Art is a Journey Into the Subconscious

Every piece of art tells a thousand stories, and the magic that lies therein is the freedom for you to create your own; associate, identify and formulate your own comprehension of the story being told. 

Art taps into the desires that live in the subconscious 

“Everyone looks at an image with their own opinion,” says Coner. “That’s why my images don’t have a name or a title. The name is left for the viewer to create. I don’t want to try and explain the image, that kills the viewers story. It robs them of their fantasy. Everyone is different therefore; every scenario is different.

I want the viewer to come up with their own solution as to why they’re drawn to the image. Everyone looks at it like its their own opinion. I don’t want to present it as my story because it won’t match their story and the viewer is part of the reason why I create art. In a piece of art there are three participants: the photographer, the model, and the viewer. 

Just like BDSM means something different to each person, and the reasons we get into it are different, my explanations for an image is going to be different for me than it is for every viewer who sees it” ~ Coner, September 2020   

 “Art is the instinctive application of the knowledge latent in the subconscious” ~ Austin Osman Spare 

The human mind consists of the conscious, the subconscious, and the superconscious; each has a different function. The conscious mind includes everything we are aware of, our physical plane, tangible touch, smell, sight, hearing, the analytical and logical. The subconscious is where feelings, thoughts, urges, perceptions and memories are stored. While the superconscious is the collective unconscious, infinite intelligence, oversoul, universal mind, ancient wisdom, intuition, and where deep-seated feelings lie.

The subconscious is where we go for art, music, and poetry. Great artists, philosophers, composers and musicians like Einstein, Van Gogh, DaVinci, Bach, Mozart all tapped deep into the subconscious to access creativity more authentic and powerful than anything found at the conscious level. 

“Imagination and creativity lie in the subconscious” ~ Sigmund Freud 

Freud explained the subconscious as the source of imagination and creativity which influenced Surrealism art. The Surrealist art movement is like peering into a window of the minds deepest thoughts, uncensored and unfiltered. Surrealists like Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Yves Tangu were motivated by a revolution against the oppressive constraints of society ruled by the rational mind, and tapped into their subconscious though automatism: a dream-like state where thoughts are able to freely associate and collaborate with one another through visual creativity. This process wakes up the subconscious and influences the conscious mind, manifesting as art itself.  The Surrealist Manifesto (1924) by Andre Breton explains “Art reunites the subconscious and conscious experiences completely so that the dream and fantasy world unite.” 

When viewing art, we’re essentially wading through our conscious mind into the threshold of our subconscious. 

The viewer also taps into their own subconscious when their mind engages in the viewing. Art offers a path, sort of like a hallway between the doors of the conscious mind to experience, process, and guide the way through the subconscious where they begin to explore their desires, thoughts, feelings, and prompts them to question what they perceive as themselves in time and space.

“If I can hold a viewers’ gaze for more than 30 seconds, I feel like I’ve accomplished something,” ~ Coner 

In that space between the conscious mind and the subconscious the art makes us think, it makes us feel, it stirs up emotions, the mind of the viewer creates a story that only the viewer has an intimate connection with.

So the next time your eyes take in a piece of art, imagery, or photograph, or you go perusing across the pages of an artists gallery, let the art free your mind from the constraints of your consciousness and give your imagination permission to begin a playful journey into your subconscious until you reach that transcendental state where your story develops. Some do this through meditation, others through music, and others, through art. 

As Einstein said, “Logic can take you from point A to point B, but imagination can take you anywhere.”