The Psychology Behind Art And The Art Used For Psychology

This essay will explore the psychology of art, including the past and present theories behind this. It will reflect on how artist may have used these theories within their artwork or how these theories may have been used to analyse and explain existing artwork and the artists behind them. This will include more insight into each theory of the psychology of art and what techniques and methods artists may have used to when they are considering the psychology side of their artwork. My research will help me to gain a better understanding of if artwork has been used by psychologists in a way to help people or if these theories have actually been able to analyze the person and intent behind the artwork. It will not only explore the effectiveness and success of the artwork and theories but it will also examine if they have been targeted at a specific audience or not. I will also attempt to question if these theories are accurately correct by seeking what proof others who may disagree with them may have. Extending my knowledge on this i will also look into how these theories and methods may have changed over time and why.
I will gain a better understanding of whether this art was used to target a specific audience, how they targeted that audience within their work and if it was meant to appeal to everyone or a larger audience.
I aim for my research to give me a better grasp on how art can be used to help both the audience and the artist. It will help me to understand how our brains process this information and why we may be influenced to have either a positive or negative response. I will look at artists such as Vincent Van Gogh who have a strong psychological link to themselves and their artwork. Artists who may or may have not intentionally created or reflected a part of themselves within the artwork. I will extend my knowledge on this to determine how and why these artists may have done this.
To gain a better understanding of these issues my research will expand on different types of artwork, techniques and methods that may be for it and how this may have benefitted anyone.
Finally my research will come to the final conclusion of how successful this was and how I could apply this to my own studio practice. I will look into how these ideas may link to my own work and how successful I think using similar methods in my own work may be.

So we all know that sometimes art can be used as a helpful tool for people, such as the rorschach tests and we all know that art often has a purpose; to act as an advocate, to sell something or to reflect a feeling or some part of the artist in some way. But how does an image sell something or support anything? how can anyone tell what the artist was feeling or what they meant when creating a piece of art? How can artwork appeal to others or make them feel anything? 
The rorschach tests or the inkblot tests as they were also called, was a method used to attempt to examine the personality and emotions of the psychologist's patient. These images were symmetrical, abstract blots of ink, the viewer would describe what they saw within the image. Hermann Rorschach created this test in the 1920 but it wasn’t just what the patient  sees in the image that helped to evaluate them it was also the time it took for them to answer and exactly what they said about the inkblot that was important. 
So surely this can be applied to most images or artwork as everybody has a subconscious perception of the things around us. Aaron Beck researched cognitive therapy and believe that it is not because of a situation (or in this case image or artwork) that causes a particular response but the viewers perception of it. Similar to the rorschach test, Beck believed that how people assess the same situation varies with temperament and that by getting the viewer to question their perception they could lead them into having a more positive outlook.  

Despite Warhols beliefs that his artwork was devoid of deeper meaning he himself created his own rorschach painting. Did he design this with no hidden agenda or was there a purpose or meaning behind the painting?
Art psychology is a theory which studies the perception, knowledge and characteristics of art. This theory would suggest that artists, including Andy Warhol, are driven by their unconscious when they create artwork and that their emotions are mirrored by their artwork. Many psychologists have studied this subject however it is not often that they have pursued this subject to an end as most psychologists worked only on particular sections of the general theory and all take different approaches which more often than not results in different results. For my research to be accurate because of this i will have to find more information about different theories and approaches to this subject. For example Rudolf Arnheim based his studies on the visual perception which is how the viewer may see the work and Ward, Finke and Smith who focused on the creative cognition, which is the thought process behind the artwork.
Georges Seurat is a post-impressionist painter whose work is usually a collection of coloured dots. William James’ theory on the analysis of consciousness was applied to Georges seurat’s artwork. he believes that because his study shows that the ‘consciousness may combine thoughts within a stream to make sense’. The dots within Seurat’s paintings are just dots but when they are combined in our minds so that we can attempt to make sense of something we then see an image. For example our mind may combine the dots to create an image of a woman so that the image makes sense of the coloured dots. This can also be applied to the idea that we subconciously look for faces in images or shapes. If you look at a stain or burnt pattern on your toast and you see a face staring out at you it is more likely that your own mind is trying to make sense of the shapes and patterns within it rather than the slim possibility that you have come acrross a blessed piece of toast.