ICONOGRAPHY OF PRINCIPLE DESIRE • Abstract Thesis

by Michele Ogilvie

My thesis work consists of narrative mixed-media constructions and large-scale narrative paintings. Philosophically, I seek to comment on principle desire: I view this as a seemingly common longing for things such as place, meaning, and love. I use the iconography of various images and objects to represent these themes metaphorically. For instance, the apple (traced back to ancient storytelling) is used playfully as an iconic symbol of desire. Titles are written as clues to help orient each piece. The tone can be sardonic or sincere, depending on the viewer's relationship to the "Romantic Paradigm."

I see the Romantic Paradigm as a constellation of idealized, traditional values and beliefs. The ambiguity is deliberate. Globally, the subject of desire is vast. An inescapable predicament of humankind is involved in the perpetual, transient cycle of having and not having. Buddhists cite desire as the cause of suffering and avoid attachment to earthly things. In contrast, Westerners seek desire-fulfillment by attempting to accomplish a list of socially accepted goals, often grounded in acquisition. In each case, conditioning, tradition, and social paradigms set the tone and pace of desire.

"The process of uniting the external with the internal [by the action of making art] slowly reduces the notion that the self is different from the world, and that the world is different from the self."  —Patanjali, 1.41

ROOTS
Having been born in Kenya, East Africa, during the rule of Jomo Kenyatta and the political uprisings against a form of apartheid, I was initiated into a world of racial and economic disparity at a very early age. My mother, born in Antwerp and raised in Brussels, Belgium, during World War II, witnessed man’s brutal inhumanities. Her detailed accounts of struggle and survival kept me awake and wide-eyed many nights throughout my youth. My father, a Kenya-born British subject, distracted me with boyhood stories of chasing killer bees and running from carpets of deadly fire ants with his friends, the native Kikuyu tribe’s boys. His parents were among the first colonials in the British-ruled country. His views of the political climate in those days were slanted toward “The Great Mother England.” In the end, because of the Mau Mau uprisings and Kenya’s impending rise to independence, my parents eventually agreed it was best to flee the continent for “the land of opportunity”—the USA.

I started school mid-semester on the West Coast of America, wearing a plaid skirt and speaking with a shy English accent. I did not fit in; to me, America felt like tract housing. My closest companion was a washed and combed mango seed that I faithfully carried around in a size 6 shoebox. While other kids were combing the blonde strands of their Barbies, I was coifing the fuzz on my seed. At night, it lay with me on my pillow and was privy to my most detailed 5-year-old dreams. It listened carefully to every concern and complaint and then expertly whispered solutions back to me.

Decades have passed, and it seems I’m still having conversations with the Seed. Only now, it is tucked into wall-hung constructions and paintings, containing handmade objects and storylines that reflect existential pondering. But one thing I’m certain of: a seed is still a seed.

"There is a succession of individual moments which gradually alters the condition of form. The quiescent forms are those that have been, the uprisen forms are those that are, and the indeterminable forms are those that will be. In all cases the substance is the same."  

—Patanjali, 3.14

INFLUENCES
The East and West Coast Assemblage movements of the 1950s and 60s—with artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, George Herms, Betye Saar, Louise Nevelson, and Joseph Cornell—served as influences and points of departure for much of my work. The nostalgic and highly personal approach of Michael McMillen and John Frame later inspired me to expand their sensibility of collecting and arranging found objects and urban artifacts and instead explore the use of handmade, precious objects as a visual language specific to my experience. In doing this, I let the pulse of traditional assemblage remain behind.

MATERIALS AND PROCESS
The materials and mixed media I work with are chosen for their inherent expressionistic and symbolic qualities. At their roots, clay and metal are earthbound materials. While clay evokes the Earth signifier, iron-based metals often originate from fallen meteors. This phenomenon symbolically associates metal with a metaphysical realm. Using clay and metal together is another way of reiterating the philosophical union of opposites.

The use of oil glazes, patinas, encaustic, and various other materials and processes lends a physical, tactile, and gestural quality to my work. Photography, combined with traditional and digital printing techniques, provides the possibility of multiple patterning and documentation. The layering of visual imagery and mark-making evokes a symbolic connection to the past, present, and future—in other words, memory, recall, and dreams.

CONNECTIONS
My goal is to acknowledge Absolute Intelligence as the driving quantum life force that exists in matter, consciousness, and mind. The roots of my quest are found in Vedic philosophy, Patanjali, alchemical symbols, Hegel, and Carl Jung. Each speaks of an interconnection between all people and all things. Each aspires to a greater understanding of universal consciousness and its relationship to the Absolute. Most importantly, in their own way, each has shed light on a path toward peace, equanimity, and knowingness.

Patanjali spun his philosophy from the 5,000-year-old Vedic traditions of the Eightfold Path. This path lays out a logical series of restraints and observances (yamas and niyamas) that guide the practitioner toward ‘yoking’ or yoga—which, in layman’s terms, means the union of opposites. It is metaphorically represented by the sun and the moon and translates into all conditions and states of being—male/female, presence/absence, past/future, night/day, etc. The practice of transcending opposites yields a metaphysical interconnection between all things and all places. The ultimate realization is that everything folds into Oneness. I am you, you are me.

METHODOLOGY
I investigate and borrow archetypal symbols from diverse historic and cultural backgrounds. The squared circle is an example of an alchemical symbol that expresses interconnection and wholeness. Alchemists considered the circle and sphere as emblems of the spiritual self, and the square as a symbol of earthbound matter. A squared circle represents the union of opposites. Ancient cities such as Rome and Jerusalem, as well as classical, medieval, and even modern cities, have been built with this configuration. The symbol also evokes the mandala, an Eastern motif used for prayer and meditation. In alchemy, it is expressed as a quadratura circuli, or the union of the physical and the metaphysical. I use the square and circle with these connotations in my paintings and constructed objects.

Another consistent symbol used throughout my work is the vessel form. It is a symbolic container of essence. Each vessel is suspended outside the frame to evoke a vulnerable sensation of spirit. My intention is to confront the standard premise of existentialism that asserts, "existence precedes essence." I suggest the opposite—that we are first the product of our seed and second the sum of our experience. In other words, an apple seed beholds an apple and all its inherent qualities.

CONCLUSION
I seek out and explore the sensuous and tactile qualities of matter. There is an attempt to manifest heart to hand through gesture and material. Through this action, the art object becomes a meditation on the principle of desire in its various guises and materializations. My ultimate hope is to acknowledge the interdependence between all things, past and present, and to elaborate on the interconnection between the self, the world, and the philosophical search for meaning.