A layered approach

Thomas Allen
Aug 30, 2021
3 min read

The layers of one’s internal world range from refined verbal thoughts through to deep-seated emotional drives. I liken it to the movements of water at sea: those rationalised strings of words that form an internal monologue are as waves on the surface; the non-verbal conceptual thinking below that is like the swell of the sea; then images, shapes and colours flow like shallow currents; and in the depths – our unconscious – stir emotions and beliefs. Beyond that, even, are inherited motivations in the archetypes of the collective unconscious.

My artistic practice sometimes involves the use of small abstract studies as a way of casting a line into those depths to fish out ideas. The studies provide a space in which I can playfully experiment with new visual effects and techniques. Since they are small in scale, I am less paralysed by the thought of time invested, and with no particular aim in mind I can surrender myself all the more fully to the agency of the materials and image, allowing them to take the lead. (Refer to my blog post on the Mangle of Art Practice.) The effect is a conscious loosening: control is relinquished, inhibitions forgotten. I can become less self-conscious and, indeed, more unconscious.

Thomas Allen, ‘Study: Beneath Spring’s Willow’, 54x31cm, charcoal, sanguine and chalk on paper

In this way, expression is given to the unconscious and the imagination has scope to project into the abstract imagery. From the fields of abstract shapes, ideas materialise and motifs are born.

As a species, we are uniquely talented pattern-finders. By distilling the busy world into simple forms, we uncover hidden connections and extrapolate meaning. Abstract thinking and art are as old as humanity, or arguably even older – they may predate Homo sapiens in the cave paintings that are now attributed to Neanderthals1. So with abstract studies my own pattern-finding faculty is being exercised, prompted to make sense of the nonsensical.

Thomas Allen, ‘Unfolding’, 50x50cm, charcoal and sanguine on paper

Thomas Allen, ‘Dream Window 1’, 15x25cm, graphite on paper

Peering into abstract or visually confusing forms in the world around us can have a similar effect – we are all familiar with the pastime of finding floating forms in clouds. In fact, observing the world, I see a constant fluctuation between the figurative and the abstract as we pass through different levels of focus. For instance, a tree as a whole can be recognised as a tree, but the complexity of its foliage is abstract and when you stare into it unexpected forms begin to pop out as our pattern-finding faculty kicks in.

Perhaps this is something William Blake was getting at when he said, “To the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is imagination itself”2.

For me, the fully abstract works I create are not the end game though. As windows of exploration, they are tools that aid the creation of my main works, which combine both representational and abstract elements. In the marrying of these two aspects, my abstracted figurative pieces represent an effort to blend the rational and the emotional, or the conscious and the unconscious, reflecting the layered depths of our internal landscapes. The representational elements speak to our rational, conscious mind, while the abstract features resonate on an unconscious, emotional level. It is at this threshold between the figurative and the abstract that I feel there is a sweet spot for interpretive freedom, where the ambiguity – the poetry – of the work sparks the viewer’s imagination and they are prompted to dream before the image.

(Hero image: Thomas Allen, ‘Dopple’, 24x17cm, oil on board)

Footnotes

1. D.L. Hoffmann, C.D. Standish, M. García-Diez, et al. U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art. Science, 6378 (2018) (link)

2. Wikisource, ‘The letters of William Blake’ (link)