This post is a complementary part of Post THE BLOCKED WRITER AND THE WALKS, dedicated to the Plastic artist. I will repeat some aspects that I mentioned in that Post, because I consider it very important for those people who have the labor speciality in plastic creations, even for those who make them as a hobby; besides that the plastic specialties have been differentiating more between their different fields, than the literary ones; that is to say, we have been getting used to listen more “indications, invitations to works, samples in museums, etc.” about the different genres in painting, sculpture, graphic arts, design, and a dozen more categories of plastic arts; and for this reason I present, for this group of concomitant arts, the simple process to achieve the unblocking, based on essential elements of the WALK-RWD system, which can help us in cases of “mental blockage”, both light and intense.
We must distinguish between inhibition and blockage. To be inhibition or discouragement is to have lost the taste for the activity, for the subject, for the image, for what the motif represents, for the very reason why we decided to paint that picture, etc., in other words, it is to lose the “taste for doing”. Being blocked is due to another cause, such as the loss of inspiration, of creativity, specifically the interruption suffered in the flow of ideas, in this case of graphic, plastic, visual and pictorial ideas. However, at some point in the presence of any of these conditions, they inter-influence and sometimes confuse each other.
This is another of the great benefits that the WALK-RWD system has, helping to unblock those people who suffer from feeling blocked in their creative work, which allows through its application, concrete help in the improvement of both morbid stages.
“These inner conflicts and confusions will have one of two main (and several secondary) results: The artist will become completely inhibited and produce nothing, finding his talent imprisoned in the mesh of conflict, and will turn his back on art to some other activity. The other possibility is that he will deviate from his most fruitful line of development to produce defensive distortions of what would otherwise be more legitimately his own – namely, his own self, which, after all, is the source of his claim to originality”. Schneider, Daniel E., The psychoanalyst and the artist, F.C.E., México, 1974, p. 22.
Concretely, I recommend two paths of action for plastic creators.
FIRST WAY: To have several options.
The first is that all plastic creators should have several possibilities in their productive work; not only to develop one work, but 2 or 3, in which they can unload their skill, creativity and ingenuity. That is to say, if they dedicate themselves to painting, to have several works in process in order to always have a more pleasant option than another.
You could also choose to work in another plastic genre, such as sculpture, artistic design, etc., in order to be able to produce several works alternatively, if you have felt blocked in any of them. We should always have several options of artistic plastic creation, so that the mind does not stop. If the blockage arises, we can move on to work on another work in the same plastic genre or in another, immediately; always alternating one and the other because the mind is freed in this way and can thus be re-channeled in its creative processes.
This is very important because the mind gets stuck, regularly when it remains “pressed” in the same work, due to lack of creativity. And it gets worse when we want to “rationally” force it to develop a job in which it no longer generates any creative process. That is why, when we take away this conscious pressure and give our mind other options to create, it dissipates – freeing itself from the purely conscious rational forms – and re-enters into its normal way of being prodigal in creating ideas and imagination.
The artist must know that he must not definitively interrupt his artistic creation, whichever way his unconscious leads him to communicate.
“The artist expresses only what he can express through the interpretative transformation of his unconscious. His masterpiece will be that which presents his central conflict, his most serious psychic wound”. Schneider, Daniel E., The psychoanalyst and the artist, F.C.E., México, 1974, p. 330.
SECOND WAY: Walking.
Now, if we cannot count on several possibilities of simultaneous creative work, then we can use the alternative resource that is walking, which never fails; most of the time in an immediate way.
In this other way of action, I am addressing painters – but it is similar for any other person who has to develop creative activities, not only plastic works – who feel paralyzed in their creativity and artistic exercise and cannot continue painting the work they have started with a lot of enthusiasm; the only thing they have to decide is to go for a walk for a couple of kilometers (or miles) during some days (3 or 4) taking with them, in each walk, an interesting book, and related to the plastic theme they are developing (either text for the theme itself or a book specialized in paintings, for example, the 10 most famous painting works, etc.). ). Be willing to read some pages during your walks and not forget a sufficient number of blank sheets of paper (or a small notebook) to draw some sketches that come to your mind, to restart and continue with your own work (Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART I; Future Post THE WALK-RWD SYSTEM ENCOURAGES CREATIVE THINKING. PART II). Any word or phrase will redirect you to your own document, unblocking it, or any plastic work that catches your attention can unblock it.
He must also know that his conscious function will be blocking his unconscious.
“When a man adheres so intensely to the image of his beloved, he reveals the fundamental characteristic of all great artists, precisely that adherence of his love, of his psychosexual energy, his intensity, his determination to possess that image, if not in reality, at least through the internalizing psychic process which consists in incorporating it literally, making it part of his own ego and projecting it infinitely, modeling it, restoring it, by way of unconscious atonement for having devoured it, by way of unconscious atonement for having devoured it. This is what analysts mean when they speak of the ‘restoration of the destroyed object’ through its recreation in art, thus losing ‘a piece of themselves’, but gaining through this process the reward, pleasure, and relief of art…. “. Schneider, Daniel E., The psychoanalyst and the artist, F.C.E., México, 1974, p. 195.
This psychosexual energy is one of the ways in which the artist will be able to unblock himself when he knows of its existence (Future Post PSYCHOSEXUAL ENERGY AND WALKING).
Walking allows the unconscious to surface more easily, freeing it and encouraging the flow of ideas and greater creativity.
The steps to be taken are easy and concrete: 1) Start walking, 2) Start reading another document or a book about plastic works, 3) Abstract yourself entirely from your own work to be painted and concentrate on the text of others or on other paintings, 4) Continue in this way until the unblocking is achieved.
It is important to point out that the type of “document” or the book of plastic works to be accompanied during the walks must be analyzed in a certain way, so that it is ideal and effective, and is not another element that causes us rejection or boredom; it will have to be a document that attracts us in an extraordinary way.
The system does not fail and you will never be alone again when you feel blocked mentally, because you can always resort to this method, since it will allow you to free your imagination, your creativity and your intuition. In other words: it will free the unconscious from the shackles of consciousness and rationalism.
Let’s keep in mind that the enemies to defeat are rationalism and conscience, which are stubborn and cause blockage, for which I recommend these 4 previous steps within the second path, walking.
In short, there are two ways of action that can be exercised to avoid blockage, and they are complementary:
1. Have several options for simultaneous plastic creation, where the mind can freely choose which one it feels most attracted to, productive and creative, during daily moments of creative work.
2. Start walking reading, writing or drawing (WALK-RWD System).
Both courses of action are not exclusive and must be carried out permanently, that is, always give the mind several options in its process of creating, and walk every day for at least 20 to 30 minutes; and if you manage to get lost in your documents (texts and plastic images) -suggestive and stimulating-, continue with it as long as you are enjoying it, and thus your mental block will be eliminated.
I have no doubt that by staying alert with these 2 courses of action, no creator can ever remain blocked for more than 24 hours.