ISSN 2738-862X
The creative art process is characterized by multiplicity and is expressed in different aspect. To create a full picture of the analysis one needs to review its particular expression in the activity of the professional group and to characterize the phenomena which define the creative behavior of the particular individual belonging to this group. The process of reflection will be treated as a main process which occurs in a personal aspect in the expression of creativity and is observed in the integral process of creation. Having in mind the theoretical direction of the analysis of reflection the accent is on those criteria which play the role of ‘creative markers’ in pictorial art.
The term ‘reflection’ in its broad sense is used to refer to the acts of self-realization, self-knowledge, self-analysis and self-estimation, i.e. what can be called thinking about thinking’. The term ‘reflection of art’ equals the process of ‘directing’ the consciousness to its bearer, who serves as a main motive for doing a certain creative act or the beginning of such a process.
Analysis of reflection in art suggests that it is not a simple kind of a ‘metalevel’ of consciousness, where stereotypes of thinking are denied, but a principally different position of this thinking, in which the attention focus of the creator moves from the observed object to the means of art. Doing ‘thinking about thinking’ and having in mind only the theoretical meaning, the reflective procedures in fact have purely practical realization. With their strategic objectives these procedures express critical direction which contains the idea of reviewing the old but old-fashioned behavior etalons, revising the obvious postulates which for the particular artist have a problematic sound.[1]
Among philosophers, psychologists, and explorers from other science fields there are different concepts of the essence of reflection, regardless of the fact that it is in the core of creation. According to data from different sources analyzing reflection, there are about one hundred definitions of the concepts. The work of Veselin Vasilev is an example for a really serious research on reflection.[2]
If we try to divide reflection in relatively self-content types, they will be the following:
- intellectual reflection – it can be differentiated into retrospective, situational and perspective;
- personal reflection – which is divided into retrospective, situational and perspective;
- communicational reflection – cut down to empathy, projective and game reflection;
- cooperative reflection – fixation, adaptive, role, corrective and organizational;
- cultural reflection – expressed as historical, social, ecological, philosophical and methodological;
- existential reflection – egocentric, hermeneutic, axiological, ethic, aesthetic and ideological;
From the variety of ideas on reflection should be chosen the one that corresponds most to the understanding about the process of creation. Veselin Vasilev gives the following operational equivalents of the theoretical views on personal reflection:
1. The differentiation between the ‘I’ and ‘Non-I’ can be operationalised in two ways:
a) identifying the ‘I’ with itself as a subject, realizing the possibility of the ‘I’ directing to itself as to objects, developing a general strategy and specific technologies for self-knowledge (including objectives, tasks, means, intermediate results, etc.);
b) realizing the self as an object of self-knowledge and on that base – differentiating the aspects of this object which become a specific subject of learning interest: the sense, motives, ambitions, abilities (individual potential), qualities, etc.;
2. The ability to look at oneself as at a different person – from learning and emotional distance, non-bias, with reasonable amount of self-criticism. In the base of this is the possibility for a flexible change of the points of view (there is an intersection with the type of reflection as a dialogue).
3. Ability to read and understand an instrumentally different estimation of oneself, to use it as a means and measure for self-measurement and self-estimation, not to be taken non-critically (when it is positive) and not to be rejected as an expression of tactlessness (when it is negative).
4. Attitude and ability to self-measure and self-learn instrumentally and socio-culturally – with the help of own actions and activities and within their frameworks with the measures ‘success-failure’ and ‘objective-result’;
5. Ability (and respectively personal trait) to correct the self-estimation in an emotionally painless way and correctly on the basis of the above mechanism-tools;
6. Ability to transform the phenomenology of the acts in the abstraction of qualities (i.e. to ‘see’ the own qualities behind own actions);
7. More intellectually and socially mature people gain and utilize abilities to self-know themselves as deliberately self-learn through the specialized instruments of science – psychological personality tests and other methodologies and by analyzing the data according to their scales-criteria
and theories.’ [3]
Analysis of the personal reflection characteristics shows that in this definition are pointed out all immanent characteristics of a piece of art which are achieved via pictorial art. The very essence of the picture leaves the spectator and the artist as two independent individuals, leading (although with specific means of expression) a dialogue on topics which are exciting for both parties. Standing in front of the picture, the spectator is separated from the rest of the world and this is namely what can be defined as an essential characteristic of the successful pictorial art.
1. Reflection – operationalisation in art
As all psychic and socio-psychological processes, reflection finds its expression in some specific forms. In them it is not a vague philosophical category but begins to take the form of a specific model of creativity, in particular – a model of pictorial art.
The painting, created by the artist, is a reflection of reality, refracted through his consciousness, his subjective point of view, shown through the spatial composition, colors and graphics of the image. It is a subject of reflection like many other pieces of creative art. The separate elements of the picture are an object of reflection. Regarding the importance of visual perception pictorial art is the best example of reflection. It is the fullest and most various one. Such kind of perception fully embraces both the cognitive possibilities and the subconscious sphere. Unlike auditory, tactile and olfactory perception, visual perception is informative perception to the highest degree. Moreover, such kind of perception is spatial as well. It is an additional form of informational influence on the individual. A picture is a multi-aspect source of information, which allows transformation of the abstraction in the ‘language’ of specific shapes, colors and spatial objects.
2. Spatial disposition, framework, borders of plastic
Reflective perception and reflection is a phenomenon of the human consciousness and as such it follows the algorithm of these processes. The first and basic element of such processes is the element of detachment from the rest of space, separating the object from the psychological reaction of the rest of the world. When the subject is reflection in pictorial art, this detachment or separation is managed through the spatial disposition of the picture. It is perceived and respectively reflected where the artist sees its place. Seen from a different angle the picture would not have analogical impact on the consciousness of its observer and would not get the respective reflection in the consciousness of its creator. The artist gives his creation the general in space in the way he perceives it. This form of communication allows detachment of emotion, feeling, and inner perception from the abstract medium and its translation into the language of space. There is a reason why the disposition of the image allows conveying what could not be conveyed by verbal or abstract-logical means.
Detaching the object of pictorial art allows focusing observer’s (even the creator’s) attention on his creation. This is the ‘front door’ behind which is the topic of the piece of art. The psychological content of this ‘introduction’ is the focus on knowledge or self-knowledge. Without introducing such an element the piece of art is ‘risking’ merging with the environment, getting lost in the variety of impacts perceived by the individual.
The background, regardless of its particular expression, gives the opportunity to lessen the effect of the preciseness of the reflected. Pictures, unlike other kinds of visual information (photos, films, graphics), create not so much ‘factology’ of the perceived, but rather communicate different kinds of feelings.
The introduction of the background as a basis of the image allows the artist to constantly analyze his own piece of art, to situate it in different environment, and to adapt it to different mood and context. If we agree with the definition of reflection given above, by the medium of the picture the reflective perception of the object of creation becomes possible.
3. Image
The importance of the background for making an impact on the observer is undisputable, but it is a mere ‘introduction’ to what the artist wants to convey to the observers or to himself. Image remains the main informational content as well as the base of reflection in pictorial art.
Individual’s activities could be creative, if they are a result of reflection, especially such of reflective ‘transition’, transfer through certain space. This ‘other’ space is different from the objective reality. It is the intellectual construction of the artist. Creative can be the individual and activity in which reflection is in the area of pure thinking. It ‘sees’ the base of an objective and practical activity, then manifests its essence in a different type of objective and practical activity, which at first sight has nothing in common with the first activity or fact. Along with these circumstances, it is a manifestation of the same substance – the idea implemented in the creation. This operationalisation of the reflective process inevitably creates the ‘temptation’ reflection to be directly connected with the sublimation process known from the classic psychoanalysis. There is a difference between sublimation and reflection. This difference is related to the process of realizing the activity, of the transformation, which happens in reflection. Unlike it the process of sublimation is subconscious or non-conscious. It is not consciously refracted through the intellect of the artist and this is why this process can not have creative potential regarding its quality – productivity.
The artist makes this transition of showing the event or idea namely through his vision, reflected and expressed in the particular image. Here reflection is in its clearest form. Image in different pieces of pictorial art is as diverse as their number. These images, however, are united by one thing – the conscious ‘processing’ of external facts expressed in a specific way in the picture. This transformation is not confined in the consciousness of the artist. It is shared with the observer via the respective piece of art. The individual, the specific thing in each picture is an ‘invitation’ to the spectator to share the artist’s view of facts or events. Moreover, the aim of the image is not to merely ‘inform’ the observer, but rather its main objective is to reveal the emotional state of the artist, to share the psychological continuum with the spectator.
Presenting a personal point of view, transformed by the artist’s consciousness is a practical realization of the process of reflection in pictorial art. The image in the picture is a psychological substance which can be called ‘shared perception’. At first sight it could be possible to get the impression of contradiction between the two terms – ‘perception’ and ‘sharing’. Perception is always individual – it characterizes the psychological state of a particular person in a certain moment of time. On the other hand, communication always suggests conformity with the impression the other side has. In pictorial art there is no such contradiction. Here perception is mediated by the image, which mostly carries the marks of the artist’s understanding. Through the image he shares this feeling of his with the spectator.
From psychological point of view pictorial art creates maximal chances for such ‘shared perception’. If we compare it with words, the ‘means of expression’ of pictorial art are significantly richer. The play of colors, the disposition of image and the light and shade effects are the mechanism through which the nuances of the artist’s perception are communicated. It is shared with the observer in a highly individual way and depends on the subject, but it is also shared as far as pictorial art is a constant carrier of the created image.
4. Reflection as a base for developing mechanisms of the creative process
The forms of reflection are connected not only with perceiving new objects from the surrounding reality. It has yet another function of significant importance – to create an attitude in the artist for building algorithms for the art creation process. The importance of this aspect of reflection is determined by the circumstance that it is not possible to ‘algorithmize’ creation without this being internally realized by the artist himself.
Creation is not a process that can be mechanically reproduced. It should be related to the inner world of the artist and along with that it reflects his subjective attitude towards the object of creation. As it is well-known every artist creates not only unique models of art, but also an individual form of internal organization of the creation process, which is also as unique as the very object of creation. To manifest such internal form of organization it is necessary the subject, the object, the particular aims and objectives of the creation process to be realized by the artist. Having in mind the definition of reflection, there should be a reflective act regarding the creation process.
From the angle of the creation process reflection has another very important function. It is based on another significant indication of art – its stability and distribution in time. If the act of creation is instantaneous, it is expressed in an instant enlightenment, in an ‘insight’. This phenomenon can not be put in the core of the creation process in pictorial art as by nature it takes sufficiently long time. It is necessary namely for the realization of the reflective processes of creative perception[4]. The artist is not able to instantly see the essence of a particular object or event, as he does not merely fixate, but tries to reflect them in his own unique and specific way. In this case we can talk about reflection as a basis for the development of a lonely style of the artist. Namely this basis distinguishes the ‘pursuit of the new and unusual’ from the actually valuable new approach of the artist. This is particularly apparent in pictorial art where there are no criteria of ‘quality’ for the new styles like these in scientific or technical creation.
Apart from common dimensions, reflection in pictorial art a purely practical dimension as well. When introducing new approaches related to the development of creativity especially important is their conscious refraction through the inner ‘prism’ of the artist. This is not merely the interest of the particular individual in the implementation of a new ‘technical’ device, but the realization of the necessity for applying new methods for self-realization by the use of creational approach.
---
[1] Steier F. Research as Self-Reflexivity, Self-Reflexivity as Social Process // Research and Reflexivity / Ed. F. Steier. L., 1991.
[2] Василев В. Рефлексията в познанието, самопознанието и практиката, Пловдив, „Макрос”, 2006.
[4] Ниренберг Д., Исскуство творческого мышления, Минск, 1996 г.