Harnessing the Myths of Now: Restoring Social Harmony Through Mythic Art

Abstract

Dissertation:

This thesis explores contemporary art’s role in the rejuvenation of mythic storytelling, which enables societal cohesion and progress. I investigate Joseph Campbell’s concept of mythic dissociation and outline the industrial, academic, and ideological factors that have stifled myth in modernity. Synthesising the mythological scholarship of Campbell and Alexander Eliot with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Theory, I examine the unique position the contemporary artist now holds in digital-age society as cultivator of myth. I posit that Superflat’s emphasis on narrative interpretation, viewer agency, and opposition to formal, temporal, and stylistic limitations allows for artwork that executes the functions of myth put forward by Campbell and Eliot. I provide evidence of key, practical methodology that allows for contemporary mythic artwork.

Ultimately this thesis advocates for the restoration of mythic narrative to its crucial societal role as a mechanism for social harmony via the production and dissemination of mythic art.

Studio Work:

My body of work entitled Song of @Merica consists of mixed media artworks that depict a modern mythic saga. The exhibition was installed at the University of Sydney in December 2021. I created works on canvas, plastic, and paper using a variety of materials including acrylic paint, oil pastels, ink, pencil, and watercolour. Aesthetically, my artwork connects to abstract expressionist and surrealist lineages, but my technique also derives from screenwriting, adjoining metaphorical and narrative elements to colour, contour, material, and text. Conceptually integral, my use of nonlinear narrative, repurposed materials, as well as the mixing of media, language, and reappropriated cultural references, illustrates the effectiveness of Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Theory, which explodes defined aesthetic and temporal boundaries, enabling myth to be conveyed fully and accessible to all.