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The SASI Method
While watching the show
Work of Art, I noticed that Abdi Farah struggled with ideas.
This reminded me of the history of philosophy. One philosopher after
another spun a fantastical web of different visions of reality. There was no
agreed upon starting point. There was no agreed upon method, and
this stifled progress. Modern philosophers
created a method they could agree upon. With the right method
natural philosophers made huge strides, and decided to call
themselves scientists.
The same thing happened in acting. Constantin Stanislavski was the
first to create a system of acting, or method acting, where actors analyze their
character's motives and emotions. They recall emotions
or sensations their lives, and portray them in their characters.
Artists also need a method for generating ideas, so I created the SASI
method for creating art. This method is simple and productive. SASI
stands for Story, Articulate, Symbol, and Idea. It's a great way to
come up with powerful ideas for art. There are four quick and easy
steps:
Story
Think of a true story. Your story might be something that happened
to you, or happened to someone you know, or something in the news. For example I
remember the first time I understood the concept of death. It
changed the way I viewed the world, and raised difficult questions.
Articulate
Explain why your story is important. Did it change your life?
What questions does it raise? Will it make people think and see
something in a new way?
Symbol
List some symbols that represent your story. What important images
represent your story? Think in terms of nouns; what people, places,
or things represent the event?
Idea
Think of a way to put two or more symbols together into a powerful
work of art. Lets take for example
Abdi Farah's painting Home, 2010. It's a painterly image
of a body bag. What was his story? He was upset that we were at war.
Articulate why this is important. It's important because people are
dying, losing their homes, and every soldier just wants to be home
with their family and friends. What are some symbols he could have
used. There are a lot, but he chose only two, and one is in the
title. What was his idea to put this all together. He created a
painting of a body bag, and called it Home. All this soldier wanted
was to be home, and now he's home in a body bag.
Note:
Although this is a powerful method, I sometimes skip the last two steps
because I'm working from the part of the brain that is responsible
for dreaming - not analytical thinking. When painting, just think
about your memories of a story, or why it's important, and let
the subconscious mind have full freedom to select images and
symbols.
©
2020
John Chiappone |