“Deeper Layers” is a conceptual and hybrid work that transcends homage to Vincent van Gogh, becoming a philosophical meditation on the nature of consciousness, creation, and perception in the digital age. By revisiting An Old Woman of Arles through the prism of subrealist abstraction, the work proposes an allegory in which layers of physical and digital paint symbolize the strata of thought, memory, and the unconscious. It shifts the center of gravity from the finished art object toward the intellectual and sensory process it initiates, becoming a “device” that activates an intimate conversation between the work, the viewer, and the depths of their own mind.

Expanded Development of the Conceptualization:

I. The Central Allegory: The Archaeology of Consciousness

The title, “Deeper Layers,” is the keystone of the concept. It establishes a geological metaphor for the human mind. The strata as creative and psychic processes: like layers of the earth that bear witness to time, pressure, and transformation, the work superimposes different “layers” of creation.

- The Original Layer (Van Gogh): The choice of An Old Woman of Arles is not incidental. It is a portrait of time itself, of life etched into a face. It forms the foundation, the historical and emotional sedimentary layer upon which everything else is built.
- The Gestural Layer (Acrylic Painting): The physical painting on canvas, inspired by abstract expressionism, represents the primal act, the subconscious impulse, raw making. It is a tectonic layer, full of energy, movement, and pure emotion, a visceral response to the original layer. It is the body thinking.
- The Contemplative Layer (Digital Painting and Animation): The digital painting and minimalist frame-by-frame animation embody reflection, a consciousness observing itself. No longer an explosive gesture, but a slow pulse, a flow of memory, a breath. This digital layer acts like erosion or wind, subtly revealing and altering the underlying layers. It is the conscious “re-reading” of the unconscious act.

This superposition creates an archaeology of consciousness. The work is not a fixed image, but a cross-section of an ongoing mental process, where thoughts, memories, and creative acts are inseparable and interdependent.

II. Philosophical and Psychological Resonance

This approach resonates with several currents of thought, shifting the work from a purely aesthetic field into a hermeneutic one (the art of interpretation).

- Philosophically: The concept aligns with phenomenology, which focuses on lived experience. The work is not an “object to be seen,” but a process to be experienced. The viewer is invited not to decode a hidden meaning, but to become aware of their own interpretive activity, of their own “layers” resonating with those of the work. Art becomes a mirror of the mechanism of thought.
- Psychologically: The metaphor of layers is a clear illustration of models of the psyche (conscious, preconscious, unconscious). The gestural acrylic expresses the unconscious. The digital animation reflects the work of the conscious mind that analyzes, remembers, and projects. The final work, in its hybridity, represents the “Self” as a complex system where deep impulses and reflective thought coexist. The “sensory conversation” becomes a kind of introspective dialogue between the viewer and the work.
- Mystically: The contemplation induced by the slow, minimalist animation opens a meditative dimension. The cyclical process and layering evoke life cycles, permanence, and transformation. It seeks the universal through a deeply personal inner experience.`

III. Technical Hybridity in the Service of Meaning: Digital Subculture and “Re-reading”

My technical choice is not a simple stylistic effect; it is the driving force of the concept.

- The Dialogue between Analog and Digital: It creates both tension and symbiosis. The photographed acrylic painting anchors the work in materiality, art history, and the unique trace of the hand. The animated digital painting projects it into immateriality, reproducibility, and the fluid language of digital subculture. It becomes a living palimpsest.
- Animation as Thought in Motion: Frame-by-frame animation is crucial. Its slow, non-fluid rhythm mimics the fragmented nature of memory or the “flicker” of consciousness. It is not a film, but a pulse. This technique allows for a deeper “re-reading”: it does not replace the original, but allows it to “breathe” differently, superimposing a digital temporality (the animation cycle) onto the fixed time of the painting.

IV. The “Xanthopsia” Collection: Duality and Altered Perception

The theme of “Xanthopsia” (yellow vision) envelops the work and strengthens its connection to Van Gogh.

- A Perception, Not a Condition: I treat xanthopsia not as a pathological symptom, but as a metaphor for altered and singular perception. It reflects the ability of the artist (and of any individual) to “find positivity even in dark moments,” to filter the world through their own sensitivity. This yellow vision becomes the symbol of the radical subjectivity of art.
- Duality and Coexistence: This “yellow” filter applied to van Gogh’s work highlights its fundamental duality: the tension between suffering (darkness, condition) and creative ecstasy (light, positivity). My work, “Deeper Layers,” embodies this same duality: tension between the past and the present, harmony between impulsive gesture and reflective thought, coexistence of the materiality of the canvas and the immateriality of code.

In conclusion, “Deeper Layers” is a rich artistic and philosophical proposition. It succeeds in moving beyond pastiche to become a conceptual reactivation. By using Van Gogh as a foundational layer, I construct a work that speaks both of him and of us — of our relationship to time, memory, and creation in a world where the physical and the digital form the new strata of our experience of reality. The work becomes a true philosophical device to be experienced.

- Tribute to Van Gogh: An Old Woman of Arles (Van Gogh Museum collection)
- Hybrid digital version: 2160 × 3840 px / 4K MP4 / 192 MB / 8 fps / 1/1 edition on @objktcom