Aidan Moesby :: Text Artist

DEVISING PSYCHOSIS

Devising Psychosis

Interview

I have just finished an interview with Stephen Ginn of @psychiatrist on Twitter. Stephen runs the  Art of Psychiatry site which I stumbled upon and then wrote to publicisng my exhibition at the Centre For Life, Newcastle. The interview can be found at  artofpsychiatry.co.uk/interview-with-aidan-moesby.

I found the whole process interesting and useful in that it made me think about my work in a different context. Sometimes we can get lost in the language of art and yet I am trying to communicate with those who are probably not visitors to art gallerys or medical institutions. The fact that it was a text based interview rather than a spoken one made me chuckle to myself because of its’ aptness.

Why not visit the art of psychiatry and let’s get the conversation going.

Do You Think We Can Talk About This?

I have just installed ‘Do you think we can talk about this?’ at the Centre For Life, Newcastle. It is a collection of pieces which reflect on  the personal and cultural agenda surrounding mental health. It runs for a couple of months. Can we talk about mental health? At once we are fascinated by those perceived as kooky, off beat, crazy and then we tire of them and vilify them and perpetuate the stereotypical images and viewpoints of those living with an enduring mental health condition. I hope we can talk about it, I hope we can get a right good open honest discussion going.

Letterpress. Paper, Acrylic,Text 2010

Brief Statement

A socially engaged text based artist Moesbys’ work is informed through the linguistic and visual imagery we use to create and make sense of the worlds we inhabit. Text based installations explore the conflict within the personal and cultural agendas of our Cultural and Psychological heritage. He utilises a variety of media, technologies and approaches in order to realise the artwork yet the text and its imbued meaning is always paramount

Framing of the Work

Aidan Moesby utilises metaphor to provoke a re-evaluation of what it means to experience psychological conflict. The work references the ‘Personal’ and ‘Cultural’ worlds. It explores the preoccupation with the ‘Pop’ psychology of the disposable ‘low brow’ visual media culture which offers the empty promise of 15 minutes of fame through simulated catharsis.

The work has everything and nothing to do with his own experience of Bipolar Disorder. We all experience the highs, lows and ennui of life. To some extent we have lost our sense of Self and our Integrity. Validation is sought from others rather than from within. We yearn for vicarious fulfilment, the projected phantasy, the glossy dream, the ‘quick fix’ down on ‘Easy Street’. We do not wish to look at or acknowledge our own psychological fragilities, and very often we do not wish to attend to those fragilities of others lest we catch them.

Aidan attempts to explore the frailty of the Human Condition in all its’ imperfect splendour. He mines a rich and complex vein of written and visual language in an effort to gain an understanding and awareness of how we can make sense our place in the worlds we create. Ultimately he acknowledges that we are in a state of constant flux and the work remains to inhabit the often subtle, fragile and dynamic boundary between the conflicted continuum of ‘ease’ and ‘dis-ease’.

Mirror. Text. 2004