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JL. Would you think
what you have just said, is relevant to this image?
RA. Yes I would
JL. Now in front of
us we have one of many paintings you did, I understand quite a number of
them done in Australia in 1982/3 Inspired by Jung's concept of the Anima
and Animus.
RA. That's right the
title is either "THE ATHERTON RAIN FOREST" or ANIMUS & ANIMA. Inspired
by William's epic journey in the early 1960s I went on a walkabout in
1982/3. It is an attempt to express the male part of woman, animus that
endows her with masculine qualities of initiative, courage, objectivity
and spiritual wisdom. And what Jung called the anima which is
personification of all feminine psychological tendencies in a man's
psyche, such as vague feelings and moods, prophetic hunches,
receptiveness to the irrational, capacity for personal love, feeling for
nature and - last but not least, his relation to the unconscious.
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The Atherton Rain Forest
JL Now, taking that
very vivid Jungian insight about the structure of the psyche - how is it
you formulated this particular image - I mean it is quite a leap.
RA A leap from where
JL. From Jung's
perception about the nature of the psyche into this quite concrete
image. How did you arrive at these images?
RA I do not see there
is a leap - because that flowing river is the river of life which takes
you back to my first wood "WATERFALL WOOD" - where you have the water
coming from the heaven. The heavenly water passing through into the
earthly water. Those two figures touching together represent whoever is
looking at it, whether it be male or female, one person. So if it is a
male looking he is experiencing the princess within himself, and if he
can recognize her and know her for what she is, he has a better
understanding of himself. Likewise the other way with the female.
JL. What are these
curving elements?
RA. That is the earth
structure that is the mountains, which are also part of the symbolism.
JL. And these
RA. Sky and clouds.
JL. Why is the man
dressed in clown like clothes?
RA. Because I think
there is a clown in all of us - which we keep covered up. Don't you
feel there is a clown in every one of us?
JL. Speak for
yourself.
RA. Laughter - yes
quite!
JL. Yes - that's why
you did that and you don't feel that this series of pictures, only one
of which is represented in the book, is in any sense an abrupt change?
RA No - it is not -
no.
JL. Would you say
that all your work has a sort of continuity?
RA. An inner
continuity.
JL. Yes.
RA. That is right -
there is not a break anywhere really - no though it may appear to break
in the physical, it is underneath, it is always there.
JL. Could you
describe what that inner continuity is?
RA. If I may quote
KANDINSKY it may provide a bridge for the reader to cross. The
importance of works of art at all time did not lie, in his eyes "on the
surface, in externals, but in the root of all roots - in the mystical
content of art". Therefore he says, "The artist's eye should always be
turned in upon his inner life, and his ear should always be alert for
the voice of inward necessity. This is the only way of giving
expression to what the mystic vision commands". To draw or paint, it is
always the thought behind the line is it not?
JL. Yes.
RA. You know, you
think first and it travels down your arm into your pencil or brush and
it gets into, almost inside the canvas or paper and then breathes out.
JL If your lucky.
RA If your lucky -
laughter - yes.
JL. YES. But what is
the - I am asking you - to try and express what inner continuity is - I
mean one might say, MONET the inner continuity - is joy in lights
radiance - that's not particularly marvellous - but I have not had time
to think about it - but would you say the inner continuity of your work
expresses - what is it? How would you describe the inner continuity?
RA. Hopefully I am
trying to convey the continuity of the soul. You know from the
beginning there is no beginning and no end - a sort of continuity. That
there is no end - there is no death - we have a birth a physical birth,
but it is a continuity from one level to another. A door opens and we
come through and hopefully this comes through in these paintings.
JL. If that is the
case - why have you painted so few pictures of human beings? That is my
question - I suppose I mean in this particular painting of the ANIMA AND
ANIMUS you have tried to mirror aspects of the psyche - but most of your
pictures they are predominately woods and landscapes, organic elements.
Do you feel that though this organic natural world you can express the
souls voyage you have just described.
RA. Yes - hopefully
the images will refresh the viewer that other images in other pictures
will not reach. Before the woods, between about 1959 to 1969 there were
more human beings like 'Mother and Child' and 'Child feeling his brother
kicking' see chapter 2). 'The Birth of Christ' oil on canvas 40?× 50?.
The Gulbenkian Printmakers award watercolour has both.
The Gulbenkian
JL. You speak of the
soul, RA, could you instance one or two other painters whose work
parallels your own desire to express states of the soul?
RA. Yes KANDINSKEY,
TURNER, BLAKE, CHAGAL, BEN NICHOLSON, JACKSON POLLOCK, SAMUEL PALMER.
Early PICASSO, KLEE , GIOTTO, ROTHKO: I think most artists are trying to
pluck the strings of this illusive instrument. Providing the excesses of
auction room sales do not put a blanket over their quest; most observers
that are not seeking a camera view, succeed in finding an awakening of
their soul to other dimensions by looking at all creative expressions.
The bed and the pickled cow I will leave the viewer to decide upon!
JL. So would you say
you have to see beyond the surface imagery -
RA Yes - way beyond.
I think paintings are like doors you walk up to it - and you have to -
you almost have to go and ask a locksmith to make you a key, a special
key to turn, and then step through into that totally new world - to step
through into that picture.
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