Exhibition Statement

Introduction

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a horrifying experience that is often misrepresented when in fact it is a debilitating disorder that can take over one’s every thought. This disorder has two main facets: “obsessions” are fears or intrusive thoughts that one internalizes and thinks about constantly; “compulsions” are actions, words, or thoughts one has to carry out in order to neutralize these obsessive thoughts (NIMH). OCD can manifest itself in countless ways, from the more common fears of hurting oneself or loved ones, to obsessions over certain numbers or bodily functions like swallowing or blinking. With a focus on irrationality and fears, this capstone uses the medium of collage to express the horrors of OCD. How does OCD affect people's perceptions of their environment and themselves? This project uses influences from horror art and surrealism to tap into the idea of the unconscious, irrational mind, and how mental illness changes the way one perceives their existence.

Literature Review

The main sources of inspiration for this capstone come from both common traits of horror art as a whole, and also specific horror and surrealist artists. All three collages use these aspects of horror art to show fears around morality and sin, body focused repetitive behaviors, and intrusive thoughts. The artworks that inspired these collages are mainly from Junji Ito, Hieronymus Bosch, and René Magritte.

Ito’s horror comics mainly include body horror in black-and-white, with drawings that tell stories of monsters and spirits that plague his characters (Foxe). Bosch, a Renaissance artist, created large, immensely detailed paintings that focused on religious images of God, Heaven, and Hell. His whimsical but horrific imagery is best shown in his work “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (Kuiper). Magritte, a prominent surrealist artist who is best known for his painting “The Son of Man” (WideWalls Magazine), created dream-like and often disturbing artworks that capture that sense of the irrational mind. While these three artists worked in entirely different styles and art movements, they all used elements of fear and the irrational mind. ​

Methods

This project uses various collage techniques like paper cutting, painting, photo-editing, and gluing. This capstone also uses research that covers aspects of OCD, with articles highlighting trichotillomania (Gressel), OCD representation in art (Veale et al.), and negative mental health representation in media (Eisenhauer). This allows for a mix of personal experiences with OCD and a larger context of mental health in art. For material collection, it mainly consists of cutouts from books on photography, art history, Victorian art, maximalism, and anatomy. 

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Audience & Impact

The audience is for those students and faculty that have OCD or struggle with other mental illnesses that feel misrepresented, like their pain is belittled or minimized. This work shows physical manifestations of this pain in a way that is unsettling and honest. Mental illness is not pretty, fun, or an individual act or feeling. This capstone is also geared toward those interested in horror art, and wish to see it be given the respect it deserves as an art style that deals with dark subject matter. This capstone impacts individuals by pushing them to evaluate how they view mental illness and specifically OCD, and how they can support those around them that are suffering with it.

References

Eisenhaur, Jennifer. “A Visual Culture of Stigma: Critically Examining Representations of Mental Illness.” Art Education, vol. 61, no. 5, National Art Education Association, 2008, pp. 13–18, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20694752.

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Foxe, Steve. “13 Extremely Disturbing Junji Ito Panels.” Paste Magazine, 22 June, 2015, https://www.pastemagazine.com/comics/13-extremely-disturbing-junji-ito-panels/.

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Gressel, Madeline. “Weeding the Body: Trichotillomania and the Unconscious Desire to Pull.” Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 95, no. 2, Summer 2019, pp. 58–71. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aft&AN=136923861&login.asp&site= ehost-live.

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Kuiper, Kathleen. "Hiëronymus Bosch". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Aug. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hieronymus-Bosch. Accessed 5 April 2022.

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National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.” National Institute of Health, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd. Accessed 24 April 2022.

R, Maria. “10 Famous Surrealist Paintings From the Masters of Surrealism.” Widewalls Magazine, 22 Oct., 2016, https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/surrealist-paintings.

Veale, David, and Steve Caplin. “The ‘OCD Bully.’” BMJ: British Medical Journal, vol. 341, no. 7776, BMJ, 2010, pp. 779–779, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25738389.

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge and thank the Arts Scholars directors, Harold and Heather, for supporting me throughout the past two years, and pushing me to try new kinds of art and ways of thinking about art. I also thank my advisor Gabi for giving me incredible feedback and genuinely caring about my work and wellbeing. I hope you enjoy my capstone!