On mystical form
Date
2019-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is not a conventional thesis. It brings together ideas that do not self-evidently
belong together. The common denominator throughout is myself: my conceptual and
art-making process. The ideas I present in this thesis are woven together by the
common thread of my work, which spans drawing, painting, printmaking, film and
video, performance and writing, sculpture and installation. Since my own
development as an artist has not been strictly linear – my practice has developed
serendipitously – this is not strictly a standard, linear academic text: I break from
academic form intermittently into memoir, specifically to provide autobiographical
information that is pertinent to my work. When I do so, I follow the form I use for my
artist statements: I speak candidly and simply about my work and the events
surrounding what I do. In the context of this thesis, the memoir form allows me to
include information that serves as clarification of my core focus by example – on an
experiential, autobiographical level in relation to my work. For the sake of clarity, I
have limited these sections to introductions for each chapter. Chapter one and six,
which deal with my own work, are necessarily autobiographical in tone.
In addition to my introductions, I have included somewhat anecdotal information in
various captions to some images throughout, as well as footnotes. These captions
serve to provide collateral information without directly participating in the thread of
my discussions around the core focus of this study. They are, so to speak,
conversationally apocryphal but not irrelevant. Apart from this idiosyncratic
intertextual practice, I have taken care to follow the conventions of academic writing
throughout the body of this thesis, using references and citations as is standard
practice.
A note about the work included in this thesis: when I refer to my own work, I am
referring to work that has been exhibited and reviewed in addition to the work I have
made specifically with this study in mind. The requirement for practice-led research is
that one is examined only on work completed for the study, but since this project is a
culmination of all my previous research, this reference to earlier work is necessary. In
discussion of my previously exhibited work, I have taken care to reference relevant
information in the public record and to provide supporting articles and material from
my own collection in the form of addenda. I also provide addenda for articles sourced
online, rather than hyperlinks wherever possible.
The six chapters do not follow a strictly expositional argument as in conventional
quantitative theses but should rather be read as six distinct essays on the topic of
mystical form as I define and employ it. Each refers to an encounter with artists as
they influenced me and helped me to develop my own distinct artistic engagement
with them. With mystical form as the nexus of this web of spatially, temporally and
geographically diverse influences, I see this Masters project as a formalisation of my
artistic practice. It is because of the nature of the central theme – which is averse to
definition by a strictly linear analytical approach – that I have chosen a somewhat
multifarious form for this thesis. Therefore, each chapter may, individually and in
combination with the others, be considered as an approach that presents my
understanding of the central theme of my study.
Research question
The central theme and core focus of my study (both in my practical work and writing)
is reflected in the title of this thesis, “On Mystical Form.” My core research question
throughout this thesis is what is the nature of mystical form?
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen Afrikaanse opsomming beskikbaar.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen Afrikaanse opsomming beskikbaar.
Description
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2019.
Keywords
Mysticism and art, Mysticism -- Nature of, Mysticism in art, Van Schalkwyk, Jaco, UCTD