in homeless attire indicating that the gorilla is homeless and has nowhere to live.  The gorilla has become a symbol for the destruction of the environment at human hands.  This is the first of a series of works I am currently working on. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Fig 2.

 

 Fig 3.

 

 Fig 4.

 

 

 Fig 5.

 

 Fig 6.

 

 Fig 7.

 

 Fig 8.

 

 Fig 9.

 

 Fig 10.

 

 Fig 11.

 

 

 

Melencolia 1 by Albrecht Durer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conny O’Connor – K00185158

3^rd Year Dissertation

Bibliography

 

1. Nelson Goodman, N.G. (1976) Languages of Art:  An Approach to a Theory of Symbols, 2^nd ed., Indianapolis/Cambridge:  Hackett Publishing Company, INC.
2. James Hall, J.H. (1974) Hall’s Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, Albemarle Street, London:  John Murray LTD.
3. Taschen, T. (2010) The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images, China:  Archive for Research for Archetypal Symbolism.
4. Colescott and Hove, (1999) Progressive Printmakers, Wisconsin, The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
5. Erwin Panofsky, E.P. (1943) The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 156-171.
6. Walter Benjamin, W.B. (1998) The Origin of German Tragic Drama, London: Verso
7. Sabine Heinz, S.H. (1997) Celtic Symbols, New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
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11. Linda Michael (2005) Black Dog: The History of an Expression (online) Available from http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/docs/Michael.pdf (20/4/2016)
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