Notes on the Contemporary Iconography of the Rorschach

#3384 acrylic on stonehenge by virginia bryant @ ANON Studios June 2014

The fascination that the rorschach holds for contemporary artists touches several elements, first the process, secondly the aesthetics of balance, and finally its metaphors.

Artists as varied philosophically as  Bruce Conner, Andy Warhol, Sigmar Polke and Victor Hugo were practitioners. Now, in addition, many other artists are now involved in these processes through the new auspices of photoshop, such as Paul Cook and Tamorah Thomas, and of course there were the noteworthy tapestries of Gerhard Richter,  Paul Eberle's series "Flowers (for Richard)" utilizes flowers and growing things photographically to great effect using this process.

As any artist living in Florida in recent years has, I thought of Rauschenberg, realizing that this rorschachness is so integral a part of the print making process, central in this artists' oeuvre, that making rorschach images may have seemed redundant to him.

Along with my interests conceptually with Rorschach, these processes are woven into my work since the early 80's as a fabric designer and painter through the most recent MIRRORED SYMMETRIES digital series..

       #3388 acrylic on stonehenge by virginia bryant @  ANON Studios June 2014

from "MIRRORED SYMMETRIES" by virginia bryant @ANON Studios  2009

And so, back to our dialogue, if Arts’ manifestations are to lead to meaningful conversations about how we live, note of the rorschach iconography as a metaphor for balance may be useful. Who would not argue that most of our worst logistical issues would not be healed with balance? This may only be possible in a new age where justice is truly no longer blind.

from "MIRRORED SYMMETRIES" by virginia bryant @ANON Studios  2009

The imbalances of a dominator culture worshipping the false gods of the material and disregarding (the very real) requirements of spiritual life, which disregarding threatens our survival as a species. Our attractions to the rorschach are not exclusively decorative. These designs may serve as icons of balance.