I became interested in Hermann Rorschach’s Psychodiagnostik Inkblot Test in the mid-1990s when I was researching psychological tests that used art as subject matter. Back then I was able to borrow the actual test cards from the Psychology Department at UBC and upon repeated examination, found each of the ten images quite compelling. I’ve always been curious about the history of the test, its role in psychoanalytic history and how after more than 50 years of use, it fell into disrepute. While recognizing that meaning is subjective, it’s hard to escape the desire for interpretation that anchors the test.
In 1997, I started making my own inkblots. They are easy to make and quite addictive – after making one, the desire to make another is irresistible. The pleasure in realizing that such archetypal and evocative images can be produced by such simple means – a small amount of coloured ink dropped onto a sheet of paper, folded, pressed and then unfolded – is immediate. I got better at making them by adjusting the amount of ink, the quality of the paper and the speed of the unfolding – each factor determining the characteristics of the image.
I tend to favour a limited palette of colours and rely on the differences in viscosity between inks and liquid acrylics. I like how when viewing a few together – judgement and connoisseurship quickly come to bear and inevitably we tend to favour one over another.
