Artwork and Daydreaming - Literature review Example

Artwork and daydreaming The value of artwork, according to Sigmund Freud, does not lie in the inner life of the artists, but in the creation of fantasies that makes both the audience and the artist move far away from their true self to a world of imagination (Freud, 419). The fantasies expressed in the work of art in itself serves to create a narcissistic effect that for a moment keep the mind of the artist and that of the audience blinded from the reality of life, a concept Sigmund Freud refers to as ‘Daydreaming’ (Freud, 422). Thus, while daydreaming is regarded as a social vice for people who are lazy and unproductive, the concept of creative daydreaming is different, in the sense that it allows both the artist and the audience to enjoy daydreaming without a feeling of shame, considering the fact that the creativity of the artist offers the audience an alternative to escaping from the realities of life (Freud, 419). Creative art, according to Sigmund Freud is the process by which an artist fulfills his unconscious fantasy wishes, in a world where the truth of the realities of life cannot intervene to disrupt the enjoyment of the unconscious fantasies (Freud, 427). However, while the creative artwork resembles daydreaming, Sigmund Freud observes that the two concepts differs in that; while daydreaming never offers the dreamer an opportunity to revert back to reality, creative artwork offers the artist a way back to reality through his creation, making the concept of creative artwork resemble that of child play, where the children molds the external world to reflect their desires, as opposed to taking it the way it is naturally (Freud, 433). The sixth President of the United States of America, Quincy John Adams, was an artist who was able to capture the mind of an audience with a poem titled ‘The Wants of Man’, which summarizes the fantasy of what every man wants in life (Adams, n.p.). He starts off the creative work of art through capturing the mind of humans in relation to the cycle of needs that man has to face in life. First, he addresses the reality of life in the form of terming human needs as insatiable through the poetic lines “And were each wish a mint of gold, I still should long for more” (Adams, n.p.). Sigmund Freud explains the concept of creative work daydreaming as the situation where, even under any circumstances that the dream takes the form of reality, the artist ignores the reality aspect in the work of art and instead gives the dream the furnishing of the pleasure principle, so that the artist and the audience will continue to enjoy the pleasure derived from the artwork that has been created oblivious of the unpleasantness of the realities in life (Freud, 502). Thus, in the poem titled ‘The Wants of Man’ by Quincy Adams, the Sigmund argument has been proven right. This is because, starting with the mention of the dissatisfaction with the demands of life which he considers insatiable, Adams goes on to take himself and the audience into a world of fantasy, where he captures the systematic needs of humans, starting with the basics of good foods. Here, the ultimate need of all humans is captured in the line; “What first I want is daily bread” and then advances to more affluent desires such as better clothing and accessories for aesthetics and then to comfort in sleep (Adams, n.p.). The concept of creative artwork being able to blind both the artist and the audience from the realities of life for a moment and then finding a way of bringing them back to reality through the same creation is what Sigmund Freud refers to the concept of “Mental Functioning”, which makes it possible to combine the pleasures of fantasy and reality in a rather unique way that does not spark any form of conflict between the two (Freud, 421). In this respect, Adams poem finally turns the whole fantasy and wanders in the world of pleasure into reality, through using the lines; “These are the Wants of mortal Man, -- I cannot want them long, For life itself is but a span” (Adams, n.p.). Thus, through the process of “Mental Functioning”, the poem ‘The Wants of Man’, is able to run away from the realities of life and venture in the pleasurable world of fantasies, but then reverts to the world of reality through the special gift of coining the fantasies, to represent the true nature of life, which eventually comes out as a powerful and precious reflection of life (Freud, 497). According to Sigmund Freud, considering the fact that the escape route from reality that is created by creative work of art is momentarily enjoyed before the reality sets in, then, the work of art is the product of an egoistic creation whose value is only realizable to the extent that the work of art produces some kind of narcotic effect for both the artist and the audience (Freud, 483). In the poem ‘The Wants of Man’, the creative poet combines the reality of life with the pleasure of fantasy. This occurs through the poet first observing that in real life, people will always have faults. Then the poet combines the reality of ever present faults in humans, with the fantasy of desire to be loved always through the use of the lines; “the I need a wife -- Affectionate and fair… with all my faults to love me still” (Adams, n.p.). The concept of fantasy and that of the reality of life have been combined by the creative poem ‘The Wants of Man’, in such a way that the two do no conflict in anyway. It is in this aspect of combining the pleasure of fantasy and the truth of realities of life that a creative artist comes out as a hero, through merely allowing himself to enjoy the unconscious wishes of his life and persuade the rest of the audience to walk the journey with him, yet without applying any effort towards altering the external world as it is, so that it can reflect his wishes (Freud, 472). The creativity of the poem ‘The Wants of Man’, then takes the ride into a world of fantasy where the human needs are met in all shapes and angles people desires, which acts as a moment of blinding the artist and the audience from the reality of life where many are the needs of man that remains unmet. The then fantasy ventures into an imaginary world; where the artist has “elegant attire”, “diamond rings and rubies for the neck” (Adams, n.p.). In this world, the artist and audience have managed to escape the difficulties and dissatisfaction of life in its reality, and they are now living a life of fulfillment of their unconscious wishes and desires. The creativity of this poem has made it possible for the audience to start fantasizing a life that is full of affluence, wealth and luxury, and thus making the audience escape from the reality that there still more needs that keeps arising. However the creative artist is only able to create a hero of himself, because he targets to utilize the dissatisfaction that him and the other humans feel towards the demands of real life, a dissatisfaction that replaces the pleasure principle in life (Freud, 472). Thus by attacking his dissatisfaction and the dissatisfaction of the others through the creative work of art, the artist is able to touch on the concept of dissatisfaction with the demands of real life, which in itself is a big reality (Freud, 447). The writer of the poem, ‘The Wants of Man’, was the sixth President of the USA, thus he may not have necessarily lacked in the affluence of life. Therefore, in this poem, Adams is attacking the dissatisfaction of others. This way, Sigmund Freud’s theory of artwork and daydreaming is applicable in this poem. The application can be summarized to refer to the aspect of a creative artist focusing on the reality of the dissatisfaction of life, and then using the dissatisfaction to take himself and the audience to a new imaginary world of fantasy where dissatisfaction in nonexistent, yet for the simple reasons of allowing the audience realize the reality that they are indeed dissatisfied with various demands of life (Freud, 456). Works Cited Adams, John Q. The Wants of Man: A Poem. Barre, Mass: Imprint Society, 1972. Available at: http://www.love-poems.me.uk/adams_the_wants_of_man.htm Freud, Sigmund. “Creative Writers and Daydreaming“, in Collected Papers. The Hogarth Press Ltd., 1908. 419-514. Available at: http://www.kleal.com/AP12%20member%20area%20pd2%202013/Freud%20and%20Frye.pdf Read More