Circles

I have an interest in the circle as a visual device and as a symbolic prop in my work. I think of in terms of being inclusive as well as exclusive, representing a whole. The circle can also be a sphere, like a world or a ball to play with. Two circles over lapping represents another train of thought for me, firstly where two circles over lap there is a connection of two wholes, like a ‘bumping’ into someone coincidence, I secretly refer to this as a circle of fate, fate circles. The fate circles work in a way that allows for second chances, if “it” doesn’t work out this time hopefully next time the fate circle comes around “it” will. This works very well translated into visual work because I can just draw the circle in and it can remain part of my own visual vocabulary, without being overly illustrative of a concept. Secondly I see the part where two circles over lap in a way that was described to me by Dr Cunningham Dax, as the part where the artist and the psychiatric patient share some common ground. In Roger Cardinal’s book Outsider Art, he refers to Lombroso’s study Genio e follia (1882) that was the first significant study of mental disorders and creativity. Lombroso claimed through his study that artists were “ten times more prone to mental disorders than average man.” (47)I find this interesting and relevant because I have wandered around in that overlap in the past. That overlap is an effective way to depict emotional states, a combination of two elements and keeping them separate entities as well.