LLEI D'ART 14

When theartist forgets: Alzheimer’s andart Theprogressive loss ofmemories of images and thedifficulty in relating to the reality they live in turns peoplewith some kindofmental deterioration into endless sources of the unknown in relation to abstraction. Examples of artists that have carried onpainting after their diagnosis have shownus the changes that takeplace in their brains, contributing towards abetter understandingof neurology. Specialists from around theworld have taken an interest in the topic and thebestmedical magazines around theworld havepublishedon it (such as The Lancet). However, what we are interested in in this publication is thepictorial evolution underlying the disorder. WillemdeKooning,WilliamUtermohlen andCarolus Hornwere all painterswhen theywerediagnosed with the illness and the three of them continued painting until their passing, turning themselves into real documentary treasures from an artisticpoint of view, but also from amedical andpsychological point of view.Withperseverance, courage and honesty, theywere able to channel the enormous changes their cognitionwas suffering through their paintbrush. They have left us both their process and their magnificent art works. The ongoing loss of cognitive WilliamUtermohlen Autorretrato (amarillo) Self-Portrait (Yellow), 1997 C. Boïcos collection, Paris Inmemory of themental processes that the American artistWilliamUtermohlen (1933-2007) suffered during the course of his degenerative illness. WilliamUtermohlen Autorretratoborrado ErasedSelf-Portrait 1999 WilliamUtermohlen Cabeza I Head I, 2000 ability andmanual skill is clear in their works. Anger, often seen in thebeginnings of their suffering, turns into loneliness, disconnection and childishness. The colours simplify and tend towards amore restricted palette of red and yellow. They take uponcemore their pencils todraw and end up scribbling something that looks like something, someone, or nothing. Living without images is a reliable formof deconstruction and therefore of pictorial completion. The context disappears tomakeway for somethingnew and unknown, and fascinating for painting ingeneral; displays of representation uncontaminatedby learning. The expressional purity of a childwithout tutors, the wisdomof thedetachment of the ego and everything, thebeing as uncorruptedmatter within thebody of the artist. The attitude of somany creators that areprisoners of the evil of oblivion, of injustice or any other kindof cognitivedeterioration is admirable: either consciously or unconsciously they have sought to carry onworking in their profession. For if the language of art allows man to reproduce life, it can also represent illness from thepoint of viewof illness. AntonioSerés 93