Finding Clarity in Chaos
Using Digital Collages to Navigate Information Overload and Exploring the Trickster Archetype in Art History"
First of all, I wanted to extend a warm welcome the 24 new subscribers that have joined me since last week’s post. I feel so honored to have the opportunity to grace your email inbox every week. I hope that my newsletters can bring some fun, creative energy into your Fridays!
If you are participating in the dollhouse project, here are some updates:
The dollhouse has an address! You may mail any items you would like to the address i’ve added to the original post, linked above.
Digital submissions are open as well, and may be sent to fauxbutch@gmail.com. This could be a design for a wall paper, a miniature print file for your own work of art. A piece of writing. Anything your heart desires
Check into the thread linked below to check in with the group on the thread I created. I’m open to the idea of a live zoom event for us to all meet and discuss broader thematic plans for the dollhouse. o
I am fighting off despair and overwhelm this week. My anxiety has been keeping me up over 48 hour periods, and I’m struggling to allocate what remains of my energy across work, maintaining a home, keeping myself in good health mentally, physically and spiritually. Across all of the areas of responsibility I juggle in life, I always have to move things to the backburner to put out other fires. I’m trying to learn to accept that constant, unhindered growth and progress are impossible standards to set for myself.
This week, my creative practice had to move to the side. My growth as an self-taught artist has always happened in starts and fits, trying to squeeze an art practice in between the demands of life. It has been helpful to incorporate a contingency plan for these lower energy days when I need a lazy, low stakes art activity. This has helped me to move away from the idea that art making has to be laborious and time consuming. I’ve recently started making digital collages, such as the one above. This has been a fun way to combine seemingly disparate thoughts and remnants of my day weighing on my mind at a given time. The collage featured here includes my grocery receipt, text from a book I’m reading, some historical paintings that stay on my mind, an AI generated photo, a screenshot, historical photos, and photos from my camera roll.
There’s a new term I came across this week that I believe this collage illustrates: context collapse. This concept describes how elements from various times and places in history are compressed into a single space. It's a phenomenon that affects us all as we navigate our lives alongside technology. Anyone with a smart phone can encounter images from various contexts worldwide. Entire museum collections are available to peruse at our leisure. We are bombarded with snippets of history unfolding alongside advertisements at any moment of the day. This constant stream of juxtaposed images forces us to reconcile disparate elements from all orientations in time and location simultaneously. While much of this process happens at a subconscious level, it undoubtedly has profound effects on the modern psyche. The blending of such diverse contexts can lead to a sense of overload and confusion, as our brains struggle to integrate and make sense of the information. Moreover, this phenomenon challenges our understanding of history, culture, and identity, as traditional boundaries between past and present, local and global are increasingly blurred.
This is one of the great challenges for artists of our time. We have constant exposure to new stories, images, and an entire world of art history on view and available on demand. We were born after all of the great movements have already happened, and it seems that we’re all confused about what purpose art should serve in our age. I am personally of the belief that art should be in service to the artist first, helping them to make sense of their own orientations in time and history, which inevitably leads the consumers of art to question their own. Art can serve as a portal, connecting the viewer and artist across vast distances of time and space. I highly recommend this video if you want to explore this idea more!
The figure depicted in the center of this collage is from an early 18th century painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau. This is a portrait of Mezzetin, a character from the Italian theatre movement known as “Commedia del Arte.” Mezzetin, along with his friends Harlequin and Pierrot represent the trope of a clever servant; trickster archetypes who outwit their masters. The artist, Jean Antoine Watteau, filled his sketchbooks with sketches of the cast members of these traveling troupes. During this time this was a bold choice in subject matter for the time, as the French monarchy held a tight hold over the style and content of the art produced and shown to the public during this era. Arts institutions were constructed for the king to maintain authority over the subject matter and images presented to the public. In Watteau’s time, art served the soul purpose of pleasing the King.
While Watteau eventually gained acceptance into the royal academy for his painting “Pilgramage to Cyretha”, there are several anecdotes throughout his career that show that he demonstrated an ambivalence to the prestige and accolades that were available to artists of his caliber at the time. Although his skill as a painter made him well qualified to join the academy, he delayed entering his painting to the academy for several years. He chose the company of musicians and actors over schmoozing with elitist art circles. Despite being a highly skilled painter and the economic uncertainty that these decisions led to, Watteau chose to stay true to his artistic vision.
Mezzetin was completed a year before the death of the artist, who died penniless of tuberculosis at the age of 36. This painting is considered to be an early example of the Rococo style, favored by the French aristocracy. Fifty years after his death, Rococo fell out of fashion with the beheading of of Marie Antoinette.
Looking into the eyes of Mezzetin, I see the same longing within myself—the struggle to keep the creative spirit alive. I imagine that Jean-Antoine Watteau must have also seen himself in the actor portraying Mezzetin over 300 years ago, cleverly defying his master. He must have worked tirelessly hard to preserve his creative spirit against the influence of the king and institutions of his age. This is the true power of art.
Art is a portal. In all of it’s forms, art has been left for us by past generations to help us understand our human condition, and to help us collectively ideate a better future. I often worry that the true power of art has been co opted to serve the forces of capitalism rather than the spirit of the artist. I find comfort in knowing art history, and that while empires fall, art will remain.
While conducting research for this post, an old illustration I created at the onset of my artistic exploration came to mind. The gardening clown—a recurring motif in both my own work and the art that captivates me—once I resisted, as clown imagery didn’t seem to be popular with others. Now, with reflection, I recognize how aptly the clown embodies the narrative woven through my art. I’m looking forward to revisiting this motif with fresh eyes.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading and taking the time to take in my ramblings. I hope you found something that resonated with you. In the comments, let me know how you deal with the onslaught of information and overwhelm. Do you think this influences your art practice?
The idea of context collapse is fascinating. Thanks for explaining it so beautifully!
This post resonated with me because I’ve been thinking about/hoping to write about creativity as rest. I, too, have been overwhelmed and highly anxious this past week, and I’ve found myself turning to my art as a place of respite and escape. Creative time + more time with myself (vs with my partner or friends) seems to be a helpful combo right now.
I re-read your piece and took notes. I love learning about art history and well, anytime humans resist power. I love how the clown, jester, actor, comedian can shine the light on how absurd the rules are to be included in the sacred circle. After thinking about it, I think the trickster is someone who has met death and is okay with it. They aren't tempted by the diamonds and jewels. Those things don't satisfy and therefore they dance and entertain for their own pure enjoyment. Not to be sold and become a performer for the gratification of the rich. So yes, we must create for our own true pleasure. No one else! Curious to learn more about digital collage therapy! Currently the clouds are my therapy.