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Underground > Temple >

Magic Art

Tits win

18:33 / 01.10.01

Does anyone know about any artists who have used magick in their works?
Thanks.

grant

19:10 / 01.10.01

Austin Osman Spare. Painter. Invented the modern "sigil" technique.

Dave McKean - comic artist/photocollage. Did the Vertigo Tarot deck.

A lot of folks also seem to work magically, although they might not call it such. A heck of a lot of surrealism came from techniques used by Spiritualists - automatic writing on the literary side, and collage art on the visual side. (Miro's biomorphs were based on collage. Max Ernst also worked with the medium - not just sampling images, but modifying them to discover hidden layers of meaning.)

The Return Of Rothkoid

09:12 / 02.10.01

I don't know if it's particularly magickal, but Hermann Nitsch is a big one for ritual in his works - blood ritual, specifically. I think it's an attempt to tap into totemic powers; you'll probably find more on his site, which features some video of one such gathering. Some of his stuff is wonderful, but it freaks the shit out of me, for some reason. You can mail him via the site, I think.

(moved from thread in art.)

Ria

09:50 / 02.10.01

has Dave McKean really done magic art as such? grant, can anyone chime in to the affirmative?

Rollo Kim, on location

10:40 / 02.10.01

Dave Mckean is far too busy sniffing round fat Goth lasses and 'telling stories'. [sorry! He gets all his ideas off Svankmejer anyway!]

Spare is ace. He used to paint his sigils onto the speakers of radios - empowering the sound!! His paintings are very strange, and they are said to move and radiate light etc. Cool!

[ 02-10-2001: Message edited by: Rollo ]

Starwolf

10:54 / 02.10.01

Magick comes from the power within. Its how you learn it and how you choose to use it is what counts.

[ 02-10-2001: Message edited by: Starwolf ]

Lothar Tuppan

12:23 / 02.10.01

Alex Greyis consciously doing stuff that while he may not call it magic is transcendental and metaphysical.

His stuff is way cool.

The Knowledge

14:16 / 02.10.01

Here's a quote from the "book of Voudou" by Leah Gordon

"Vodou is one of the inspirational forces behind the rich abundance of painters, metalworkers, and flag-makers in Haiti. The role of priest and artist is often interchangeable, as the netherworld they inhabit, between spirit and material, is enlightened by dream and imagination. Art has become the material expression of the Vodou faith."

yawn - thing's buddy

10:40 / 20.11.01

you can find magic in all art - okay, ykow this and it's not what you're asking but....

the process of creation - something from nothing is essentially a magical process (see Moore, Morrison, Mills etc.).

I'm an architect. I see architectural drawings as magical sigils (codified representations)which will a material construct into being.

This approach, seeking the magic in ALL art, can be very rewarding.

FOr your information, you should check out the work of an Architect called NEIL SPILLER, the only self confessed magical architect working in the UK today. There's a great book about his work called MAVERICK DEVIATIONS.

And there's another outlining his philosophies which you can find on Amazon if you type his name in. Might be called DIGITAL something....

cusm

12:56 / 20.11.01

Now that someone mentioned voudoo, veves are a form of magic sigel that evolved out of spiritual art. They seem to straddle that line a bit. They are absolutely magic, in every intent, but appear rather as art at times.

cat likes fish

22:35 / 20.11.01

magick is art, and in meny way's art is magick you create some thing that changes the world arawnd you for better or worse i think there one and the same

ghadis

08:27 / 21.11.01

Picasso was a very magickal artist in that he consiously used his art to affect change in his 'real' world...

For example...he fell in love with a girl...unfortunatly the girl was in a relationship...he painted images of the girl looking unhappy facing away from the husband...he painted other images of the girl looking happy with himself...he did this with a view to 'getting the girl'...the girl left the husband to be with him.

Lothar Tuppan

22:02 / 29.12.01

In case anyone is interested in Alex Grey's artwork, there is an article about the 'mystical' qualities of his art in the newest issue of 'Shaman's Drum' magazine.

Ria

18:50 / 30.12.01

for Dave McKean I can respond in the negative. as of circa 1994 he didn't according to somebody I talked with who knows him.

as for this thread, well, I appreciate a means to urge everyone check out the book Spiral Dreams by the esteemed Al Davison (or click on http://www.aldavison.com).

his work hadn't really "taken" for me initially. for some reason though after picking up and reading this book it has. like his stuff so much that after reading that he has not gotten his recent books published I made a sigil for him so that he does.

grant

14:39 / 31.12.01

On McKean, I was just referring to the Tarot deck. He might not have done anything outside that.

However, depending on your definition of "magic," what about the architects who did all the gothic churches? The Masonic temples & lodges?

lentil

10:01 / 02.01.02

Austin Spare is the only one I can think of who made emphatically magickal pieces, but as others have been pointing out, there are links throughout the history of creative activity. some of the 'land art' people have a very ritualistic approach to creation, creating ephemeral works with whatever is to hand. I'm thinking particularly of Robert Smithson and his interest in the role of artist as shaman. also ancient/prehistoric art has a lot of magickal qualities, aboriginal art is very interesting on this level when considered in conjunction with their ideas about the dream-time. this has links to what malphas mentioned about creative and religious figures being interchangeable in vodou.

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