THEA COSTANTINO SUSAN FLAVELL TARRYN GILL TRAVIS KELLEHER PILAR MATA DUPONT ANDREW NICHOLLS NALDA SEARLES

Transcription

1 THEA COSTANTINO SUSAN FLAVELL TARRYN GILL TRAVIS KELLEHER PILAR MATA DUPONT ANDREW NICHOLLS NALDA SEARLES An Internal Difficulty Australian Artists at the Freud Museum London EDUCATION RESOURCE

2 CONTENTS Introduction...1 Who Was Freud?...2 Freud s Theories...3 Themes in An Internal Difficulty...4 Interview with the Artists Artist Biographies Arts Projects References All photographs courtesy and copyright of the artists. Cover image: Andrew Nicholls & Travis Kelleher, Untitled Study, 2013, photographic print, 53 x 80 cm Education Resource development and production: Authors: Ilsa Bennion and Andrew Nicholls Production: ART ON THE MOVE ISBN Print: Online: ART ON THE MOVE 2015 An Internal Difficulty was curated by Andrew Nicholls. This exhibition has been supported by ART ON THE MOVE through the Exhibition Touring Program. ART ON THE MOVE is supported by the State Government through the Department of Culture and the Arts. ART ON THE MOVE is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. ART ON THE MOVE PO Box 1731, Malaga WA 6944 T: (08) F: (08) E: artmoves@artonthemove.co.au W: ART ON THE MOVE Education services for primary and secondary schools: Smarter than Smoking Artist On The Move An artist talk and tour through the exhibition or an artist talk in your classroom. Smarter than Smoking Artbus provides subsidised transport to the gallery for your class to attend an artist talk in the exhibition. Website subscription: Join Education at to download all ART ON THE MOVE Education Resources. Smarter than Smoking Education Events are sponsored by Healthway promoting the Smarter than Smoking message. Contact the ART ON THE MOVE Education Officer for more information.

3 INTRODUCTION In 1938 Sigmund Freud and his family fled the Nazi occupation of Austria, setting up home in Hampstead, London. This building is now known as the Freud Museum, London. It houses the famous psychoanalyst s extensive collections of art, antiquities, textiles, prints, furniture, library of books and an archive of his correspondence and personal effects. The main attraction in the Museum is Freud s study, which contains the couch that he used in his practice of psychoanalysis. The study has been maintained as it was during his lifetime and provides an insight into the life of one of Western culture s most compelling and controversial personalities. In January 2013 a group of Western Australian visual artists visited the Freud Museum, London to undertake research on-site. Conceived by artist and curator Andrew Nicholls, the project saw Nicholls, Thea Costantino, Pilar Mata Dupont, Susan Flavell, Tarryn Gill and Travis Kelleher working at the Museum to draw inspiration from the collections and memories that it preserves. Unable to travel but being regularly updated at home was sculptor Nalda Searles. The artists had all been referencing Freudian concepts in artworks and writing previous to the residency. Collectively this group share an interest in site-based and historically-informed practice, and like Freud they draw upon the iconography of past civilizations classical and primitive antiquity in order to interpret contemporary experience. Above: The artists in Freud s study, From left: Thea Costantino, Nalda Searles, Susan Flavell, Tarryn Gill, Travis Kelleher, Pilar Mata Dupont, Andrew Nicholls. Image by Pilar Mata Dupont courtesy of the Freud Museum London. Below: Thea Costantino drawing Freud s mouth prosthesis, and Travis Kelleher researching at the Freud Museum London, Image by Andrew Nicholls courtesy of the Freud Museum London. The title of this exhibition, An Internal Difficulty, is drawn from Freud s apologetic opening to his iconic lecture Femininity from In the context of this exhibition it alludes to the various disjunctures between our own and Freud s internal and external worlds, and the contradictory aspects of Freud s personality that the Museum residency revealed. As Thea Costantino relates in her artist s statement, we all grew a bit closer to Freud the man after inhabiting the museum. An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

4 WHO WAS FREUD? Sigmund Freud ( ) was a neurologist who practiced in Europe during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He intitiated the practice of psychoanalysis. Freud believed that painful or traumatic experience as a very young child may be repressed. Although no longer remembered, the event, locked in the unconscious, may cause an irrational fear, phobia, compulsive behaviour, or unexplainable physical symptoms as an adult. The unconscious is by definition, unknown to the conscious mind. Freud was the first to develop processes for accessing the unconscious. Portrait of Sigmund Freud by Max Halberstadt, 1932, courtesy of the Freud Museum London. Freud s career Freud spent the majority of his life in his native country of Austria. In 1885 he travelled to Paris to study under the famous neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière Hospital. Charcot was exploring the use of hypnosis to treat sufferers of hysteria, a mysterious mental illness. Returning to Vienna in 1886, Freud began using hypnosis in his practice, which helped him establish the process of psychoanalysis. He gathered an ever-growing group of followers and colleagues around him and hosted a regular discussion group at his home where the theories and techniques of psychoanalysis were debated and tested. Freud s views quickly spread across Western society. In 1930 Freud was awarded the Goethe Prize for his contributions to medicine and German literature. The Freud Museum Following Freud s death, his London home passed to his daughter Anna, who was also a psychoanalyst, specialising in treating children. Following her death in 1982 the house became the Freud Museum London, housing Freud s extensive collections of art, antiquities, textiles, prints and furniture, as well as his library, and an archive of his correspondence. The Museum s centerpiece is Freud s study, containing the iconic couch he used in his practice. The room was maintained by Anna just as it was during Freud s lifetime. Exile to England Anti-Semitism was rising in Germany, and as a Jew, Freud was under threat. Nazis seized control of Germany in 1933, Freud s books were publically burned as immoral texts. In 1938 Nazis took control of Austria, and Freud and his family were forced to flee to London. A devoted follower, the French Princess Marie Bonaparte, paid a large bribe to the Nazi party to secure the safety of Freud s family and their possessions. His four elderly sisters remained in Vienna and eventually died in German concentration camps. Freud and his family settled in Highgate, however, by this time he was deathly ill. Illness and Death From early adulthood Freud was a heavy smoker of cigars, and claimed that they helped him work. In 1923 he was first diagnosed with cancer of the mouth. It would remain for the rest of his life, eventually spreading to his jaw and killing him. By late 1939 he had constant pain and deep depression, and asked his doctor to administer heavy doses of morphine to end his suffering. He died in his home on September 23, 1939, 18 months after moving to London. 2 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

5 FREUD S THEORIES Psychoanalysis Freud s mentor Joseph Breuer had a hysteria patient, Anna O, who suffered from numerous unexplained physical complaints, deafness, dizziness, and paralysis. Breuer treated her using what the patient called the talking cure. She and Breuer were able to trace a particular symptom back to an event in her life that might have triggered it. In talking about the experience, she found that she felt a sense of relief, leading to a diminishment of the symptom. Anna O became the first patient to undergo what Freud called psychoanalysis. Freud conducted his hour-long psychoanalysis sessions in his office. Patients reclined on a sofa as he asked questions and listened without judgement. He wrote down the traumatic memories, as well as their dreams and fantasies. Sitting out of sight he encouraged the patient to speak freely. The main goal of the therapy was to bring the patient s repressed thoughts and memories to a conscious level, where they could be acknowledged and addressed. Freud co-authored Studies in Hysteria with Breuer in The Unconscious, Id, Ego and Superego Freud developed a concept of the human mind like an iceberg, in which the major portion of the mind, the part that lacked awareness, exists under the surface of the water. He referred to this as the unconscious. The theory that humans are not aware of all of their own thoughts, and might often act upon unconscious motives was considered a radical one in its time. Freud later revised his concept of the structure of the human mind. He proposed that the mind comprised three parts: the Id (the unconscious, impulsive portion that deals with urges and instinct), the Ego (the practical and rational decision-maker), and the Superego (an internal voice that determined right from wrong). The Interpretation of Dreams Convinced that dreams shed light upon unconscious feelings and desires, Freud analysed his own dreams and those of his family and patients. He determined that dreams were an expression of repressed wishes and thus could be analysed in terms of their symbolism. Freud published the groundbreaking study The Interpretation of Dreams in Freud surrounded by his collection of antiquities, photographed by Edmund Engelman, 1938, courtesy of the Freud Museum London The Uncanny Freud wrote his essay The Uncanny in 1919, a difficult theory to define, it refers to something that can be both familiar yet alien at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange. An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

6 THEMES IN AN INTERNAL DIFFICULTY Site-based and historically-informed artwork Medicine/hysteria/the body Freud s collections Surrealism, dreams and symbols Site-based and historically informed artwork The artists in An Internal Difficulty all share an interest in creating artwork that references particular places or time periods. They have participated in residencies in countries all over the world, researching and developing new artworks. Between them, the artists have made work in Argentina, Austria, Australia, Finland, Germany, Japan, Korea, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom. They all also share an interest in undertaking historical research for each new series of work they produce. Artists may work in relation to a location, and create work about it, or to exhibit within it. This can be a way of triggering new inspiration and of reaching new audiences who may not otherwise encounter contemporary art. SUSAN FLAVELL Freud s Study, 2014 (pictured top right) Woollen rug, 245 x 185 cm Image by Bewley Shaylor Flavell has created her own rug that features a huge image of a wolf s head. Inside the wolf s mouth is a pattern copied directly from one of Freud s rugs. Freud collected rugs and textiles and the floors and walls of his study are covered in exotic rugs, giving the space a warm, protective atmosphere. Many of the rugs Freud collected feature abstract designs that represent fertility symbols, or have religious significance. PILAR MATA DUPONT Mountain, 2015 ((video still from work pictured bottom right)) Single channel video projection, colour, sound, 8.11 minutes When Mata Dupont began researching at the Freud Museum she was shocked to open one of Freud s family photo albums and discover images of a mountain in Germany that she had visited only one week earlier. Mata Dupont s work often explores political history, and the mountain in question was a favourite holiday spot for Adolf Hitler. She had travelled to Germany to photograph it on her way to London without knowing that Freud had also spent several holidays there in fact, the very house that Freud and his family stayed in was seized by the Nazis and given to Heinrich Himmler by Hitler himself. 4 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

7 SUSAN FLAVELL Freud s Study, 2014 How does Flavell s rug differ from other rugs you have seen? What might makes this an artwork instead of a piece of furniture? PILAR MATA DUPONT Mountain, 2014 Why do you think Mata Dupont has kept the identities of her speakers a secret? Does this make the work more interesting and intriguing? An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

8 This chance discovery inspired Mata Dupont s video work, Mountain, which consists of imagery from the mountain landscape. The soundtrack is an imaginary conversation between Freud and The Tyrant, who is based on the real character of Hitler and Freud s idea of what a Tyrant would be, which he wrote about in an essay published in They are together on a boat leading through the mountains, which was a ride that both historical figures took regularly during their trips to Berchtesgaden. Mata Dupont does not tell the viewer who the two men are, but their conversation subtly alludes to their very different philosophical positions. In real life these two men despised each other, and Hitler would almost certainly have murdered Freud if he could have done so. However, each in their own way forever changed the course of human history. Luckily for Freud, they never actually met, but Mata Dupont s work provides a fascinating and surreal what if? scenario. Medicine/hysteria/the body Many of the artworks in An Internal Difficulty reference the field of medicine in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and draw attention to treatments and diagnoses from Freud s time that we now consider to be outdated. Thea Costantino for example has created a drawing of Freud s mouth prosthesis, which appears horribly crude and cumbersome to modern eyes. Freud is generally thought of as a charismatic and authoritative figure, however Costantino s drawing reminds us that he had a fragile human body that could experience illness and pain. Throughout the twentieth century hysteria became more and more discredited we now have a much broader understanding of mental illness, and many of the conditions that were once thought of as hysterical are now understood as separate illnesses such as depression, epilepsy and schizophrenia. Many women writers and artists are interested in hysteria, because it very clearly reflects how women were commonly seen as being weaker than and inferior to men during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many women have argued that a diagnosis of hysteria provided an easy way for men to control and punish women. Several of the artworks in An Internal Difficulty explore the way that hysteria was diagnosed and treated. Many of Freud s own theories have been criticised as we have made new medical and scientific discoveries, however they provide fascinating insight into how our understanding of the human body has changed and evolved over time. When Freud began his work in the late nineteenth century there was widespread belief in a condition known as hysteria, a mysterious mental illness that was thought to exclusively affect women. Bizarrely, doctors actually believed that this was caused by the woman s womb detaching itself and travelling around her body something that we now know is medically impossible! As it travelled through her body, it was thought that the woman could experience a wide range of physical and mental symptoms, behaving irrationally and overly emotional. Freud s work was deeply concerned with the human body, and the relationship between the body and the mind. He was one of the first doctors to argue that the mind could affect the body, and vice versa. Early in his career he was ridiculed by his colleagues for suggesting that men as well as women could suffer from hysteria, and he was one of the first doctors to seriously investigate the male body and mind during a time when only women were considered to suffer from mental illness. Many artists choose to reference the human body in their work as it is something common to everyone we all have one! but it also something that can cause us a great deal of anxiety, shame, judgement or marginalisation. The artists in the exhibition have all explored the body in their work, and many of their artworks for this exhibition explore how Freud s theories relate to the body, or make us consider it in a new way. 6 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

9 Why might Costantino be interested in an X-ray of Freud s head? What might it mean to be able to look inside his head? How might this relate to Freud s profession? Think about the scale of Costantino s drawing how does this effect the meaning of the work? THEA COSTANTINO Sigmund Freud s Skull, 2013 Graphite on paper 160 x 120 cm Thea Costantino has created a huge drawing of Sigmund Freud s x-ray, which shows the damage caused by the throat cancer that eventually killed him. A Momento Mori is a very old artistic tradition, that began during the Medieval period when death was a much more familiar experience in day-today life. Poor hygiene, shorter life expectancy, widespread war and violence, and the use of corporal punishment meant that people were much more used to witnessing death than we are today. Momento Mori is Latin for remember you will die. The genre was a form of religious art artists drew and painted imagery of death to remind the viewer that life is short, and they should focus on the afterlife, rather than the pleasures of life on earth. Costantino s drawing could be read as a contemporary Momento Mori, reminding us of the fragility of the body and the certainty of death. An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

10 Think about some of the artworks you have seen that depict nude figures: Do the artworks generally depict men, or women? Are the artists male or female? How common is it to see a male nude in an artwork? Do you think of this artwork as a film, or as the documentation of a performance? Why do you think this, and how might this change how you read the work? TRAVIS KELLEHER (WITH ROB EVISON, PILAR MATA DUPONT AND ANDREW NICHOLLS) Untitled (Boudoir), 2013 Single colour video projection, colour, looped This artwork is a short video that was filmed in Freud s study. The artists were interested in the way that Freud changed the medical profession s approach to the male body. They were also inspired by Salvador Dali s drawing of Freud s head as a snail shell. The artists instructed a nude model, Rob Evison, to curl up like a snail on the floor of Freud s study, and then filmed his response. As such, the video may be read as the documentation of a performance or artistic intervention, rather than a video artwork. Performance art first became popular in the 1960s and 1970s when a new generation of artists began to react against the traditional forms of artistic expression. Performance art was radical and challenged the commercial aspects of the art world performances were temporary or ephemeral, they could not be sold (although documentation of them could be), and they relied on a temporary experience specific to a single time and place. They could range from very simple actions to elaborate rituals and theatrical events, and they could involve participation from the audience. 8 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

11 NALDA SEARLES Hysteria, 2014 Handmade silk gown (gifted from Kate Fletcher, Tasmania), image of tiger snake by Chris Oakeley, printed onto silk, custom-made mannequin, rug, 150 x 160 x 160 cm Images by Bewley Shaylor Freud s study contains a framed print based upon A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière ( Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière ) by Pierre Aristide André Brouillet ( ). The image depicts Freud s mentor, the French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot ( ) giving a lesson at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. A young woman, Blanche Wittman is suffering from hysteria. She stands in a contorted position with her fists clenched. Charcot is demonstrating the use of hypnosis as a treatment, while a large group of male student doctors look on. The artwork provides a fascinating illustration of how hysteria was diagnosed and treated, and the way that women were objectified by the medical profession during the nineteenth century. To modern eyes the scene is quite sinister, with the clearly distressed Wittman displayed as a sort of medical curiosity to a large group of emotionless men. Witmann s flimsy bodice has slipped off her shoulders, revealing her body to the many fully-clothed doctors. Her eyes are closed and her face turned away, so that she is unable to return their gaze. Nalda Searles has created an artwork inspired by the print. A customdesigned mannequin (in Blanche Wittman s pose) wears a white dress that Searles was given by a friend. A print of two writhing tiger snakes has been sewn on to the waist of the dress. Freud s collections Freud was an obsessive collector. Alongside his vast library of books, he collected rugs and textiles, prints, antique furniture and antiquities from around the world. The Freud Museum displays his extensive collections of thousands of objects from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, and tribal cultures in America, Africa and Asia. His collections are extraordinarily varied and valuable. Freud was not an art lover and claimed that he did not collect these objects for their artistic value, rather, he thought of them as tools in his clinical work. He said that he was fascinated by archaeology because the process of digging up ancient objects was similar to the process of psychoanalysis, searching for hidden memories with symbolic significance. Freud s relationship to his collections seemed to be much more intimate and playful than this claim would suggest. He would greet the Chinese figure next to his desk every morning when he sat down to work. While analysing patients he would caress his marble statue of the Egyptian god Thoth. He even took his favourite pieces on holiday with him! Freud s collections included numerous sculptures and figurines representing characters from ancient myths and legends. For Freud, such stories were a fundamental tool in understanding the human mind. He argued that they Searles is known for her use of recycled materials, and particularly clothing. What meanings might we associate with white dresses? Why do you think Searles has chosen this garment? What meanings do we associate with snakes? An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

12 During their residency at the Freud Museum the artists explored Freud s collections and drew inspiration from them in the production of their works. Many of the artists in the exhibition make use of unusual materials that we may not be used to encountering in an art gallery. These include recycled clothing, human hair and wax. Many of the artists have intentionally used materials and objects that Freud collected such as rugs, ceramics and cast bronze. expressed relationships and conflicts that are common to all human beings. The fact that such stories have survived thousands of years, and that many identical stories appear in numerous different cultures, shows that they communicate experiences that are common to us all. NALDA SEARLES The Man and Ass Container for Freud, 2015 Clay figurine circa 2,300 BC from Aleppo (Syria), with traces of red pigment remaining on its surface, coiled cotton rope with silk strips, red silk salvaged from India, circa 1960, 26 x 21 x 56 cm Image by Bewley Shaylor Nalda Searles is known for her use of found objects every-day objects that we are not often used to seeing in galleries, or thinking of as artistic. This was a technique that the Surrealists often used to shock and surprise their audience, but it was first invented by the artists of the Dada movement that directly preceded Surrealism. Searles wanted to create a soft, feminine object as a gift for Freud, who mainly collected sculptural objects made from hard materials like bronze, ceramic and stone. She has used recycled Indian silk to create string that she has then woven into a basket. Attached to the top of the basket is a fragment from a Mesopotamian figurine of a man riding a donkey. The fragment is over 4,000 years old and was purchased by Searles from an antique dealer. Searles basket combines hard and soft materials, and modern and ancient ones, what associations do they have when placed alongside each other in this way? Why might an artist want to use an ancient object in their work? Look for another artwork by Searles that uses a figurine and fibre. 10 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

13 TARRYN GILL Ego, Superego and Id, 2015 Glicée prints, each 76 x 50 cm Tarryn Gill has created fabric replicas of three of Freud s ancient sculptures, photographed them, and named them after the three terms that Freud used to divide up our mind, the Ego, the Superego and the Id. The Ego was Freud s term for our conscious mind, the part of our self that is known to us. In contrast, the Id is hidden in our unconscious. The Id is the primitive instinctive part of our mind that continually seeks satisfaction through pleasure, food, sex, or whatever else it desires with no thought for the consequences. The Id is not part of our conscious life, but it is constantly urging us to seek pleasure and satisfaction. Finally The Superego was Freud s term for the concept of non-specific authority and judgement that we form as we mature in very simple terms, it represents our innate or instinctual knowledge that we exist in a society with rules and regulations, and that there is a right and wrong way to behave. The superego exists within our own mind, and it is formed as we begin to internalise the rules and regulations of our culture often taught to us by our parents. It is the function within our mind that stops us from merely following our desires (or Id) with no thought of the consequences. In some ways it is similar to the notion of a conscience, causing us to feel that we are somehow being watched and judged on our actions. Why do you think Gill has recreated Freud s sculptures in soft fabrics? Does this make you think about the original sculptures differently? Why do you think Gill has chosen these particular sculptures to represent the Freudian concepts of Ego, Superego and Id? Why do you think Gill has exhibited photographs of these works, rather than the sculptures themselves? You can view fabric sculptures by Gill of some of the other objects Freud collected elsewhere in the exhibition. An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

14 Pankejeff had a childhood memory in which he chased a butterfly, but then became terrified of it once he caught it. Nicholls has reinterpreted this memory in his work. Can you think of a childhood memory that has stayed with you? How might you depict this in an artwork? Nicholls frequently reinterprets historical events, mythical figures or literary narratives in his work, to reconsider them from a contemporary perspective. This artwork references both the Wolf Man and the mythical Oedipus, who has been an iconic figure in Western society for more than two thousand years: How might Nicholls image of Oedipus differ from historical depictions of him? Can you think of any other examples of mythical or historical characters, depicted in a contemporary way? Nicholls frequently asks his friends to model for him in drawings and photographs, to give his works a sense of intimacy: Why might Nicholls have asked this particular friend to pose as Oedipus/the Wolfman? ANDREW NICHOLLS Oedipus and the Sphinx, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1808, 2015 Archival digital print, Ultrachrome inks on Epsom premium lustre paper, 60 x 90 cm Nicholls has photographed his friend, Western Australian artist and photographer David Collins, as one of Freud s most famous patients, Sergei Pankejeff, who Freud named The Wolf Man after his patient s recurring nightmare of wolves. Pankejeff was himself an artist and the Freud Museum owns two paintings that he gave to Freud, that depict the wolves from his nightmare. Freud referenced the legend of Oedipus in his analysis of Pankejeff, who like Oedipus had a painful relationship to his father. In Nicholls photograph Wolf Man stands in a pose copied directly from a print of the Ingres painting Oedipus and the Sphinx (1808) that Freud hung in his office. Freud was not a fan of art and particularly disliked the contemporary art of his time, such as Surrealism (even though much of the Surrealists were influenced by his ideas). However, Freud did collect prints of historical artworks, and Nicholls has reinterpreted a number of the framed prints he hung in his study for his exhibition. 12 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

15 Surrealism, dreams and symbols Many of the artists in An Internal Difficulty draw upon the language of Surrealism. Surrealism was an art movement based in Paris (and later America) during the 1920s 1950s. The Surrealists were fascinated by Freud and his theories and endeavoured to access and represent the unconscious through their works. Freud himself was not a fan of contemporary art and was not particularly interested in the Surrealists. Salvador Dali visited his London home shortly before Freud s death, and Freud found him obnoxious! The Freud Museum London owns a small portrait of Freud by Dali, in which he has drawn him with a spiralling design like a snail s shell superimposed onto his head. Freud was very unwell by this time and his family hid the portrait from him, as they thought it made him look deathly ill, and would upset him. In recent decades Surrealism has been criticised for its tendency toward misogyny the dislike of women the majority of Surrealists were men, and much of their work objectified woman or portrayed women in highly sexualised ways. Some of the artists in An Internal Difficulty make use of Surrealist techniques in their work to purposefully re-claim them from a woman s perspective. The Surrealists were fascinated by dreams, as dreams allow us to directly access the unconscious while our conscious mind is sleeping. Artists such as de Chirico, Dali and Magritte were known for painting dream-like scenes in realistic detail. Symbolism was very important to Freud s theories, and he frequently used symbols and metaphors in his writing to illustrate his theories. Much of his therapy involved analysing the symbols that appeared in his patients dreams, or the symbolic meanings of their fears and phobias. Freud frequently made use of animal imagery in his work, as animals have such rich symbolic meanings for us. Many of his famous patients were obsessed or phobic of particular animals. Dogs, horses, rats and vultures all appear in Freud s work, and he dubbed one of his famous patients The Wolf Man after a recurring dream he had of a tree full of wolves. Freud himself was a dog lover, and his beloved chow dogs were treated like members of the family. He once wrote that it was much easier to love a dog than it was to love another human. ANDREW NICHOLLS (WITH TRAVIS KELLEHER) Untitled study, 2013 (pictured overleaf) Archival digital print, Ultrachrome inks on Epsom premium lustre paper, 53 x 80 cm. Image by the artists courtesy of the Freud Museum London Nicholls and Kelleher have taken a photograph of Freud s study, however there is something strange going on under the desk. This sense of strangeness references one of Freud s most popular theories, the uncanny. The uncanny is a sensation that arises when something feels both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. We experience this in de ja vu, when we have a An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

16 The photograph is titled Untitled Study : What are different meanings of the word Study? Does it have a particular meaning in an art context? This artwork explores the notion of the uncanny. What has the artist done to give the image a sense of strangeness? sudden feeling of familiarity about a situation we know that we have never been in before. Freud said that dolls and mannequins can provoke this feeling because they appear to be simultaneously alive and inanimate. Freud believed that this sensation was triggered by repressed memories in our subconscious our conscious mind doesn t remember a painful event, but something can happen in our daily life to trigger our unconscious memory of it. We feel uneasy, but we don t know why. Many artists have explored the uncanny, and countless films and stories attempt to inspire this feeling of unsettling strangeness. There is not necessarily anything happening in the picture that is frightening or unsettling, but the scene conveys a feeling of melancholy unease. Can you think of an uncanny experience you have had? How could you capture it in an artwork? ANDREW NICHOLLS (WITH TRAVIS KELLEHER) Untitled study PILAR MATA DUPONT The Madman is a Dreamer Awake #1, 2013 Framed Glicée print, 120 x 180 cm Freud was fascinated by ancient civilizations and for a long time wanted to visit Rome and view the remains of one of the world s most powerful ancient empires. Before he visited Rome he had many dreams about Rome, including one dream about seeing Roman ruins in an Alpine setting. Mata Dupont has manipulated her own photographs of the German mountains where Freud and his family would holiday, placing Roman ruins within the Alpine landscape. Like Freud, the Nazis were fascinated by ancient Rome and often used Roman iconography to evoke a sense of power in their ceremonies and monuments. The same mountains that Freud loved were also a favourite holiday location for Adolf Hitler and his closest colleagues, and by placing Roman ruins in these Alpine landscapes Mata Dupont is also hinting at this dark history. 14 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

17 Like Freud, the Surrealists were fascinated by dream imagery and created many works that referenced their own dreams. In this Surrealist work Mata Dupont has depicted Freud s dream. Can you remember a dream you have had? How could you depict it in an artwork? PILAR MATA DUPONT The Madman is a Dreamer Awake #1 SUSAN FLAVELL Lun, Jofi and Topsy, 2014 Raku, porcelain, leather buttons, sharks teeth, cast silver, found beads,stoneware, handmade beads, found objects and copper wire 59 x 30 x 30 cm, 62 x 26 x 29 cm, 63 x 20 x 20 cm Images by Bewley Shaylor Susan Flavell frequently makes use of animal imagery in her work, and much of her work explores the relationship between humans and animals. For An Internal Difficulty she has created ceramic portraits of Freud s beloved chow dogs, Lun, Jofi and Topsy. Flavell s dogs don t look much like real dogs they could be strange creatures from a dream or nightmare. In what ways do the sculptures appear dog-like? and in what ways do they not? What other animals, objects or symbols do they suggest to you? An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

18 Q&A Asked the same three questions about the residency at The Freud Museum London each artist responds with a unique perspective. THEA COSTANTINO Which objects in the Freud Museum were you drawn to? There were so many objects that I was drawn to, including Freud s collection of antiquities and his library. The things that most captivated me, though, were very personal items Freud s x-rays and the oral prosthesis, which trace his experience with the jaw cancer that was ultimately fatal to him. The encounter with documents and objects that spoke of Freud s private life, rather than his public persona, somehow added extra dimensions to his work. Which, if any of Freud's theories have you been influenced by or integrated into your work? The theories that are most important to my work include the Uncanny, Hysteria and return of the repressed. I m not convinced by all of his theories, though, and his work on primitive impulses is quite problematic, not to mention some of his attitudes towards women. I find Freud a fascinating figure in intellectual history, and actually quite likeable as a person, but this certainly doesn t mean that I accept his ideas wholesale. Were you affected by being in the same space that Freud had occupied? The space was affecting, but the objects within it were more powerful for me as they bore the traces of his touch and life. He only lived in the house that is now the museum for a short time after fleeing Vienna, but he took great pains to transport his personal possessions to England during the Nazi occupation. SUSAN FLAVELL Which objects in the Freud Museum were you drawn to? I was drawn to so many of the objects, there was an overwhelming number of them. It was like being in a dream where there is so much happening and you can't take it all in at once, if at all. One small bound Native American animal figure that sat on his desk stood out, as did the baboon Thoth. All the pieces on his desk seemed especially significant. Which, if any of Freud's theories have you been influenced by or integrated into your work? I am fascinated by the idea of the unconscious, that a great part of our daily lives is ruled by influences that we do not completely comprehend and that are beyond our conscious control and understanding. Were you affected by being in the same space that Freud had occupied? The study had been kept as Freud left it. It gave an interesting insight into the time in which he lived and the personal space he created to work in. Getting to hold an object from ancient Egypt is very different from looking at a picture of it. As a sculptor, the body and touch are really important to the experience of an object/artwork/space. 16 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

19 TARRYN GILL Which objects in the Freud Museum were you drawn to? I was taken by Freud's collection as an entire entity, fascinated by the way he coveted these items, meticulously selected and lovingly arranged them in his study. I enjoy how theatrical the space is, like an elaborate stage set. Currently two of my favourite pieces within the collection include the sphinx and the Syrian female figure. Which, if any of Freud's theories have you been influenced by or integrated into your work? The concept of the Uncanny has been in the forefront of my mind while I think about the objects in the collection. I imagine that when we aren't looking, they are all animated by ghosts of the past. Were you affected by being in the same space that Freud had occupied? I believe so! Spending three weeks at the museum to research was a privilege by having access to Freud's family photographs, letters and personal art collection I began to feel more connected to the space. As I spent time in the study I began to see it as alive imagining it in use back in 1938, Freud at work, speaking to his treasured art objects. TRAVIS KELLEHER Which objects in the Freud Museum were you drawn to? I don t remember any objects. I only remember watching the other people find objects and being interested in the things that were interesting them. These were artists whose practices I knew pretty well, but I d never seen them in process before, so I was sort of pretending to be interested in the things in the museum but actually I was watching the other people there work. Which, if any of Freud's theories have you been influenced by or integrated into your work? Just the big idea that none of us are very aware of the things that go on internally, whether physically or mentally. That s such a huge, momentous idea that changed everything. It s hard not to be jealous of someone who can have an idea like that. Were you affected by being in the same space that Freud had occupied? I don t really like historical places that no longer function as what they were/ are. So, something like the Colosseum is boring for me because it feels dead, like a tomb. Freud s study was a bit like that for me: even though it was interesting, it felt dead. So, trying to film, with some of the other people there, a real, visceral human body doing something in that space was really trying to bring the space back to life. Buildings and rooms aren t really finished until there are bodies in them for me. An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

20 PILAR MATA DUPONT Which objects in the Freud Museum were you drawn to? I found his family photo albums the most intriguing and it felt a little voyeuristic being able to peruse them. While flipping through one I noticed photographs of a holiday the Freuds had taken in Berchtesgaden and Schönau am Königssee in Bavaria, of which many photographs mirrored ones I had taken just the week before when I, by chance, was staying between the same villages. Berchtesgaden in particular is an interesting place as it had been the playground of the European aristocracy for centuries, and in the early 20th Century, the National Socialists. The Freuds occasionally stayed in Berchtesgaden at the Platterhof hotel or in the family cottage in Königssee while Hitler was there in the 1920s. Which, if any of Freud's theories have you been influenced by or integrated into your work? For my photographs I haven t focused directly on any of Freud s theories as such, but I have used The Interpretation of Dreams, which Freud wrote in 1899 while staying at the cottage in Königssee on a family holiday, as a reference text. In it Freud writes of a dream he had of Roman ruins in an Alpine setting and I have recreated this dream in the mountains around Berchtesgaden in my photographs. The Madman is a Dreamer Awake is a quote of Freud s. In the video work I have been referring to theories Freud examines in Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego and The Future of an Illusion specifically his interrogation of the patriarchy, which he simultaneously exploited, his ideas dealing with the human need for a sky-god, and his theories about mass psychology and the supplantation of the super-ego with the will of the Tyrant. Were you affected by being in the same space that Freud had occupied? I felt very much that Freud had left the space, but it was still a remarkable experience being able to sit in his study, and examine his figurines, books, artworks, and personal photo albums over such a long time. I also spent a couple of days at the museum at his house at Berggasse 19 in Vienna, which has an amazing library, but doesn't have the warm presence his house in London has. ANDREW NICHOLLS Which objects in the Freud Museum were you drawn to? I was very excited to see the Museum s two paintings by Freud s patient Sergei Pankejeff (the Wolf Man), depicting his famous dream of the white wolves seeing those paintings felt a bit like meeting a celebrity. Seeing the couch was like that too, in fact encountering both couches the glamorous clinical couch, and the more humble one that he died upon was very moving. Freud s custom-designed desk chair was also fascinating as it gave such an insight into his idiosyncracies. It looks like a cross between a Henry Moore sculpture and a torture device, but it was designed so Freud could work in his preferred position, with one leg hooked over the arm of his chair. I found that image of him incredibly charming. 18 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

21 Which, if any of Freud's theories have you been influenced by or integrated into your work? Freud s theory of the Uncanny has long fascinated me, and most of my favourite filmmakers and artists including the ones in this exhibition regularly capture a sense of the Uncanny in their work. I also respond to his fascination with Classical cultures and mythology, as this is an ongoing source of inspiration in my own art practice. Were you affected by being in the same space that Freud had occupied? Very much so, and it was such a different experience to what I d imagined. I was surprised by how warm and inviting his study was. I had expected it to feel a bit eerie, but it was such a pleasant space to be in that I spent the majority of my time at the museum in there. I had hoped that it would still smell of cigars, but that is long gone. I loved the contrast between his study and the rest of the house, which were clearly much more like the domain of his wife and daughter. I was fascinated by how he curated his collection it seemed to be reflect his personal sensibility far more than any historical or museological concerns, which made it all the more fascinating. NALDA SEARLES Which objects in the Freud Museum were you drawn to? As I was unable to attend the Museum experience I did find the book by Australian writer Janine Burke so helpful in laying out Freud s collection, as extensive as it was. Athene was the figurine I was most drawn to, Freud used her often in attempting to understand the human condition. When he moved to London from Vienna he was most concerned that the Athene sculpture should arrive safely at his new destination. Which, if any of Freud's theories have you been influenced by or integrated into your work? I was drawn to the character of the man himself, although I did read a number of his books, and the interesting book written about Freud by Hilda Doolittle his close friend and client. Hysteria, a name given to a complex set of neurosis experienced largely by women that Freud described, drew me in and resulted in an artwork by the same name. Were you affected by being in the same space that Freud had occupied? I did not visit the Freud Museum, however reading and researching so much of Freud certainly had its affect on me. In the late sixties I did my psychiatric nursing training for almost four years. Within that framework Freud (and Jung) were considered. One might say he has been on the journey of my life and so has had a certain effect on me in many ways, most notably in the way I observe and analyse life around me, and in the way I seem to develop artworks so the Freud artworks of mine were done in a similar manner. I became most familiar with his character, his daily life, his way of thinking and his effect on his clients. I wanted to know the man as it were, and through my imagination and his words and life I had free rein. An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

22 ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES ANDREW NICHOLLS Andrew Nicholls is an artist, writer and curator whose practices engage with the sentimental, camp and other historically-marginalised aesthetics, while tracing the historical recurrence of particular aesthetic tropes in Western visual culture. While primarily drawing-based, his practice also incorporates ceramics, photography and filmmaking. He particularly draws inspiration from heritage sites and museum collections, and has coordinated residencies at locations including Greenough Hamlet (Australia s third-most-significant heritage site), Spode China (the UK s longest-running ceramics factory still based in its original location), the Midland Railway Workshops (the southern hemisphere s most intact remaining Edwardian industrial site), the Freud Museum London, and the Brighton Pavilion. Nicholls has exhibited across Australia, Southeast Asia, Italy and the United Kingdom, including solo exhibitions in Australia and England. He has been the recipient of two Creative Development Fellowships from the Western Australian Government, and undertaken several commissions in Western Australia and the United States, most recently a $250,000 ceiling mural for the City of Perth Library. In 2009 he published a limited edition monogram documenting the first decade of his practice, Love Andrew Nicholls, drawn works Nicholls has curated projects for organisations including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, and Object Galleries Sydney, and has written for all of Australia s major national arts publications. His work is represented in collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Brookfield Multiplex, Edith Cowan University and the City of Perth. DR THEA COSTANTINO Thea Costantino's art practice encompasses drawing, sculpture, video, animation, photography and costume design, written works of fiction and non-fiction, musical theatre librettos and plays, and curatorial projects. She has exhibited and undertaken residency projects across Australia, Europe and the United States both in a solo capacity and collaboratively, as part of artist collective Hold Your Horses. Costantino s artwork investigates cultural memory; the remembrance of the past and how it can be re-envisioned with reference to marginalised aspects of the historical record. Most recently she has focused on the history of Australian colonialism and the complicity of women under the British Empire. She is known for her deft graphite drawings and the trademark use of wax to create uncanny sculptural forms that are sometimes also the subjects of photographic works. Costantino has received numerous grants and prizes including a 2011 Qantas Foundation Encouragement of Contemporary Australian Art Award, the 2013 Hutchins Art Prize and a Mid- Career Creative Fellowship from the Department of Culture and the Arts in In 2012 she undertook a two-month residency in Berlin, researching toward an exhibition at the Akademie der Künste in celebration of the 200th birthday of Richard Wagner, and undertook Artsource s prestigious Gunnery Exchange. In 2013 she undertook residencies at the Freud Museum London and Glasgow Sculpture Studios, was invited to participate in the University of Queensland s prestigious National Artists Self Portrait Prize. Her 2014 solo exhibition, Daughters of the Empire resulted in sales to major Australian collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the City of Perth, the Cruthers Collection of Women s Art and Murdoch University. In 2015 she will exhibit in An Internal Difficulty: Australian Artists at the Freud Museum London at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts as part of the Perth International Arts festival, will present a solo exhibition, Foreign Soil, at the John Curtin Gallery, and will participate in an artists residency at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery and Brighton Pavilion. She works in the School of Design and Art at Curtin University. SUSAN FLAVELL Susan Flavell is one of Western Australia s most accomplished mid-career artists. Over the course of a twenty-year practice she has mastered a formidable range of skills and techniques, including aluminium, bronze and pewter casting, hand-built and cast ceramics, drawing, watercolour, textiles and her trademark use of cardboard to create hauntingly powerful, large-scale sculptures. Flavell s work explores animal and human forms, the real, the hybrid, the fantastic, the monstrous and the mythical. The combination of sculpture and drawing has been a major focus of her practice over recent years, while the history of ceramic and bronze figurines has influenced the development of a major series of small-scale works. In addition to An Internal Difficulty, her experience at The Freud Museum London inspired Freud s Desk, a highly-acclaimed exhibition of over 100 small sculptures, prints and textile works reinterpreting Freud s collections, at Turner Galleries in Flavell has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards including Artsource s prestigious Basel, Switzerland Artist s Residential Exchange in 1993, and the Mark Howlett Foundation Commission for She has undertaken numerous public art commissions across Western Australia and her work is represented in collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the City of Perth. TARRYN GILL Tarryn Gill is a multidisciplinary artist from Perth, Western Australia. As a solo artist and through her collaborations with Pilar Mata Dupont and production company Hold Your Horses, she has exhibited works and undertaken residency projects across Australia, in Argentina, France, Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Japan. Notably, 20 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

23 she has shown work at the Akademie der Kunste, Berlin; in the 17th Biennale of Sydney, 2010; at the Art Gallery of Western Australia; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; and at the Centre Pompidou, Paris and Art Basel, Miami as part of the A Shaded View on Fashion Film Festival 4. Gill and Mata Dupont have been widely recognised for their engaging theatrical, performed, musical, photographic and filmic works that explore the dynamics of spectacle and nationalism. In 2010 they won the coveted $100,000 Basil Sellers Art Prize and in 2011 they held a 10-year retrospective, STADIUM, at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. The pair are represented in collections including Artbank, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the City of Perth, Kerry Stokes Collection, Murdoch University, Queensland Art Gallery and Stadiums Queensland. In 2012 Gill undertook solo studio residencies at the Banff Centre, Canada and at the Australia Council Tokyo Studio, Japan and held a solo exhibition at XYZ Collective, Tokyo. During 2013 she undertook design roles with theatre companies The Last Great Hunt and Hydra Poesis, in addition to participating in a group artists residency at the Freud Museum London. Her highly-lauded 2014 solo exhibition at Moana Project Space, Perth, You ll Be Sorry When I m Dead, resulted in sales to Artbank, Wesfarmer Arts and the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and a cover story in Art Collector Magazine. In 2015 Gill will undertake a residency at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery and Brighton Pavilion. She is also a 2015 recipient of the David & Margery Edwards Trust, allowing her to spend 3 months in residence at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City. TRAVIS KELLEHER Dr Travis Kelleher is an academic, writer, and curator based in Perth, Western Australia. He has won national awards in teaching and curriculum development, and his research interests include aesthetics and failure, intangible cultural heritage, and histories of domestic interiors. Kelleher is currently working, through FORM, in the fields of ICIP, ethical data management, and community engagement with arts and culture. Kelleher has curated exhibitions for institutions including the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, and has exhibited photographic and film works as a solo artist and in collaboration with Andrew Nicholls. PILAR MATA DUPONT Pilar Mata Dupont is an artist based between Western Australia and the Netherlands whose work investigates ideas of nationalism, identity, and the psychological triggers of nostalgia through the use of parable and highly theatrical and cinematic methods. As part of her collaboration with Tarryn Gill, she participated in the Sydney Biennale and won the Basil Sellers Art Prize in 2010, and had a ten-year retrospective of their collaborative work at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts in In partnership with Thea Costantino and Gill as multi-artform collective Hold Your Horses, she made work commissioned by the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, 2012, for the exhibition Wagner 2013: Künstlerpositionen, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner. Since 2012 Mata Dupont has traveled extensively, researching and producing new solo works in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, North and South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. That year she was a recipient of a Midcareer Fellowship from the Western Australian Government allowing her to investigate her turbulent family history in Argentina. A survey of her solo video works were shown as part of the CineB Film Festival in Santiago, Chile in late 2013 and her most recent solo exhibition, Pilar Mata Dupont Kaiho, opened at the Pori Art Museum, Finland in late Also in 2014 she was a finalist in the Blake Prize and in 2015 was one of ten nominees for the main prize at the prestigious Spring Exhibition at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen. Other recent exhibition highlights include the SeMA Biennale Mediacity Seoul, at the Seoul Museum of Art; Salon Fluchthilfe, at the Secession museum in Vienna; and making commissioned work for The List, at Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW. Mata Dupont is represented in the collections of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Campbelltown Arts Centre, and the University of Western Australia. Gill and Mata Dupont additionally have collaborative work in collections including Artbank, Stadiums Queensland, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the City of Perth and the Kerry Stokes Collection. NALDA SEARLES Sculptor Nalda Searles is a living icon, internationally renowned as a visionary in the field of Australian fibre art. Searles makes use of found materials from the Australian landscape in the creation of three-dimensional works with resonant psychological power. Alongside her solo practice she has collaborated extensively with senior Wongi painter Dr. Pantjiti Mary McLean and Indigenous communities across Australia s Central and Western deserts. Searles established her art practice in the 1970s, teaching herself weaving techniques from books. She soon received funding from the Australia Council for the Arts to travel alone to the remote Western Australian bush and create a series of works using only what she found in the landscape. This experience would inform her art practice over the ensuing decades and inspire generations of Western Australian artists to undertake remote bush camps for creative inspiration. Searles is highly sought after as a guest speaker and workshop coordinator in fibre and textile technique, basketry and cloth figure-making. In 2009 Searles highly-acclaimed solo exhibition, Drifting in my Own Land began a four-year Australian tour, accompanied by a retrospective catalogue of her practice to date. That same year Searles was awarded an inaugural Artsource Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to Western Australian visual art, and in 2011 she was one of a hand-selected group of arts industry representatives invited to Queen Elizabeth II s reception at Perth Government House. Searles work is represented in numerous collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, the Lodz Museum Textile Collection, Poland, and the Museum of Craft, Itami, Japan. An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

24 ARTS PROJECTS INSPIRED BY ARTWORKS IN AN INTERNAL DIFFICULTY DRAWING Consider the drawing of Freud s Skull by Thea Costantino. Reflect on the disease that effected Freud s later life and the cause of this. Research examples of Momento Mori in Art History. Momento Mori frequently made use of symbolism such as skulls, snuffed candles and cut flowers to reference the brevity of life. Create a contemporary Momento Mori using your own symbols of life and death. Images:Tarryn Gill Gods of Freud, left top # 18 left bottom #16 right top #22 right bottom #23 from a series of 45 drawings, mixed media on paper, each 24 x 17 cm. Set up an arrangement of selected symbolic objects on a table as a still life. Use charcoal or graphite to create a tonal study of the still life on quality paper. Spray with workable fixative to prevent the drawing from smudging. CERAMIC SCULPTURE View Susan Flavell s sculptures that are inspired by Freud s chow dogs: Lun, Jofi and Topsy. Flavell frequently combines features from different animals to create bizarre or fantastical creatures in her artworks. Research Chimera in mythology and consider the symbolism of these creatures. Create a drawing of a hybrid animal that combines at least two different animals into one. What character does the creature represent symbolically? Make a design for a 50 cm ceramic sculpture. Consider the balance, stability and construction techniques to be used that affect the design. Create a newspaper armature in the basic form of the creature. Cover the paper structure with clay slabs modelling into the form. Add details of the creature s features and impress or engrave textures to the surface. 22 An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE 2015

25 Dry the sculpture slowly, carefully remove the newspaper as the clay firms and holds its form. Bisque fire in the kiln. Paint the sculpture with acrylic paints; enhance textures and features by rubbing colour into the rough surfaces and wiping back. Like Flavell you may like to add symbolic found objects to the sculpture. VIDEO ART/PHOTOGRAPHY Watch Pilar Mata Dupont s The Madman is the Dreamer Awake and video piece Mountain. Consider how she creates a sense of uncanny or a dream like quality in these works? How does sound play a role in the video work? Use an evocative location to capture a series of landscape photographs and video footage. Consider the lighting and filters that are applied in capturing the landscape to suggest a sense of mystery or intrigue. Using video editing software on a computer to reduce the video to about 3 minutes. Quick changes between scenes can create a sense of tension whereas long takes feel more relaxed. Add a sound track to the video; this could be a conversation (as in Mata Dupont s video), a sample of music, or sound effects that further develop the theme or emotion of the work. Display prints of the photographs and the video together. The video may be projected onto a wall, played on a monitor or a tablet. PAINTING The collection of ancient sculptures in Freud s collection has influenced artworks in this exhibition. Tarryn Gill made many studies of these sculptures in a series of drawings some she recreated as soft sculptures. Research sculptures of gods or mythological characters. What characteristics or qualities do they represent? Make sketches of sculptures that symbolise qualities that resonate with you. Create compositional designs for a painting that depicts a god or mythological character and presents particular ethics or values. Draw up the chosen design on to primed canvas or board with charcoal and paint in acrylic or oil paint. An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

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27 REFERENCES Freud Museum London Surrealism and Freud MORE INFORMATION ON ARTISTS IN AN INTERNAL DIFFICULTY Susan Flavell Tarryn Gill Pilar Mata Dupont Andrew Nicholls Nalda Searles Thea Costantino Look up items from the Freud Museum London Collection that influenced the artists in An Internal Difficulty Painting of the Wolf Dream by the Wolf Man (Sergei Pankejeff) Salvador Dali Portrait of Freud (1938) Rug from Freud s couch Freud s print of The Lesson of Dr Charcot Baboon of Thoth, Roman Period; 30 B.C. A.D Sphinx, Late 5th early 4th century B.C. Female Figure, c B. C. Opposite page: Susan Flavell, Topsy, 2014 (detail) Raku, porcelain, stoneware, handmade beads, found objects and copper wire, 63 x 20 x 20 cm Image by Bewley Shaylor An Internal Difficulty tour is managed by ART ON THE MOVE. ART ON THE MOVE

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