On mystical form

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is not a conventional thesis. It brings together ideas that do not self-evidentlybelong together. The common denominator throughout is myself: my conceptual andart-making process. The ideas I present in this thesis are woven together by thecommon thread of my work, which spans drawing, painting, printmaking, film andvideo, performance and writing, sculpture and installation. Since my owndevelopment as an artist has not been strictly linear – my practice has developedserendipitously – this is not strictly a standard, linear academic text: I break fromacademic form intermittently into memoir, specifically to provide autobiographicalinformation that is pertinent to my work. When I do so, I follow the form I use for myartist statements: I speak candidly and simply about my work and the eventssurrounding what I do. In the context of this thesis, the memoir form allows me toinclude information that serves as clarification of my core focus by example – on anexperiential, autobiographical level in relation to my work. For the sake of clarity, Ihave 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 invarious captions to some images throughout, as well as footnotes. These captionsserve to provide collateral information without directly participating in the thread ofmy discussions around the core focus of this study. They are, so to speak,conversationally apocryphal but not irrelevant. Apart from this idiosyncraticintertextual practice, I have taken care to follow the conventions of academic writingthroughout the body of this thesis, using references and citations as is standardpractice.A note about the work included in this thesis: when I refer to my own work, I amreferring to work that has been exhibited and reviewed in addition to the work I havemade specifically with this study in mind. The requirement for practice-led research isthat one is examined only on work completed for the study, but since this project is aculmination of all my previous research, this reference to earlier work is necessary. Indiscussion of my previously exhibited work, I have taken care to reference relevantinformation in the public record and to provide supporting articles and material frommy own collection in the form of addenda. I also provide addenda for articles sourcedonline, rather than hyperlinks wherever possible.The six chapters do not follow a strictly expositional argument as in conventionalquantitative theses but should rather be read as six distinct essays on the topic ofmystical form as I define and employ it. Each refers to an encounter with artists asthey influenced me and helped me to develop my own distinct artistic engagementwith them. With mystical form as the nexus of this web of spatially, temporally andgeographically diverse influences, I see this Masters project as a formalisation of myartistic practice. It is because of the nature of the central theme – which is averse todefinition by a strictly linear analytical approach – that I have chosen a somewhatmultifarious form for this thesis. Therefore, each chapter may, individually and incombination with the others, be considered as an approach that presents myunderstanding of the central theme of my study.Research questionThe 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 questionthroughout this thesis is what is the nature of mystical form?

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University