Art as a process and art as an imaginary object

He I believe that the artistic process that an artist undergoes is one that helps them discover the emotion they are feeling at that moment in time. I do believe that in order for one to truly understand what they are feeling they must go through some sort of process that will enlighten them. For example if one is feels upset, one will usually cry or lash out at someone in order to release that emotion and through that process of release they will realize that they are truly sad.  I also agree with the fact that the physical manifestation that the artist creates will not be identical to what they have actually envisioned, although I believe this to be true, I do not believe that a piece of art should be seen as an imaginary object. I think that it should be viewed as a physical interpretation of an artist’s emotional state at that moment in time.  When thinking of this theory I was reminded of a study I was reading on art therapy and schizophrenic patients. Patients with Schizophrenia were told to use art as a form of release as well as a way for them to show their therapists what they were truly seeing within their minds. The art work they created was truly shocking, the way they perceived regular objects within our world was staggering. This is a reason why I believe that art work should be seen as a physical interpretation of the emotional state of that artist in that moment and time. 


Here is a work of art done by artist Louis Wain who was a popular postcard and children's book illustrator. He was known for his drawings of cats within various children;'s books and postcards. Wain developed schizophrenia later in life and was never able to recover from the mental illness, this drawing was made after his schizophrenia was diagnosed and he began to experience the side affects of the disease.