Alchemy, Visual Alchemy and their Respective Arts

Essay by Al Razutis, 2020

Essay on alchemy, visual alchemy, and Psychology and Alchemy by CG Jung, reviewing the origins of holographic works and their purposes at the Vancouver studio Visual Alchemy and the resulting exhibition of these works in Canada and Seattle in the 1970's.

Related page: Visual Alchemy - Theory & Practice

QUICK LINKS TO TOPICS

                                   

Origins of 'visual Alchemy'

"The 'history' page reads as follows:

"VISUAL ALCHEMY was created in 1972 (& expanded onwards), in Vancouver, Canada by Al Razutis to function as a personal and services-for-hire   multi-media innovations studio for the production of experimental art work in the various emerging medias of the time: experimental/avant-garde film, video art, and holography. The cross-disciplinary activities at this new studio continued some of the "Intermedia" inspired activities which Razutis had participated in the late 1960's.   Initially several artists from 'the Grange' (which had occupied a similar location) thought of it as a 'co-op', but after the first phone bills were paid by Razutis, that idea was discouraged and never re-appeared."

"That's hardly the whole story, and leaves out all of the 'intentions'...

"So, let's examine the 'alchemy', the 'visual alchemy' and see what it meant."

"If there was one book, source of inspirations that was present at my 'Visual Alchemy' Vancouver studio 1970's it was the book "Psychology and Alchemy" by CG Jung.

"I acknowledge this fact because I will make references to alchemy, alchemical works or symbolism from time to time and because this text is available on the web for anyone to read.

It is useful to recall what CG Jung said in referring to the Opus and alchemy and the projection of psychological characteristics onto the work and the transformation.

"[342] The alchemical opus deals in the main not just with chemical experiments as such, but with something resembling psychic processes expressed in pseudochemical language.1 The ancients knew more or less what chemical processes were; therefore they must have known that the thing they practised was, to say the least of it, no ordinary chemistry.

"[345]...The real nature of matter was unknown to the alchemist: he knew it only in hints. In seeking to explore it he projected the unconscious into the darkness of matter in order to illuminate it. In order to explain the mystery of matter he projected yet another mystery - his own unknown psychic background - into what was to be explained: Obscurum per obscurius, ignotum per ignotius! This procedure was not, of course, intentional; it was an involuntary occurrence." (CG Jung)

For our reference (26 mB free download):

https://www.jungiananalysts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/C.-G.-Jung-Collected-Works-Volume-12_-Psychology-and- Alchemy.pdf

Visual Alchemy Art History Photos Only

Visual Alchemy Art History Photos Only

"I'm not pitching a product, but an understanding".

[317] "It goes without saying that there are good and bad authors in alchemical literature as elsewhere. There are productions by charlatans, simpletons, and swindlers. Such inferior writings are easily recognized by their endless recipes, their careless and uneducated composition, their studied mystification, their excruciating dulness, and their shameless insistence on the making of gold. Good books can always be recognized by the industry, care, and visible mental struggles of the author."

-- C.G. Jung, Psychology And Alchemy 2nd Edition, pdf [ page number ] from this source:

https://www.jungiananalysts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/C.-G.-Jung-Collected-Works-Volume-12_-Psychology-and-Alchemy.pdf

Holographic Art History Photos Only

PRIMA MATERIA

"Let's talk some basics."

'Prima Materia (Invisible Section)' by Al Razutis 1974-1975
Reflection hologram collage / assemblage with text. Dimensions 36" x 36" x 4"
Collage / layers of holograms, laminated in clear epoxy, on glass and mirror.
Text etched on glass (1975) - the text will appear in 1979 'Notes on the Art of Holography' by Razutis for Franklin Institute catalog 'New Spaces' exhibition.
http://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/holo_visual.html#primamateria

"prima materia = light" -- for a visual alchemist, or a electromagnetic wave (not a mechanical wave like sound) in a universe of 'ether', which is of course a metaphor not a sci fact, like the interferometers of Michaelson & Morley having confirmed that light speed is constant and propagated in a vacuum without ether. Einstein of course famously related mater and energy and that speed of light in a simple equation. But paradoxes abound, like entanglement, like action at a distance. The twin slit experiment of Young confirmed the twin nature of photons, electrons, and all wave energy to contain its particle twin. And then there is something called quantum connectedness / 'entanglement' and a new holography dedicated to that..." (AR)

"What is a hologram? Well it's a recording of such facts as the ones cited above. We cover this subject by description, example and photos, videos so there is no need to repeat it here.

"What does Jung say about prima materia and medieval alchemists? See if you can read between the lines and apply it to here, and apply it to now." (AR)

4. THE PRIMA MATERIA -- I. SYNONYMS FOR THE MATERIA

[425] "The basis of the opus, the prima materia, is one of the most famous secrets of alchemy. This is hardly surprising, since it represents the unknown substance that carries the projection of the autonomous psychic content. It was of course impossible to specify such a substance, because the projection emanates from the individual and is consequently different in each case. For this reason it is incorrect to maintain that the alchemists never said what the prima materia was; on the contrary, they gave all too many definitions and so were everlastingly contradicting themselves. For one alchemist the prima materia was quicksilver, for others it was ore, iron, gold, lead, salt, sulphur, vinegar, water, air, fire, earth, blood, water of life, lapis, poison, spirit, cloud, sky, dew, shadow, sea, mother, moon, dragon, Venus, chaos, microcosm (fig. 162). Ruland's Lexicon gives no less than fifty synonyms, and a great many more could be added.

[426] Besides these half chemical, half mythological definitions there are also some philosophical ones which have a deeper meaning."

( ... )

"The mercurial dragon of Greek alchemy, surnamed ( ..... ) gave rise to descriptions of the prima materia as Unum, Unica Res, and Monad and to the statement in the "Liber Platonis quartorum" that man is well qualified to complete the work because he possesses that which is simple, i.e., the soul. Mylius describes the prima materia as the elementum primordiale. It is the "pure subject and the unity of forms," and in it any form whatsoever may be assumed (in quo retinetur quaelibet forma cum possibilitate).

[428] In the second version of the Turba, Eximindus says: I make known to you, ye sons of the doctrine, that the beginning of all creatures is a certain primary everlasting and infinite nature which cooks and rules everything, and whose active and passive [aspects] are known and recognized only by those on whom the knowledge of the sacred art has been bestowed.

[429] In Sermo IX of the Turba "Eximenus" puts forward a theory of creation that corresponds to the Biblical one (creation through the "Word") but stands in flagrant contradiction to the above, according to which the beginning is a natura perpetua et infinita. In the Rosarium the prima materia is called radix ipsius (root of itself). Because it roots in itself it is autonomous and dependent on nothing."

(page 319) -- C.G. Jung, Psychology And Alchemy
2nd Edition, pdf [ page number ] from this source:
https://www.jungiananalysts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/C.-G.-Jung-Collected-Works-Volume-12_-Psychology-and-Alchemy.pdf

Added note:

"If we consider 'light' as prima materia, then it can be decomposed, re-presented, as both a 'solid' (particle) and a 'phantom' (wave). The range of subject matter to accomplish these experiments and expressions are like the range of food one wants to serve at a banquet."   (AR)

WHAT IS VISUAL ALCHEMY

"The obvious question, and the answer"

"What is 'Visual Alchemy'? I posed as a question pertaining to my usage of the term.

'It is an 'alchemical theatre'...

The answer is not a riddle, not a hermetic phrase. The answer is not circular, but explained on this page.

THE OPUS

"So what is the 'work'? How does it start?"

"And why are we NOT making 'gold', or 'making money for rich cilents', like some cool 'holo displays' or 'special effects' for Disney or some filthy rich guy living in a European chalet who 'wants more gold' and some 'cool images'?

"Because our purpose, and our art, is elsewhere (from making money, or turning crap into 'gold') we have to look into the psychology of this endeavor, this 'work', this opus. This is CG Jung on the psychic nature of the alchemical work, because after all he was a psychologist and he studied the arts." (AR)

2. THE PSYCHIC NATURE OF THE ALCHEMICAL WORK -- I. THE PROJECTION OF PSYCHIC CONTENTS

[342] "The alchemical opus deals in the main not just with chemical experiments as such, but with something resembling psychic processes expressed in pseudochemical language.1 The ancients knew more or less what chemical processes were; therefore they must have known that the thing they practised was, to say the least of it, no ordinary chemistry."

"[345]"...The real nature of matter was unknown to the alchemist: he knew it only in hints. In seeking to explore it he projected the unconscious into the darkness of matter in order to illuminate it. In order to explain the mystery of matter he projected yet another mystery - his own unknown psychic background - into what was to be explained: Obscurum per obscurius, ignotum per ignotius! This procedure was not, of course, intentional; it was an involuntary occurrence."

(pages 259 - 260 ) -- Psychology And Alchemy, C.G. Jung, 2nd Edition, pdf [ page number ] from this source: https://www.jungiananalysts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/C.-G.-Jung-Collected-Works-Volume-12_-Psychology-and-Alchemy.pdf

-- image panel from https://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/holo_visual.html

PROJECTION

"To reiterate what we mean by projection."

"And to confirm that alchemical 'theatre projection' and cine forms or lab experiments are not the same thing, nor do they take the same forms, convey the same message, or even conform to the same rules of usage.

"There's no point, no point at all, in debating which form is the right one. All of this depends on what story is told, for whom, and with what 'grammar'.

"Here is the psychology of alchemy according to CG Jung with my examples sprinkled throughout:" (AR)

TO GIVE FORM AND SPIRIT

"To give form to the formless, to animate the inanimate, to give it spirit"

"To reiterate how psyche is projected into matter to arrive at an image, a sculpture, a moment of theatre:   a psychic projection of human (antrhopomorphic) qualities into inanimate matter - to 'animate', to give it 'form', to give it 'spirit'" (AR)

Series 1

'Autoportrait' hologram source: https://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/holo_visual.html#autoportrait

Wood sculptures by Tung Ming-Chin 2013, 2019 source https://mymodernmet.com/tung-ming-chin-wood-sculpture/

(page 260) -- Psychology And Alchemy, C.G. Jung, 2nd Edition, pdf [ page number ] from this source: https://www.jungiananalysts.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/C.-G.-Jung-Collected-Works-Volume-12_-Psychology-and-Alchemy.pdf

Series 2

'Virtual Flesh' stereoscopic 3D film by Al Razutis: https://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/stereo.html#flesh

Wood sculptures by Tung Ming-Chin source: https://mymodernmet.com/tung-ming-chin-wood-sculpture/

ADDED NOTE:

"I assert that this visual alchemy is not surrealism. It may contain common aspects, qualities, even elements, but the relationship between 'alchemy' (visual alchemy) and 'surrealism' is complex, and will be covered in some upcoming posts.

"I make that comment for the simple reason that once this work was shown in a 'art gallery', to an 'art crowd' with 'art critics', it's place in society and culture was shifted to the aesthetics departments, to modernism, post-modernism, to the domain of philosophy and positivism, materialism, textual discourse, and the place of appropriated labels... like 'surrealism'... (AR)

CONCLUSION

"To summarize in search of answers..."

" Before we enter the land of storytelling, actors and appropriated symbology, let's ask the following:

• 1. What is 'alchemy'?
• 2. How was it performed and for whose benefit?
• 3. What was the intention and what were the results? " (AR)