Today I am going to discuss symbols in images, free-association and the ways we see into images as individuals. I am going to use this lovely intuitive abstract painting to illustrate my thoughts. It is painted by Richard Bist, a fellow blogger I follow. Here is the painting below in case you want to refer to it. Richard has a welcoming manor as he invites the viewer to share what they feel or see in the image. Please open the link if you want to see the full image.

A Little Abstract Expressionism – At First Sight

First I would like to give you the same opportunity to look at the painting and write down what you see.
I suggest that you sit with yourself and the painting for 5 or 10 or 20 minutes. Relax.
Give it time.
While you do this quietly, wait a while and rest in your ‘being-ness.
Rest.
Breathe.
Look at the image.
And notice.
What do you notice and see in this image? There is no right or wrong answer.

Later I will share more in-depth about what the noticing meant to me but first I share my original response:

‘It’s a fascinating image, at first glance there are two people but when looking further I see a third one in-between – almost invisible, maybe just overhearing the other two. I think they are walking somewhere but the most fascinating detail to me is the concentric circles which seem to be radiating out from the person on the right, almost like radar searching for a response but the one on the left is encased in the vertical strata, almost conveying that the signal is blocked and not received.’

I then went on to comment, further, that I think that each person’s interpretation says more about the person making the interpretation than the artist, much like a Rorschach Inkblot.

Short Explanation of the Rorschach Inkblots

A Swiss psychiatrist by the name of Hermann Rorschach came up with a diagnostic tool by using different inkblots.To cut a long story short these became known as Rorschach Inkblots. The inkblot images resembled faces and all sort of objects; this required the person to engage in a form of free association to say what they saw. These days the test is not considered very reliable tool but the point I want to highlight is the use of free-association when it comes to images. We all come up with our own images through free-association.

The way I personally work with my images.

Once I have found my images by using free-association, I choose to work with my dreams and images, by thinking of each component of the dream or image as all part of me and that they have valid information for me. Of course there is nothing wrong with thinking that different components are separate from our identity as we are free to interpret our dreams, visions and images however we want but that is just the way I usually choose to work.

Thinking of the components in the image by using another metaphor.

There is an invisible part of each of us that no one sees but it is so integral to our lives. Sometimes because it is invisible we ignore ‘it’ yet it is there to see that we grow and develop into the human beings we are meant to be; just as it was the part that protected us when we were young.

Now if we pause to consider the other metaphor: we are like a loaf of bread with the invisible one being the yeast that causes the bread to rise. The flour-gluten holds the bread together by connecting the fiber in the bread; and the fiber gives the bread it’s structure. In Richard’s intuitive abstract image the person on the left, with the vertical bands running through them symbolizes the structure; where as the person on the right, with the concentric circles pulsing is the gluten that holds it all together through connection. The third person that we can’t properly see, between them, is the yeast which makes the bread rise. The canvas is the oven; the environment which provides the heat to bake the bread. We each need the structured one, the connecting one and the invisible one in our psyche to grow into who we are meant to be.

Another way to put it

The canvas symbolizes our life circumstances we’re living in, which causes us to grow. The invisible part is our spirit that rises to the challenge. We must give it time, just like the yeast in the bread needs time to do it’s work. We can’t ignore it by doing thing’s and rushing about; by listening to others or performing for them: we need the structure. We need to cultivate it. Give it attention, nurture and care. It is worth it. That’s the ‘connecting one’. We each have different challenges to grow in; growing into who we are meant to be. The way we show up in the world counts. We are here to connect and share of ourselves. And eventually we grow into the fullness of being.

Johari Window

One last thought about the images in Richard’s painting: we all have invisible parts that stay hidden in one way or another. In 1955 the Johari Window was developed by two psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham. They came up with a diagram of four quadrants to improve self awareness. From self awareness we get to understand that there might be parts of ourselves hiding. Here is my simplified version

You are known to yourself and to others.	You are not known to self (known as the blind spot) but others know this part of you.
You are not known to others, this is your hidden self, only known to you.	The unknown part of self to ourselves and to others.

So another way to view the invisible person in the painting is to think about it as the unknown or invisible parts of yourself as suggested in the above diagram. This can be challenging to think about because it prefers to remain invisible.

So to sum up, when we see symbols or images in paintings, these components say far more about ourselves as the viewer than the artist. For me as I looked at Richard’s image it was the invisible one that spoke most to me: like a call to give the invisible room to work for my growth so that the potential in me grows for the good of others.

Now there are many other interpretations too:

• that of a spiritual journey where the invisible is God’s spirit at work in us,
• that of communication: the concentric circles are our endeavor to communicate with each other; and how might that look in this technological age,
• that of resistance: the bars are ways we prevent ourselves from receiving communication from each other or God.
• and many more. You are welcome to share your thoughts.

I hope this made sense,
Thank you Richard for sharing your art with us, much appreciated.
Take care.

~Morag Noffke~