How does the Reading of the Liminal within Selected Artworks Release Them from the Bounds of Time and Space?

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a vehicle in Sartre's imagined place. It could not exist; in order to make people 'ashamed of their own existence' (Sartre, 2021, p. 212).

Liminality surpasses the bounds of existence, it is spatio-temporal. The liminal spaces Hido and Hopper explore can exist as a photograph or painting in reality, however, they expel greater ideas about the artists' psyche at the time of making, their personal history and navigation through reality. Through these liminal spaces they create something beyond existence, the medium of art is simply a portal to make the exploration of these ideas possible.

Alienation

Both Hido and Hopper's work explore an element of isolation. Hido's work investigates the in-between of past and present, niether at one point in time or another. The scenes he shoots are noticeably desolate and empty. Hopper expresses a greater form of alienation and liminal sense of feeling alone whilst in the company of others.

Hopper lived and worked in the densely populated city of New York. In spite being surrounded by people, Edward Hopper and his wife Josephine lived a 'hermetic existence' (Wood, 2004). Their relationship was reportedly abusive and strained, Jo writes in her diary, (Wood, 2004) yet she remained the model for all of Hopper's works. Both painters, Josephine's career took off before Edward's. When her work was shown in the Brooklyn Museum, she recommended Hopper to a curator. His painting was sold, which kickstarted Hopper's career, however, Josephine began to lose all recognition. 'What has become of my world. It's evaporated – I just trudge around in Eddie's'. (Hopper, McColl, 2018)

Hopper's personal notions of isolation and the inability to connect were projected through the art he produced. 'Even a buzzing city doesn't remedy isolation but heightens it'. (Peacock, 2017) They both share the complicated feelings of how one can feel lonely, even with someone inexplicably close by your side.

Within an automat, (where everything was served from vending machines) as the title would suggest, there is no human contact (Fig. 3). The woman is alone. What has permeated non-places, according to Augé, is the modern influx of transactional, abstract encounters, (supermarkets and ATM's used as another example) these wordless communication systems create places that are 'surrendered to solitary individuality' (Augé, 1995, p. 78) which evoke feelings of the 'temporal' and 'ephemeral'. (Augé, 1995, p. 78)

Isolating the scene further, the subject cannot even be communicated with by the viewer observing the scene, her gaze is downturned towards the only warmth in the painting; the hot drink she is holding. We are reminded that even the light is artificial, a stark reminder of the constant inflection of life surrounding Hopper, in spite of the separation he feels from it. Everything within these structures is man-made. It is impossible to be separated from reality, despite how distant one may feel from it. 'The rows of artificial lights reflected in the blackened glass lead no-where, compositionally and psychologically' (Nochlin, 1981, p. 136). The inside is depicted as so artificial, Hopper draws a literal defining of the two worlds in terms of liminality within this scene - the sharp angles of rectangles, the brutal juxtaposition of the colourful interior light, and the darkness of the outside. She is visibly there, but so far away and hard to reach at the same time. There she remains, permanently suspended where time cannot touch her in this little frame Hopper has made for her.

The idea of inaccessibility is approached by Foucault in the fifth principle of heterotopias. 'Heterotopias always presuppose a system of opening and closing that both isolates them and makes them penetrable' (Foucault, 1986, p. 26). There is either the compulsory entry into these places, such as a prison or school, or one must submit to other 'rites or purifications' (Foucault, 1986, p. 26), which permit them entry, such as, having a job within a prison or school.

Hopper isolates the characters he paints, in 'imprisoning rectangles of windows and doorframes' (Nochlin, 1981, p. 137), alienated from the world outside of it. These boundaries Hopper uses to enclose the figures distance them from the observer, not only through the medium of painting but by physically painting the characters at a distance, and painting scenes which do not exist, they cannot be visited in real life, the only glimmer of reality is Josephine as the model. This distance highlights the inability we have to fully understand one another. The spaces both artists create provide insight into their psyche at the time of making, forming psychological spaces. These spaces, much like our inability to fully understand one another, are closed off from the observer. The scenes are unreal and exist within an impassable print or canvas. We will never know the true intention for making the work, however, we all have an understanding that our past grows distance from our present self.

Sartre originally wrote Nausea (2021) in 1938, concurrent to the period Hopper was making his art. The character of Roquentin feels dysphoric about himself taking up physical space, wishing that what existed could 'exist less strongly, in a drier, more abstract way, with more reserve' (Sartre, 2021, p. 152). This acknowledgement leads him to even consider suicide, 'I dreamed vaguely of killing myself to destroy at least one of these superfluous existences. But my death itself would have been superfluous' (Sartre, 2021, p. 154). The boldness we have to exist is based on the assumption that we have a purpose and deserve to exist. 'I realized that there was no halfway house between nonexistence and this rapturous abundance' (Sartre, 2021, p. 146).

The Fine Arts was another senseless masquerade of the macabre that Roquentin criticised. Mocking those who found consolation in the Arts, 'They imagine that the sounds they receive flow into them, sweet and nourishing, and that their sufferings become music...they think that beauty is compassionate to them. The mugs' (Sartre, 2021 p. 151). However, it was in the transcendentalism of the Fine Arts where Roquentin caught a glimmer of hope for his existence. He listens to his favourite song on the record player and an 'exemplary suffering' (Sartre, 2021 p. 208) is born. He feels ashamed of his existence. The absence of this music previously left Roquentin, 'morose and calm' (Sartre, 2021 p. 208). He was comforted that everything earthly was made up of the same material as him; and 'the very existence of the world so ugly' (Sartre, 2021 p. 208) that he feels, 'completely at ease, at home.' (Sartre, 2021 p. 208) This greater transcendentalism is revealed. It is 'beyond— always beyond something, beyond a voice, beyond a violin note'. (Sartre, 2021 p. 208) He concludes this surely isn't consoling; this beauty is not compassionate to Roquentin, but he is finally moved. This 'conceited little suffering' (Sartre, 2021 p. 208) only highlights the superfluous nature and imperfection of his existence. Even the notes of the saxophone, suffer as a 'layer of existence' (Sartre, 2021, p. 208) which unveils it. It remains underneath something that is so beyond it doesn't exist, 'you must be like us, suffer in strict time' (Sartre, 2021 p. 208).

As a viewer of the artwork and literature I am studying, I feel this element of shame Sartre references. I have no choice but to take a back seat whilst assuming the role of the viewer. I exist in reality, whilst viewing these pieces of work that take one to an unreal, liminal space. Especially in Hopper's work, as people we have lived in opposite environments; and this inference of loneliness within these isolated architectural rooms, leaves the viewer to take on the new role of an outsider; I am not invited.

Nighthawks (1942) (Fig. 4) was completed just days after America's entry into World War II. Which further contextually divides the two worlds of Hopper's bleak, devoid psyche, and the fruition of chaos in the real world. I do not believe it reflects existential dread, more hopelessness. A direct reflection of the war Hopper and his wife were in whilst both feeling totally isolated, even in a marriage. There was so much strife and fighting on the surface level; however, deep in his subconscious he felt truly alone, even though she was always there as a model in the paintings. There is such isolation that even the chaos of the outside cannot touch the inexplicably loneliness Hopper feels inside himself and inside these imagined places.

There is a parallel of voyeurism in both Hido's and Hopper's scenes. They indulge in the intimacy of viewing a woman alone, hotel rooms, or strangers' homes at night, all of which are heterotopias and private spaces. Although there is an absence of human warmth in both artists' work, the intimacy of observing and focusing in on these private spaces, inadvertently bring themselves closer to the subject they are presenting the distance of.

Hopper's painting are performances for the spectator which will never break the fourth wall. There is a blockade for the viewer to become a participant, in the same way there is a wall between the subjects of the painting. They are architecturally isolated by 'imprisoning rectangles of windows and doorframes' (Nochlin, 1981, p. 137) The outside of the painting, the only freedom to the subjects, is contained within a canvas also.

In Nighthawks, the diner is lit up like a stage; Hopper's paintings all have a theatrical sensibility. This includes Hopper's last piece he painted before his death, Two Comedians (1966) (Fig. 7), where he exhibits once again, his relationship with Josephine as a performance from two clowns. 'Hopper was not only portraying Jo and himself: he was also looking back with melancholy and irony on his own life' (Renner, 2002, p. 19). Hopper's existential alienation is referenced in this same absurdity that Sartre mentions Roquentin faced, when he realised he was wasting his life writing, resurrecting a historical figure that was dead. Hopper's repeated paintings of Josephine still appear isolating and lonely, they document a futility, a performance of absurdity, which produces an air of hopelessness, all of which has been observed by the viewers on a stage throughout his painting career. The relationship of Edward and Josephine, although now physically deceased, will forever be suspended within time as these paintings have become archives.

In the transitional process of death, in van Geneep's terminology, the reintegration at the end of the changing process is for life to continue without the existence of that person who was undergoing death. However, they are painted together, documented throughout Hopper's career. Although in that sense they are to permanently remain by each other's side, they will still be, in the same non sensical way, isolated, the antithesis of this disparity forever framed within Two Comedians (1966) (Fig.7).

Reflection

My study has examined liminality and how elements of such, within the artworks of Todd Hido and Edward Hopper, inspire creativity, liberate the imagination, and offer insight into the artist's psyche. It is their personal, transitional experiences that influenced the artists to make these works, demonstrating that liminality inspires greater creativity. Their artwork exists, but the moments they capture do not. We view the works through our own experiences, becoming the observer of the in-between. Liminality surpasses the bounds of time, space and reality, unleashing the creative imagination. Foucault's final principle mirrors my own conclusion without heterotopias our creativity remains suppressed and stultified. The boat heterotopia; a 'floating piece of space; a place without a place' (Foucault, 1986, p. 27) without which our 'dreams dry up' (Foucault, 1986, p. 27) précises my research - without liminality these artworks may not exist.

Bibliography