Autism and Art

[Emzical]

Hi, very interested in the link of creativity and autism. I'm looking to explore it in my thesis. Any contributions would be very appreciated. feel free to add your own comments and answer any or all the questions you wish. thank you!

Do you think your autism influences your art? How so? Have you noticed differences in your own work from neurotypical artists? Do you think your documentation of the world in your art, reflects how you really see the world?

How do you think your art would change if you didn't have autism?

Have you ever been part of an exhibition or compared your art to someone else's and been told there's something significantly different about your work?

If you had to make a piece of work to express how it feels to have autism, what aspect/s would you highlight?

 

[Sid Delicious]

Sadly I don't get much time to paint these days, but I'd describe art as a compulsion for me. I find it much easier to express myself in pictures than I do words, as I think in images and never in spoken/written language. Music always makes me want to draw/paint more than usual, as sound is very visual for me.

I'm not sure if autism affects my art outside of that. I've always been able to draw photorealistically, even at a very young age. I had to learn normal communication, but art was an innate skill. I advanced from drawing to painting in my early teens, but my style is still very realistic with a classical twist as I learned techniques from artists like Da Vinci and Caravaggio.

 

[Emzical]

wow its really interesting how you explain art is natural to you, yet communication is not. I feel the same way, i find it confusing when peers struggle with their art, when it feels so innate and yet they can function so well socially.

 

[balsabonbon]

Hi, very interested in the link of creativity and autism. I'm looking to explore it in my thesis. Any contributions would be very appreciated. feel free to add your own comments and answer any or all the questions you wish. thank you!

Do you think your autism influences your art? How so? Have you noticed differences in your own work from neurotypical artists? Do you think your documentation of the world in your art, reflects how you really see the world?

How do you think your art would change if you didn't have autism?

Have you ever been part of an exhibition or compared your art to someone else's and been told there's something significantly different about your work?

If you had to make a piece of work to express how it feels to have autism, what aspect/s would you highlight?

Wow, this is a cool thread. I'm glad I stumbled across it. I like this idea for a thesis.

When you talk about creativity and art, are you talking about only visual art forms like painting and sketching or are you talking about other art forms as well like writing/poetry or like sculpture or are you open to many different forms of creativity/art in your thesis?

 

[kbb0]

When you talk about creativity and art, are you talking about only visual art forms like painting and sketching or are you talking about other art forms as well like writing/poetry or like sculpture or are you open to many different forms of creativity/art in your thesis?

I would also like to know the answer to this question. If the answer is just visual art you can ignore parts of this post.
I have always been a very creative person and as someone else mentioned above me, I have also been able to draw photo realistically from a young age. I have taught myself many art forms (again I don't know if all of these are what you are looking for) including piano, music production, songwriting, jewelry making, sewing, cooking, digital art and several others. There have been more that I have tried although they were not interesting enough for me to continue and get better at.

I feel that art comes very naturally to me (whatever form it comes in) and I have always been drawn to it. I can get wrapped up in an art or music or creative writing project and after finishing I look outside and see it is dark and realize I haven't eaten or even gotten up in 9 hours.

In terms of how my art is different from most NTs, I just released an album and after hearing all the songs together I realize how eclectic it is, and that it's kind of all over the place. I have been told by professionals in the industry that they are very impressed by the individual songs, it's just not very marketable as an entire album because it needs branding and branding needs consistency. I also sell jewelry on Etsy and I have noticed that my jewelry is also eclectic in it's variation (for example, some is punk and some is delicate and fancy). It's because I have a lot of interests and when I'm creating something I create what I enjoy (and to express myself). I do not think about how it's going to sound to other people or how it will make sense in a business endeavor. I do not think of myself as a brand I think of myself as a person. I do not think of my art as a commodity, I think of it as art. Something special that I made for myself that I worked really hard on as the culmination of years and years of learning and effort.

And I don't know if this is exactly an instance of comparison between my art and NTs, but I was in third grade and we were doing a project where we were supposed to estimate the center of a square piece of paper to create a spiral. The teacher would then cut it into fourths and we would make a collage or something like that. When the teacher cut my paper using the paper cutter machine that can measure, she said that the center of my spiral was exactly in the center and she was very surprised.

 

[Streetwise]

Autism effects my creativity in as much as I don't like to create anything apart from the exact representation of what I see (botanical drawings, life drawings ).
I think my feelings are more intense when I'm creative because of Autism.
There is a photo in my media page on the forum, from an adult colouring book and I just don't enjoy it as much as its slightly abstract !!!!! but you'll understand its shattering being intense 24/7 so I try!!! to engage with it.

 

[Adora]

I like to draw but I’m more of comic book style drawer or cartoonist than doing realistic pictures,I always loved supeheroes and fantasy but also draw in a manga style though it’s not completely manga I don’t think anymore,when I was younger I wanted to be a cartoonist and use to draw a lot but now while I do still draw I don’t draw as frequently as I would like,I really don’t know if being on the spectrum has influenced my drawing style or not but I do class it one of my special interests.

 

[LobsterCactus]

Oh yess, absolutely! for me they are intrinsically connected.
Surely, (I don’t actually know any other autist artists or even any autists) Autistic brains are perfectly adapt to the artistic persuits considering are visual and sensual thinking, desire to create and design, attention to detail, object obsession and pattern seeking abilities.
Other valuable Autistic adaptions (which might not be as prevalent) include: feeling the textures of things by just looking at them; Constantly reassessing your objective reality which appears continually bizarre and unfamiliar there for experiencing it as new without preconditioning (this is at its most extreme state after a meltdown, when, like a computer that has been over loaded the brain must shutdown and then restart itself).
I am predominantly a visual artist, the traits mentioned above have both shaped and enhanced my creative practice. I process everything through image and sensation, it is how I express myself. It is quite literally my first language.
For me to be able process and exist in the world I create intence personal relationships with all objects, I relate to each object differently and I map out how each object relates to each other (just as humans use gossip to relate to each other and know how others relate to each other too, this helps them place themselves, connects them and protects them). My work is a furthering of this process. It is a very stimulating personal conversation in image.
I too, like to paint with great detail and accuracy. Sometimes though, I place things out of context, in unusual or unnatural combinations, it can then, despite itself, appear abstract. I like this..abstract photorealism. This allows people to experience objectivity in all its sensual wonder and allows their personal preconditions to communicate between themselves more consciously.

 

[Anonym]

Wow!!! What LobsterCactus has described is eerily similar to many of my own experiences.

The creation of "art" is my one core, special interest. I have a few other interests that I regularly pursue with moderate intensity, but this is the one thing that I think about almost constantly. Its practice drives, motivates, soothes me and nurtures peace, joy and pleasure on a level beyond anything else I engage in. I too, feel that it is my first and primary language and it operates within a realm of instinct, intuition and skilled execution. It embodies a sense of cosmic balance and I have always found words to be sorely inadequate in expressing its importance to me and my personal wellbeing.

My work is multi-media and largely stylistic, (both 2D and 3D) and I've accumulated and refined techniques for dozens of different mediums (and continue to do so)throughout my life and every one of them has influenced the development of my personal style, methods and preferences. Working photo-realistically is not something I've ever enjoyed (or been very good at), but I don't care for working in abstract, either. Again, it's all about balance and when I finally became aware of this as a persistent, recurring theme, I could see the pattern had always been there, manifest in all aspects of my work; from the development of my semi-gestural style to the types of materials I like to work with, even the subjects I explore.

kbb0 touched on some relatable things, too; I have great difficulty working for the benefit of anyone but myself. "Marketing" my work or producing for others feels like a foreign concept, the mechanics of which I cannot seem to grasp.

As for the initial questions, I don't really know how to answer them. It was one of the aspects I really struggled with in college/art school. Whenever someone asks me a specific question about my work, all I can think to say is "um, I dunno. it just is..." I don't fully understand the whys or hows.

Maybe it's just too personal, too internal to find words for that aspect of it. For me, I'm not sure if it transcends language, or is somehow proto-linguistic, or maybe both? *shrug* Anyway, most of what I've written here are ideas that have only formed into words within the last few years, so it feels pretty good that I could string this together cohesively. ​

Agh. As the words spill out, scrambling desperately to form into some semblance of adequate descriptability. I'm cutting myself off now, before this gets any longer!

 

[LobsterCactus]

Q.Do you think your documentation of the world in your art, reflects how you really see the world?
A.Yes, absolutely.
Q.Have you ever been part of an exhibition or compared your art to someone else's and been told there's something significantly different about your work?
A. People comment on the detail and the time and focus I put in.
Also that it’s pioneer like. This would make sense as I am very isolated, apart from society and it’s ways.. I would put this down to my autism, I live in my own world. It’s only natural we would offer a whole new perspective, since we have one.
People have also said that they get a lot of personal meaning from it. But I would hope this is true of all art, unless it’s ‘couch art’ so that’s probably not an Autistic thing. It does use symbology though, which would help in conveying a meaning. Symbology was a special interest of mine for a while. Also painting is my way of articulating my ideas and sensibility so maybe it is more communicative in a way.

"Marketing" my work or producing for others feels like a foreign concept, the mechanics of which I cannot seem to grasp.

YEP

The creation of "art" is my one core, special interest. I have a few other interests that I regularly pursue with moderate intensity, but this is the one thing that I think about almost constantly. Its practice drives, motivates, soothes me and nurtures peace, joy and pleasure on a level beyond anything else I engage in. I too, feel that it is my first and primary language and it operates within a realm of instinct, intuition and skilled execution. It embodies a sense of cosmic balance and I have always found words to be sorely inadequate in expressing its importance to me and my personal wellbeing.

YES

it feels pretty good that I could string this together cohesively. ​

Agh. As the words spill out, scrambling desperately to form into some semblance of adequate descriptability.

YESSIR. Couldn’t quite see straight after the last’n

 

[tlc]

I can draw, write, design, build, and play music, and do them well. However I don't consider myself an artist because I have practically no imagination. I can only re-create things that are already true, or assemble things based on existing ideas.

 

[Emzical]

Wow, this is a cool thread. I'm glad I stumbled across it. I like this idea for a thesis.

When you talk about creativity and art, are you talking about only visual art forms like painting and sketching or are you talking about other art forms as well like writing/poetry or like sculpture or are you open to many different forms of creativity/art in your thesis?

hi, sorry for the late reply my idea of art is very wide ranging , so im very open to all formats.

 

[LobsterCactus]

I would love to read your findings if you go with this idea!
Are you looking into ‘outsider art’ ‘raw art’ ‘naive art’ ?
I’m a big fan of this guys work.. Richard Wawro, Artist

Good luck.

 

[Emzical]

I would love to read your findings if you go with this idea!
Are you looking into ‘outsider art’ ‘raw art’ ‘naive art’ ?
I’m a big fan of this guys work.. Richard Wawro, Artist

Good luck.

If it’s good enough I might release it I am looking into both outsider and naive also as sometimes artists with autism are grouped into this and it would be interesting to discuss. I will have a look at this artist too, thank you so much.