VISUALISING THE TOWN AS A BODY OF ENERGY

Colin Binns march 2009

Introduction

As someone born in Blackpool, who studied and worked there till the age of 21, I only began to realise the unique energy of the town after leaving to live and work elsewhere. On my later returns to the town I began to understand something of the unique energies of the place, and started to become interested in its future development and growth.

My studies and career in Architecture also led me to some understanding of the differing processes of planning, organisation and organic growth of towns. It was particularly evident from my research into the growth of the Golden Mile (the primary subject of my design proposals for graduation), that the town and seafront had grown in an ad hoc, organic way, making opportunities for unique interventions to appear along the seafront. Buildings and attractions sprang up in an apparently random manner over 8 miles of this linear town, creating a series of events along a clearly defined spine.

I have chosen to work with the characteristics of this organic growth in my current art project. My earlier paintings were primarily concerned with the human figure, but more recently I have begun to explore the quality of landscape and place in more depth. This has also led me to look at the parallels between the characteristics of the human body and that of towns and landscapes as living organisms.

Context

The ideas for this project have grown out of two series of works that I have undertaken over the past 2 years.

My first series of paintings explored the visual potential from an eastern concept of Chakra energies embodied in personal growth and development. The works developed as mixed media paintings concerned with human experience, based on key elemental shapes, colours and symbols.

The second series worked with abstract concepts of emotive and responses to places which had special connections for me. I used collaged photographs and site sourced ephemera in abstracted paintings of shapes, colours and textures evocative of specific locations.

These two approaches are brought together in this current project, combining the visuals from the energy models in the first series with the responsive exploration of place I used in the second series. The specifics of my approach are set out in detail later, following the sections below on development and research leading to my adoption of the project.

Research and Development

On a Sense of Place

Building on ideas from my figurative painting, I approached the idea of place in a similar way, in that I tried to express something of underlying energy and qualities. To source this, I used on site sketching and photography to record sensations on site, and collected ephemera from the location to build up my archive of material for work in the studio. The work evolved from here in two particular ways.

First was an approach I refer to as mental mapping, in which I recall a location as a sort of aerial map, and build up layers of memorised information in landscape patterns with colour, texture, paper and card. My urban maps can also include elements of found material to consolidate the uniqueness of the place.

The second approach is much more concerned with the experience of place as an event, using drawings, photographs, words and imagery evoked from a specific visit. Found materials are also important elements in building up the layers of information that construct the unique response to the location.

These approaches led me naturally to explore my personal interests and experiences of Blackpool, which offers such a huge resource in terms of visual material. The concept of the town as an organism, which may be analysed and understood in terms of energetic qualities, has led naturally to a project taking the idea of a town as a body of energy which can be depicted visually through a structured evaluation and expression.

The Chakra System as an Energetic Model

From an artists point of view the Ayurvedic chakra system affords a huge archive of material relating shapes, colours, emotional states, elemental concepts and the senses. It can also key into biographical content from a different perspective.

Principles embodied in Eastern Ayurvedic theories suggest that there are 7 main points of energy aligned vertically in human bodies which are generators of physical, mental, and spiritual energy. From these points, or ‘wheels’ of energy, the theory implies meridians of energy (‘prana’ in India or ‘chi’ in China) which activate the physical organs of the body but also influence mental and spiritual development.

The illustration shows the traditional alignment of the Chakra points in the body, with the base, or Root Chakra, being that most closely associated with materiality and earth energy, whilst the top, or Crown Chakra, represents the spiritual release from body energy. This closely aligns with the Christian representation of the halo above the crown of a spiritually realised being.

The Chakra model was also used in some civilizations (both Western and Eastern) as basic template for the layout of the key elements of buildings; particularly those with a sacred purpose. The chakra theory worked on the principle that a person’s gradual movement through a building, such as a temple or cathedral, should process through the elements of the chakras in a harmonious and supportive way. The same principle was sometimes applied to the planning of larger networks of activity, like towns or the design of landscaped gardens.

Using these ideas in my artworks, I have engaged with the visual ideas and elemental keywords connected with the Chakra points. It has provided a means of evaluating the different locations of a town, opening up more ways of perceiving and representing their qualities in colour, form and texture.

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CHAKRA KEYWORDS

Root base of spine, skeletal structure, adrenals, gonads

incarnation, self preservation, concept, earth,

smell, red, brown, mauve

Sacral sacrum, ovaries, testes, security, emotional balance

sense of others, creativity, sexuality, empowerment,

water, fluidity, taste, orange, amber, gold

Solar Plexus diaphragm, pancreas and spleen, self esteem, logic,

reason, opinion, assimilation, psychic intuition, fire,

sight, yellow, gold, rose

Heart sternum, heart and lungs, compassion, feeling, love,

detachment, God, performer, air, touch, vegetables,

green, rose, amethyst

Throat neck, oesophagus, trachea, expression, responsibility,

communication, truths, voice, hearing, confession,

fruit, blue, silver, turquoise

Brow base of skull, mid forehead, pituitary, brain and stem,

insight, wisdom, sixth sense, completeness, spirit, higher

mental, command, indigo, turquoise, mauve

Crown top of head, cerebral cortex, spirituality, soul, release,

surrender, fasting, extra sensory perception, violet, white, gold

In describing my approach to the project, it is worth repeating some points about the relevance of the Chakra concept. These energy centres in landscapes and buildings exist within both Eastern and Western traditions. In natural landscape terms they are identified with significant points of growth or development of earth forms. In terms of buildings or townscapes, differing chakra energies can define the characteristics of activities or events most likely to emerge naturally at specific energy points.

It was necessary to complete the project in two phases, the first being the preliminary identification of chakra points and collection of visual material, and the second being the main process of visualising and painting the responses to those findings.

Phase 1

A visual mapping of the energy points on the Blackpool coast was the starting point for structuring my line of inquiry.

I used traditional dowsing or divining techniques, learnt from professional geomancers, to identify key chakra points along the Blackpool coastline and used the same process to identify the energy points in the central, more urban, area of the town, to complete the mapping.

From the results of this process, I constructed a coastal map indicating the locations of the 7 main Chakra points and made a series of photographic studies from each site. I also explored the sites for found materials which could influence, or be integrated into, the content of final paintings. These studies led to the development of diagrams and collages informing the second phase of mixed media works, depicting my interpretations of the energies and characteristics of the coastline and town centre.

Phase 2

This phase embodies the process of visualising and depicting the qualities and energy characteristics of each chakra location through mixed media paintings.

The process started by assembling and collaging sketches and photographic images from the sites on to board, fixing my memory and experience of the place before starting painting. In some of the pieces, the found materials from the sites add something of the physicality of place into the collage work.

Following this process, I have developed work for each of the 7 locations extending from Root to Crown chakra points. The mixed media works comprise abstracted paintings derived from the imagery and sensations of the sites, each worked on to 50 x 50 cm boards.

This methodology continues throughout the duration of the project, creating a format of 3 square panels for each single chakra location, so that the final project comprises a series covering 7 complete chakra sites, each containing 3 paintings. This structure to the work gives a clear line of development and a coherent visual content across the project.