Neo-Geo 15.7/24 Painting

For 15 years, I made small-scale figures, initially self-portraits, presenting moments of decision-making inherent in the realisation of an individual’s potential actions. James Hillman’s concept of ‘polytheistic psychology’ clarified for me some thoughts I had about the use of multiple representations of myself:
….. ‘Polytheistic psychology refers to […] the location of conscious- ness in multiple figures and centres.’ (Hillman: A Blue Fire, p. 44) He’s saying that within each person exist many potential selves capable of finding meaningful expression. He doesn’t mean pathological fragmentation - Jekyll and Hyde; rather, for him the ‘soul’ has many sources of meaning, value and direction at its disposal. The double lives and alter egos of e.g., Isak Dinesen and Fernandez Pessoa give expression to a different part of the personality that emerges to function creatively. My abstract sculptures and paintings since 2014 also explore this multiplicity but from an internal perspective. They emerge intuitively from the subconscious, and my decisions about form and colour are more visceral than intellectual. Every one of these more or less subconscious decisions is visible in the composition of the final image, which presents quasi a record of the workings of the (my) subconscious. The ‘final’ image is one of many possible outcomes: a different choice at any point would have resulted in a different painting – ‘consciousness in multiple figures and centres’. Heather Allen 2025