Wylie Period 6 Team 8 Post-Modern Synthesis Question

Sigmund Freud’s findings on psychoanalysis crept upon post-modernism in the regard that post-modernist painters Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol were sizably influenced by Freud’s highly controversial philosophies and practices. One of psychology’s most important and influential figures, Freud closely studied the inner workings of the mind and the subconscious. In general, Freud fathered what is today known as the id, ego, and superego — three elements of the psyche defined by Freud as the contributing factors to human behavior’s intricacy and complexity. Freud’s breakthrough aided in the categorization of Pollock and Warhol’s subconscious, helping understand what stimulates them to paint the way they do and the underlying meaning behind it all.

An alcoholic and widely influential figure in the post-modernism art scene, Pollock became defined by his signature style of drip painting — abstract art wherein paint is haphazardly dripped or poured over canvas. Pollock’s turbulent lifestyle was split between widespread acclaim and notoriety — the latter largely due in part to his struggle with alcoholism. Although Pollock’s artwork can be generally seen as nothing more than rudimentary splotches carelessly constructed on canvas, it actually came to represent something more than abstract formations — that it wasn’t merely a coincidence that Pollock’s consuming alcoholism manifested and augmented in his paintings that wavered between agitation and social withdrawal. In futile bids to combat his consuming alcoholism, Pollock underwent psychotherapy as a possible outlet for his battle with alcohol. According to Freud’s definition of the id — predominantly fueled by pleasure — Pollock can be typified by his subconscious id and the primal need to satisfy his wants for immediate gratification.

On the other hand, Andy Warhol’s iconic contributions to pop art, ranging from Campbell’s soup cans to Marilyn Monroe, were directly linked to his subconscious yearning to beautify everything from Hollywood celebrities to everyday mundane household items. Warhol’s one-of-a-kind paintings with hues on opposite ends of the spectrum and unrealistically colored human faces gave way to the interpretation of his work as definitive of how Warhol wanted to represent his subjects according to neon colors. One of Freud’s fundamental theories about the human subconscious that was reflected in Warhol and his personal emotions and sentiments of his subjects was analogous to Pollock’s in same sense that Warhol’s obsession with fame and celebrity culture equated to the id.

Trent Kajikawa, Naomi Krieger, Daphne Liu, Wilson Muller

Asher.p4.t9 Post Modern Synthesis Question

Freud’s research was deeply related to psychology and the unconscious mind. Every idiosyncrasy, slip of tongue, dreams, and so on is connected to hidden mechanisms going on within the mind. What we call our will is actually to some extent an illusion we created. Our conscious ego is constantly under pressure from our unconscious id and superego. With the topic being relevant to how people see themselves, there is little surprise that his work has influenced our culture and its artists with its interpretation of the human mind. His ideals of the unconscious and dreams somewhat led to a mindset of the abstract and perceptions of the human mind which can be seen in Pollack’s drip paintings and Andy Warhol’s portrayals of popular products and celebrities. Psychology techniques led to Pollack incorporating Jungian concepts in his paintings. Pollack’s drip paintings may, as Freud’s research suggests, actually be controlled by some internal dynamics going on within Pollack’s mind – each stroke is somehow influenced by something that is unconsciously going on. Warhol’s paintings and messages deal with people’s obsession with the famous relates to the id; equating fame with desire and so on, Warhol may have become somewhat aware of this notion of id and painted to show that despite their desires for fame and wealth, they still all enjoy a Coke the same way a celebrity or a bum would, that essentially we are all somewhat the same in some respects. However, overall, their concept of abstract art by both artists came from the sensibility established by Freud’s research.

Asher P.1 T.1

Michael Amini, Andy Kang

Freddy Tsao, David Lee P.1 T.1

Post-Modern Era Synthesis

Sigmund Freud was a psychoanalyst during the Post Modern Era. He studied the science of the human mind, more specifically the subconscious, which sets the tone for the rest of your life. Freud formed this complex philosophy during the post modern era which he compares to a hidden drawer at a person’s desk, full of documents which the person had no idea about. He concluded that this ‘hidden drawer’ shapes the entire person’s life and personality. Freud theorized that the human personality is composed of three basic parts, the id, the ego, and the superego. His philosophies influenced many writers and artist during this era that began to try to reflect what’s on their mind, or even more complexly their subconscious on their piece. This philosophy moved a large amount of artist and writers who are still well renounced today such as James Pollack and Andy Warhol. For example, Pollack reflects his subconscious onto his art work with splashes of random colors and explosions, although it may not mean much to the common eye, it reflects what’s going on in the artists mine. From the looks of his paintings you can conclude that he has a lot of frustrations and possibly mental problems. Pollack’s art incorporated Freud’s philosophies by releasing bottled up emotions through his Id. As well as Pollack, Warhol also had to find a way to express his subconscious. He found a way to do this from Freud’s theories and philosophies. Warhol would express his subconscious mind by using well known figures, such as idols or everyday common things like soup cans to introduce a new meaning or perspective on the object. His paintings reflected his subconscious which to us may seem random but in fact has a meaning to himself. Freud’s philosophy allowed artists to peak into their subconscious and reflect what is there onto their piece of art which shaped this time period greatly. Freud influenced many artists during the post modern era and brought new perspective to the world as it was forming to the next era.

Post-Modern Synthesis - Team 7

Sigmund Freud had a significant influence on the painting of Pollock and Warhol. Freud has been a historical figure during the post-modern era and his contributions had a huge influence in the realm of science. He introduced the ID, ego, and superego and his research helped people picture how the human mind operates. Freud pointed out that the mind has a set of wants and needs that humans crave until they are satisfied. This idea was similar to Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol’s perception of a person’s needs as compared to their desires. Freud influenced the paintings of Pollock is a indirect manner. Pollock had a drinking problem and went through psychotherapy in order to fight the problem. Pollock’s doctor used man of the teachings and ideas from Sigmund Freud in order to help Pollock overcome his desires and turn them into art. Because of this, Pollock’s paintings often reflect the very ideals that Sigmund Freud himself thought of. For Warhol’s case, Warhol’s paintings often included hints of Hollywood in them. Warhol’s discovering of his ID helped him throughout his career as an artist and his representation of Hollywood. Warhol would never have discovered his ID without the help of Sigmund Freud. While Freud’s influences on Pollock and Warhol were not direct, his ideals and thoughts influenced these two great artists significantly.

Team 7. Period 2. Steven Li. Arin Nam. Siena Palm. Mackenzie Forman.

Asher2012.p2.t3 Post Modern Synthesis

Reginald Pollack, an artist with a very unusual style, owed his creativity to the whirlwind manner in which his mind operated. Disturbed by the ghastly images he saw during World War II in the Aleutians, and by his mental illness, Pollack used art as a way to express himself, and found great success in this field. During his life he would undergo a sort of self psychotherapy that fed into his brilliance. He found what Sigmund Freud called his Id, his innermost animalistic self; the self haunted by alcoholism, and put it into art. Sigmund Freud one of the great minds in the fields of psychology, and the founder of psychoanalysis described the humans state of being as existing in one of three levels. The Ego, the Superego, and the Id, were the levels of existence for the human mind, and the Id is what we try to suppress most; the Id is the part of our mind that is animalistic, pleasure seeking, and all around living in a state of incongruity with societies demands. Freud felt that exploring a person’s mental state lied in exploring the parts of the human mind, and that is just what Pollack did with his art. Through some of his most famous paintings, “Guardian’s of the Secret”, “The She Wolf” and “Peace March”, Pollack creates a most surreal image of the world, one that is dominated by a splattering of colors, unusual lines, and odd scenes. This image is his way of describing his Id, the way he sees the world in a most basic and primal way. The images he sees evoke many different emotions within him, and he expresses the cacophony of ideas with a cacophony of colors and abstract images.
Andy Warhol, perhaps one of the most famous artists of this era, went through many of the same emotions. He saw what society perceived to be perfect (at least superficially); celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe were major figures in the public eye, and Warhol was equally fascinated by not only the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but by the art that is present in the everyday life of an American. He would analyze his world, much as Sigmund Freud would, by analyzing what emotions where evoked in the deepest parts of his mind. By painting Marilyn Monroe in many different colors, he is expressing the many different emotions that the images of Hollywood in general would stir in the deepest part of his mind. Sigmund Freud’s idea of looking deep into the mind allowed both of these artists to fully express every part of themselves and reveal what was going on in the most primal level of their being.

August Mawn, Tom Allen, Zachary Gershman, Daniel Pon

Post Modern Synthesis-Period 2 Team 6

Sigmund Freud was a significant historical figure that lived during the postmodern era. Sigmund’s contributions played an enormous role with in the scientific and possibly also considered the medical field; introducing the discovery of ego, ID, and superego. Sigmund’s research brought forth the description of the human mind’s subconscious desires and need; Freud was also able to differentiate the difference of craving and need with a set regulation of the difference between the two. Two other similar figureheads would be Jackson Pollock ad Andy Warhol that also wanted to find the delicate equilibrium between need and the illusion of their desires.

Andy Warhol was known for his own contributions toward the genre of Pop in the art. As one of his own signature behaviors, he would also incorporate Hollywood celebrities within his art works. This came to because Warhol held a high fascination for Hollywood’s prestige. He held “Hollywood” so high with in himself that he was once even quoted saying, “I love Hollywood….. Everything’s plastic, but I live plastic. I want to be plastic”. Linking together with Freund’s thoughts, Warhol discovered his ID, and that his irrational thought of being “plastic” would be impossible; so instead Warhol represented himself through the artwork that he created.

Now onto Jackson Pollock, Freud’s influence was directed more toward Pollocks behavior. Having a drinking problem, Pollock went through psychotherapy, and his therapist/doctor later recommended Pollock to turn towards an artistic way of releasing his desires. Freud related toward Pollock because in an indirect way, Pollock’s doctor used many of Freud’s understanding and thoughts to practice on Pollock. Due to this indirect influence, many of Pollock’s art held Freud’s concepts.

Freud managed to influence both Warhol and Pollock, and subconsciously convey these thoughts and beliefs into their art. Warhol’s art reflected largely on the “ID” trait, as he played off his desires. Pollock on the other hard, emphasized a lot of his are on his own emotions and instead tried to regress his “ID”, which was obviously his alcoholic addiction.

Team 6- Kevin Cheung, Raymond Yonami, Alex Park, Bryce Cheng

Post-Modern Era Synthesis Asher P.3 T.1

Sigmund Freud is known as one of the greatest influential individuals of the 1900s and the Post-Modern Era, especially regarding his theories on the subconscious mind. He founded the psychotherapeutic school of thought known as psychoanalysis, which is based on the observation that many factors that a person may be unaware of can contribute to emotions and behavior. He also founded the principle of id, ego, and superego that drives the personality through aspects such as instinct, morality, and ethics. During the Post-Modern Era, the zeitgeist was led by subjective views rather than objective, and the interpretive views became different depending on each individual. Freud's work became very prominent in interpreting these views according to his theories on the subconscience and the mind's emotions. His theories influence many psychologists, writers, and artists, some of which include Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol.

Jackson Pollock is most notably famous for his abstract paintings and was once called "Jack the Dripper" by Time magazine due to his drip-and-splash style of painting. His paintings were very surrealistic due to the fact that they were composed of simply the dripping of brush strokes and pouring of paint in a non-comprehensible manner for many people. Freud's theories of the subconscious had a great impact on his works; his art was shaped by his own personal feelings of struggle and history of alcoholism. As he underwent psychotherapy to treat his alcoholism, he eventually founded the way for future abstract expressionist painters. Because his artwork lacks any direct shape or form for a person to interpret objectively, one must look deeper and interpret it based on his or her own subjective views and desires. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, Pollock had employed Freud's theories in a visual manner.

Andy Warhol was another artist who had displayed Freud's influences on the subconscious mind. Unlike Pollock's abstract impressionistic style, Warhol became an icon for pop art during the 1950s. His style included silk-screening in order to give an "assembly-line" effect on his works, which represented the mass media of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and the mass production of everyday items such as soup cans. He would draw these figures and repeatedly produce them again, but in a different color scheme to induce a new perspective and perception of the object of the painting. Freud's theory of psychoanalysis comes into play here by connecting Warhol's own subconscious feelings with his artwork that became so well known during the pop art culture of the Post-Modern Era.

Freud's theories had a significant impact not only on these two artists, but changed the way society views the conscious and subconscious mind. These views are reflected in not only art, but also in writing and other aspects of everyday life as well.