Theory · Founded 2000
A third paradigm between the figurative and the abstract.
Statement · Constantin Severin
Archetypal Expressionism lies between the two major paradigms of contemporary art, the figurative and the abstract. It represents the spiritual quest for common cultural roots, beyond the tragic accidents of history. It is a fascinating approach to rediscovering the Tahiti of our collective memory, through the shapes and the exotic figures of our inner lives. It is art suspended between the real and the imaginary and it needs rigor and mystery, arithmetic and lyricism, simplicity and paradox.
Although my work concept as a visual artist, that is Archetypal Expressionism, could be considered a new one, it describes an immemorial artistic reality. Archetypal Expressionism is indeed a new concept and yet it echoes an ancient tradition in making art, also specific to cultures of a remote past. Strong colors, deformities and a special sensitivity to imagine the world are not exclusively the prerogatives of modern expressionists.
Though most of the art experts have asserted that there are only two major paradigms, the figurative and the abstract, I intend to convince the arts community that even from primordial times we have had the third paradigm, the archetypal art.
The archetypes have a secret power, because they have been used during thousands of years by a large amount of populations and they are now a part of our hidden inner life. That is why they have a special emotional impact on every human being.
“Every major work of art begins with an archetype and ends in music, the most ineffable manifestation of time.”
01 · Position
Archetypal Expressionism was formulated by Constantin Severin in 2000 as a position between the figurative and the abstract. It does not resolve their difference. It keeps both active: the recognisable figure and the autonomous sign.
02 · Sign
Archetypal forms are treated as living cultural structures rather than fixed symbols. Repetition, symmetry and the frontal image give the paintings the concentration of icons without prescribing a single reading.
03 · Time
Letters, signs and diagrammatic structures carry time into the visual field. In the Text and Time cycle, writing is not caption or explanation; it becomes material, rhythm and threshold.
04 · Third paradigm
The theory proposes a spiritual inquiry into forms shared across cultures. Its field is neither representation alone nor abstraction alone, but the interval where inherited signs are made present again.
The statement is by the artist; the notes below were prepared from his published materials.