"The creative process, so far as we are able to follow it at all, consists in the unconscious activation of an archetypal image and elaborating and shaping the image into the finished work. By giving it shape, the artist translates it into the language of the present and so makes it possible for us to find our way back to the deepest springs of life."
- Carl Jung
For the purpose of personal analysis, Jung had talked about not judging the images of the subconscious, but simply accepting them as they came into consciousness so they could be analyzed. This was termed Automatism.
Artists were fascinated by the implications of these new psychological theories. They understood from them that the unconscious has important messages for the conscious mind, but the former communicates through images (symbols and archetypes) while the latter communicates through language.
Supraconsciousness, By Mariu Suarez, 62"x22", Oil and egg-tempera on canvas
Surrealist artists wanted their work to be a link between the abstract spiritual realities and the real forms of the material world. To them, the object stood as a metaphor for an inner reality. Through their craft, whether it be painting, sculpting or drawing, artists could bring the inner realities of the subconscious to the conscious mind, so that their meaning could be deciphered through analysis. Just as Michelangelo and Leonardo advanced the knowledge of the body's anatomy, surralist artists strive to chart the anatomy of the psyche.
Every individual can, as Jung did, use art to bring forward messages from his or her own personal unconscious. But the vital role of the artist is to help us all see the messages that emanate from the collective unconscious.
As Carl Jung put it:
"Therein lies the social significance of art: It is constantly at work educating the spirit of the age, conjuring up the forms in which the age is more lacking. The unsatisfied yearning of the artist reaches back to the primordial image in the unconscious, which is best fitted to compensate the inadequacy and one-sidedness of the present. The artist seizes on this image and, in raising it from deepest unconsciousness, he brings it into relation with conscious values, thereby transforming it until it can be accepted by the minds of his contemporaries according to their powers."
Source of this passage
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