The formation of a pictorial concept.

The danger of a blog site such as this is that it leads someone like myself towards pretention and self aggrandising theorising. I thought it interesting, therefore, to attempt to write something which deals with an actual process. To try and actually describe the creeative process I find myself drawn towards at this moment in time. The desire to tackle this issue arose when I was sat in slow moving traffic between Stratford and Cambridge. I suddenly became aware of my thought pattern in constructing a new painting.

For ages i have been keen to create a painting which invovles some form of ritual dance. I like the idea of paint being musical, of form having rhythm. In particualr I like the idea of forming a circle of dancers like that seen in the Bacchanal of the Andrians (Titian, part of the Camerino, c1524) A circle though which is more conscious than his, more literal if you like. I see this as being central to the composition. So this is where I start.

I like the idea of this dance having some kind of narrative context. As the source was Titians painting my mind worked towards that as a course. I thought about the River running with wine and in turn thought about the river lethe (River which runs to hell and which induces amnesia on those who drink it) So then thought that a river could somehow be invovled which is a subsiduary of those two rivers. (Not sure that is the correct geographical term, Lad?)

I also love the notion of a pissing putti in Titians painting and the outward looking putti in the works sister piece (Bacchus and Ariadne) I Want some form of figure in the piece which acts as a hiatus, which breaks the internal dynamic, which connects the painted realm to the viewers space. I also like the idea of this figure being some kind of protagonist to the events which are unfolding. The events being dance, ritualistic, mysterious. I imagine the protagonist bieng masked, maybe a juggler, maybe a clown or jester, maybe a conductor, maybe a pissing Cupid, maybe something less specific.

Suddenly sat in the car Dauiers amazing 'Saltimbanque' series came to mind (dates allude me at the moment but off the top of my head I tihnk they were between 1850 and 1860, truly amazing works and T. J. Clarks discussion of them, despite normally not being able to stand his writting, is really strong) The point is it made me think i want a drummer, or a precussionist at the edge of the painting. Like a wall which keeps our eyes in the centre and which maintains the visual rhythm of what goes on. A kind of disintrested pace setter. This also made me think of the idea of music in a visual in general, back to Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn. 'Heard Melodies are Sweet but those unheard are sweeter.'

I then started to think about how I would put these fragments together. It was this moment that I suddenyl realised what I was doing. Filtering through a range of connected sources, letting one lead to another in a fluid stream of consciousness. Taking little clips and exceprts from various sources and removing them from the original context to construct a new, fragmented scene. I suppose the fact i am aware I can borrow from various sources without a care would be considered very postmdoern. The free quotation, the destabalised sign. Is this not, however, merely a descednat of what every figurative painter has done? Freely looked to apst sources and lifted and borrowed untill they arrive at some kind of coherence. The only difference being we don't need or want to find such a coherent outcome.

I desperately hope this explanation does not sound pretentious. All i am trying to do is account how my mind went through a few dieas. I am not pretending the ideas are any good or that the outcome will be any good at all. All I am trying to do is honestly document my mental processing and construction of a subject at this particular moment in time. By doing this I hope it will help me to realise what it is I am trying to do, where I am going wrong and where I am going right.