Knowingness and the intuitive in painting

Abstract

Knowingness and the Intuitive in Painting documents practical and theoretical investigations into the functions of intuition in the creative process. The practical investigations have been conducted through a comparative study between the processes of drawing and painting, with a specific concern for how intuitive perceptions can be identified through abstraction. Studio experimentation generated a series of questions regarding environmental, material and temporal vulnerabilities in the use and identification of intuition.

The body of work that is the outcome of this research, poses questions regarding the influence of affect and sensation on the understanding of intuitive authenticity. A series of drawings and paintings explore relationships between intuition and notions of material dependence, habit, temporal variation, and the role of risk in mark making. This is done with a focus on abstraction and its ability to allow a wide scope for intuitive expression.

Theoretical investigations into the concept of affect reveal possible interferences to the intuitive process via the presence of sensations steeped in the materiality of paint. Jung’s Psychological Types introduces the philosophy of sense perceptions and intuitive perceptions to form a foundation for the understanding of both these philosophies in the context of abstract painting. These topics are discussed in relation to the studio practice of two key contemporary abstract painters, Amy Sillman and Tal R, who differ in their acknowledgement and understanding of intuition in the creative process. A dialogue between the theoretical ideologies and the practice of these contemporary painters is discussed in relation to the practical body of research, exhibited collectively in A New Famine, at Gallery 9, Sydney.