Introduction 

The Justification for a relational Satire within contemporary painting, championing alter modernism's creolized, archipelagic direction, describes the direction of this script and practice project. The project brings together a unique set of personal and professional life experiences, informing a reflection on my life’s ethos, and guides my practice direction. I possess a strong social conscience and a deep concern for human rights and contentedness.  As a practising painter, I use satirical imagery to apportion strength of focus to elicit effective codices of truths. Satire's codification assists me in creating a structured method representing the unique homo-viator experience. My experiences recollected through painting combine with my impressions, ideas and beliefs while surveying the social context of conflicted ideologies. My personal and professional ethos incorporates egalitarian principles. Everyone is equal, Art (painting) is for everyone, not just an elite few. In this respect, the aim of my work is accessibility, my paintings promote my goal of an egalitarian and just society that offers accessible visual encapsulations of this vision. My painting practice offers a Critique of the history of inhumanity—the absurdity and dysfunction of the human condition, and its multinational, multicultural, systems. Perma crisis describes a world of system dysfunction.  Defined as an extended period of instability and insecurity, and illustrated through dysfunctional World politics, multi-societal inequalities, and injustices. A constant state of uncertainty and worry, through the upheaval caused by Brexit, high energy costs, a universal cost of living crisis, world poverty, the covid pandemic, climate change, world societal displacement, and heightened migration. The world has transitioned from a post-war state to a pre-war state, nuclear threat is ever more apparent. Bad news is seemingly everywhere, this is the milieu in which satire exists. Contemporary Satire has great viability and impetus within a society that is estranged from itself. In times of high insecurity, anger at social inequalities, and the general public's apparent disillusionment of the power elite, has enabled a revived focus on humour and satire, to express public opinion, and assisting to appease anger and frustration. Painting’s Solemnity has a universal appeal; satire is a vehicle for respondent discourse, contextually, this assists me in rationalizing the development of the making and showing dimensions of my practice.

The universal Language of satire is consumed daily through the glut of mass media. My exploration aims to clarify fundamental formal and abstract notions of the nature, function, and satire’s significance within its pluralistic complexity. To realize these aims, I introduce and develop methodological frameworks to clarify concepts related to Satire that focus less on advocating that it changes individual and world opinion, and more on how the world endures dysfunctionality through satire. To substantiate contemporary relevance within my investigation, I focus on present-day satire (post 1970) which is universally understood and accepted. My corpus also reflects the historical and cultural bias of satire within world demographics. I explore satire through it's censoriousness; Morality, justice, and ethical implications. I outline satire as social and political commentary, its mechanisms through vocation and genre, and its status as an opponent to pseudo-satire through reification. The cognitive value of satire will be explored through the lens of Critique and humour, suggesting Satire’s cathartic intervention. Satire and the autoethnographic painter will be related to political Satire; I am not a satirist; I utilize the universal codes of satire to illicit strength of meaning within universally understood parameters. The themes of my practice will involve inequality, inhumanity, the power elite, war, societal critique, disproportionate wealth, abuse, political oppression and economic exploitation. My project seeks to address the scarcity of satire within the specificity of contemporary painting, the framework of curational practice, and within the ecology of the art world, in doing so, I extend the scope of a renewed engagement with painting’s specificity within the 21st Century. Satire is circumscribed by a limited understanding of the media in which it can be realised. There is an assumption that Satire only exists through political cartooning, comedy, and amateur memes. I argue that painting’s solemnity affords a greater capacity to positively affect individuals and societies, above and beyond contemporary multimedia. My project frames painting practice as fitting in relation to our erratic times as it intrinsically holds within it, abundant possibilities for examining feelings of change and variance, expressively, materially, and idiomatically. Painting's solemnity experience offers emotive responses, through aesthetic judgements, immediately connected with feelings of pleasure and displeasure. A painting's intrinsic value underlies its status as a precious object. Painting is a high art, a universal art, a liberal art, an art through which reviewers may achieve transcendence through catharsis. The expressive warmth and subjectivity of painting are opposed to the cold functionality of pseudo-satire; the digital image, serving primarily as a vehicle of information dissemination. My research has quantified a broad spectrum of the history of painting and its contemporary relevance. My focus on painting from the late 1960’s will coincide with a histrionic change of painting’s resurgence after postmodernism, coinciding with Greenbergian formalism.  I will discuss painting’s intrinsic value of accessibility, readability, and relationality through semiotic sign systems. Painting as autoethnography will offer justification, validity and credibility for my argument. An autonomous, Homo viator utilizes self-reflection, to explore anecdotal and personal experience. Auto ethnographers understand that personal experience is infused with political/cultural norms and expectations, they engage in rigorous self-reflection, to identify and interrogate the intersections between the self, others, and an individual's unique social life. I utilize the signs and codes of satire to illicit strength of meaning within my work; parody, analogy, metaphor, subversion, irony, and universally recognized signs, icons, and graphics, will be utilized to inject a powerful means of communication. My work encompasses the universality of humour, through comical characterization, a focus on primary colours to accentuate a ‘cartoon’ aesthetic, and design principles such as space, perspective, perceived motion, and depth to create a satirical narrative.  My research will question painting’s relation to the receiver of the work through individual factors that may influence aesthetic image judgement. 

Alter modernity has been denied valuable traction since its conception. Its uptake has been limited and problematized, not least because of the Postmodern-Alter modern disjuncture. I will relate auto-ethnographic principles to alter modernism by describing the boundaries of cultural reification: Levelling-up remains an integral part of the current UK government's policy agenda. On being situated within the northern quadrant of the United Kingdom, I recognize the correlation between a levelling-up of the north-south divide, and the protagonism of alter modernities' creolized archipelago. I will further support my argument by expounding upon trans-culturalism and universal semiotic sign systems, assisting to legitimize alter modernism’s relationality. The universal relationality of alter modernity conflicts with postmodernism’s colonial West centricity. I will discuss the disjuncture between the universalism of alter modernism, and the relativism of postmodernism, and advocatealter modernism’s moralpurpose as a catalyst for change. Alter modernism advocates for universal certainties and truths. Conversely, Postmodernism negates and problematizes allegory and the auspices of authorial practice. The Conflicting traditions of satire assume a coherent social field; however, Postmodernism assumes that all social positions are fragmented, which fails to address the issue. Alter modernity as an epoch where contextual/relational dependency of meaning has congealed into units of oppositional ideology, a world of hardened attitudes and threatened identities attempting to navigate a world in Perma crisis, currently underdeveloped, satire needs to be rethought in this context. An explanation is requiredin relation to relativism in contrast with universalism, I will discuss this through the alter modernism lens of enlightenment, and ethnocentrism,a dialogical approach, emphasizing an ethical disposition. 

The Autoethnographic satirical painter 

Through auto-ethnographic practice painters develop works that contextualize subjective experiences and frame them at the junctures of social relations. Self-agency enables personal life reflection. Autoethnographic projects use selfhood, subjectivity, and personal experience to describe, interpret and represent beliefs" (Adams, T.E. Herrmann, A.F. 2020 pp. 1–8,) The practice of the self-portrait is empowering, and meaningful. It necessitates looking inside oneself. “To work in an inner world as a way of deepening unique creative processes, to begin a dialogue between our thinking mind and our ‘gut’ to draw from an inexhaustible source of meanings which must be expressed.” (Nunez. C 2009 p51–6) Satire relates to auto ethnographic practice through symbolic interludes: The format of painting offers auto ethnographers the possibility of analysis and evocation. Self and society exist ‘sous rature’ and in difference from each other, thus making autoethnographic artwork a useful tool for symbolic interaction. (Rambo, C. 2017) Self-portraiture enacts an auto ethnographic practice transferable to multicultures as procuring universal allegorical references. Artists throughout history have produced portraits of themselves. Contemporary painters continue the tradition apportioning great emphasis to their persona and their place in space and time, often provoking a comically satirical portrayal: “Self-portraits of Catalan, Kelley, Kippenberger, Creed, Currin, and Holler, construct a sense of persona in their work which is often mocking and self-depreciating, the cruel prankster (Catalan), the angry adolescent (Kelley), the maudlin drunk (Kippenberger), the agonizer (Creed), the womanizer (Currin), the maligned scientist (Holler).” (Farquharson, Landers 2004. Cited in Higgiepp.129-196) 

  Fig 10. John Hogan.Satirical Self-portrait. Oil on canvas 36x42in (2023) 

The work is a reflection and critique of a personal historic situation in the form of a mental health breakdown and miss diagnosis.The sculpted head top right is a ‘Gaper” (in my possession)The figure head, available since the 16th century was a sign used extensively outside medicine stores in the Netherlands. The gaper's gaping mouth representsthe intake of medicine, and the grimace represents the bitter taste of the medicine.  

Fig 11. John Hogan. Absurd Close. Oil on canvas. 32x46in 

Absurd close is a critique of disproportionate wealth, and the societal dysfunction it creates. The work directly references an autoethnographic stance, in that I began my life within aworking-class system. I became homeless at 16 years old. In desperation for sustenance, I resorted to drawing with chalk on the pavement with a cap to the side, for potential gifting of money. After a few hours, the hat had steadily filled. It was eventually kicked high into the air by a disgruntled suit-wearing commuter. 

Auto ethnography may be described as truth-bearing. Philosophers have interpreted Friedrich Nietzsche as outlining a nihilism according to which all truth is relative to individual perspectives. (Caron.J. 2021) The plurality of the concept of truth is comprehensive, however,existing research reveals a common theme: Truth judgments are constructed. People draw inferences from relevant cues, some of which qualify as heuristics, that we organize into three main kinds of inference, firstly, people begin with prior probabilities. Secondly, people draw inferences from feelings. Finally, people draw inferences from consistency with existing knowledge and source information stored in memory, complementing a referential theory of truth. (Brashier. N.M. Marsh.E J. 2019. Pg.500-501) Contemporary post-truth describes a new stem of pluralism for truth informed by modern multi-media and a precocity for pseudo truth's, lies and misinformation.“In the post-truth era, we have a third category of ambiguous statements that are not exactly the truth but fall short of a lie,social media has become a post-truth nether world in which readers willingly participate in their own deception because it feels good”(Haack. S. 2019. Pg. 261) 

The cognitive value of satire 

The contemporary Parameters of social taboo, and its relation to satirical discourse informs my practice.Potentially disturbing images may lead to adverse reactions, even when the image context has been offered in a humorous and honest framework. “Humour theorists, since the time of Freud, have suggested that our sexual anxieties, weaknesses and foibles constitute the bedrock of the humorous experience, as we seek therapeutic relief or catharsis for these emotions and states of being” (Freud 1976, Billig 2002, Brottman 2004 cited in Ponton. M. 2021). The human experience condition correlates with how and why an individual views the world around them pertinent to their unique sensibilities: “Gazing upon the determined empirical object in accordance with taste, a human feeling takes hold on a transcendental level, it is this feeling that incites ‘much thinking’, experience is the first product that our understanding brings forth as it works on the raw material of sensible sensations. Aesthetic judgement is that whose determining ground lies in a sensation that is immediately connected with the feelings of pleasure and displeasure”(Kant. Adair.S. 2020) Internalizing potentially harrowing visual information is dependent upon the strength of an individual’s coping mechanisms. Stoicism is a cognitive function; it helps us to adjust to stressors. Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, explains: A man's excellence or virtue depends entirely on having the right mental attitude toward things. Stoic philosophy provides us with a path to navigate the chaotic modern world with intention and virtue. (Cited in Maximillian V, K. 2021). Stoicism relates to the construction of audience reception within my painting, by apportioning comedic imagery, to universal signs, graphics, and icons, to express contemporary truths and wrongs, I placate the viewer, lessening the anguish and distress caused by potentially harrowing imagery. Painting as satire provides a value orientated response suggesting a cathartic intervention, “Satire has a cathartic function which releases or ‘vents’ emotional tension, modern theories of satirical catharsis similarly frame satiric purgation as the expulsion of otherwise distressing feelings and emotions” (Keane, Kivisto. cited in Declercq 2021) in this way participants/respondents are implicitly involved through interpretation, the aesthetic power of painting in an immanent sense through recourse to the notion of affect. 

Political Satire. ‘I am not a satirist’ 

My project constructs an encounter with satirical themes as social commentary that is open and relational, rather than from a position of a closed and restricted political satirist; Rancier acknowledges; We have now broken away from the subjection of the political to the social, to social interests, social conflicts and social utopias. We have thus returned to the true sense of politics as the action on the public stage, the manifestation of a being together, the search for the common good. (Ranciere. J. 2011. Pg.2-3)I am not a satirist, rather, I use satires codices to affirm contexts within social documentative visual entities. My research is not concerned with specific political views of current cultural politics. Although, political overtones may be present. I am unconcerned with specific characterizations of political or public figures and celebrities. Any characterizationis within, and limited to, the subtleties of the visually humorized aesthetic of fictional characters. Fictional environments and characters are infused with universal satirical codes, creating a conduit for reviewer relationality. High insecurity, anger at social inequalities, and the general public's apparent disillusionment of the power elite, have enabled a revived focus on humour and satire, expressing public opinion, and appeasing anger and frustration. We are living today in a time of crisis, a time of high confusion and low light. Dazed and confused, social satire helps us name and situate today's dysfunctional social phenomena, it lets us talk about the conditions in which we live. (Pym, W. 2018)  

An excerpt from a recent interview with myself. Courtesy of Eco artists; 

“Seeking to ignite refined and nuanced discussions, Hogan challenges the status quo by integrating satirical commentary acting as a catalyst, urging individuals and society at large to engage in profound introspection and embrace the captivating force of satirical expression.” 

John Hogan. Funland. Oil on Canvas 2023 

Funland is a critique of the multicultural dysfunction of sociopolitical systems. I utilize subject matter, which is informed by universal episode’s, within the alter modernity framework; Radicant artwork constitutes an epiphany of the present, it opens territory from which one can face towards the past as well as the future, radicant artists invent pathways amongst signs. They are semionauts who set forms in motion, using them to generate journeys by which they elaborate themselves as subjects within the corpus of their work. (Bourriaud.N. 2009 pp. 45.53) Fun land describes protest, rioting, and crime in the form of looting.  The satirical critique is informed by universal codes (relationality) and universally understood icons, namely a fairground, producing a comedic effect, belittling the systems that create dysfunctional societies.  

Propaganda 

My work is unconcerned with propagandist ideals.The function of propaganda is to persuade and convert by using intentionally selective and biased information, “Where as creative communication accepts pluralism and displays expectations that its receivers should conduct further investigations of its observations, allegations, and conclusions,propaganda does not do so”.(Black. J. 200. Pg. 133)In the pluralistic sense, the aim of my work is accessibility. Satire’s codes offer a vehicle for relationality through universality. Codes such as incongruity, anachronism, reversal, parody, analogy, metaphor, subversion, and universally recognized signs, icons, and graphics can be utilized to inject a powerful means of communication. I use the universality of humour, through comical characterization, in several ways, focusing on primary colours, and linear line to accentuate the ‘cartoon’ aesthetic,design principles such as space, perspective, perceived motion, and depth are used to create a satirical narrative. I view my work not unlike an animation film still, an episode captured in time, inferring a humorous critique of political systems, steeped in satirical entertainment value. My painting; Pseudo Omnipotence offers a Critique of the history of inhumanity. The absurdity and dysfunction of the human condition, and its multinational, multicultural, systems. I Utilize satirical narratives, encompassing relationality (known events) and alter modernity (cross-culture episodes).Satire today has great viability and impetus within a society that is estranged from itself. Boland states, “The overall consequence of satire and critical discourse is the diffusion of generalised cynicism which takes the public sphere as a theatre of absurdity”. (Boland 2012)However; The postmodern condition exacerbates the dilemma of ethical ridicule.  Its apparent lack of centring norms or standard values for making comic judgments inevitably complicates the contemporary production and reception of satire (Caron, J. E. 2016 Pg. 157).  

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John Hogan. Pseudo Omnipotence. Oil on canvas 4.5 x 4.5.  

Nicolas Bourriaud proclaimed the death of postmodernism in 2009. Calling for a re-examination of modernity in the “specific context we live in—globalization, and its economic, political, and cultural conditions”.The experience of wandering—in time, space and mediums (Bourriaud, 2009). Martin Kippenberger carried the standard for Bourriaurd’s alter-modernity movement. Although his early death in 1997 cut short his association. Kippenberger’s Metro-net, afictional tunnel network that would connect Dawson City, Yukon to the Greek city of Syros,conceived today’s sense of location as globalized.Saul states; The genius loci of the Roman world no longer reigns over a small personal space. Man has become a citizen of unlimited geography, unrestricted by time and distance. However, the artist still has at their disposal the proven tools of iconography, signifiers, and theoretical construct to communicate their system of determinate mapping of site. (Sauls. A. 2012. Pg 500) 

Painting  

I love painting. Painting is an extension of my personality and talent,and a vehicle for my thoughts and feelings. Postmodernism, however, negates and problematizes the creative autonomous painter, as it suggests that any account to authorship, is steeped within an avant-gardist, artist as elite, ideal.Originality and authorship value were radically changed in the 1980’s with the advent of postmodernism. According to Fredric Jameson; The definition of art began to change with the notion of genuine creation, lost in favor of pastiche, the method that resembled what was already to be found. (Graw. I. 2004. Pg. 45) In essence; Postmodernity has been a process of losing the sensation of history, the meaning of a person, leading to the destruction of history, and a crisis of philosophical knowledge. (Kyrychenko. M. Nikitenko. V. Voronkova. V. Harbar. H. Fursin. A. A. 2001. Pg.249)   Counter to this, altermodernism understands creative autonomy andits importance in relation to the self-determined painter and arts relational encounter; Artistic activity is a game where the liveliest factor has to do with interactive, user-friendly and relational concepts. The artist, being himself, is actively involved in the world of art, he, based on the findings of his own observations, and through relations of art to social issues and issues of everyday life. Art is a state of encounter. (Bourriaud, N. 2002) Alter modernism's ideology is entrenched within the aesthetic principles associated within universal semiotic sign systems. Alter modernity understands that these universal epochs enable a transcultural catalyst for transformation; The artists explore all dimensions of the present, tracing lines in all directions of time and space. They can actively make their place in the world, in relation with others, without being bound in place(Larson). As a result, they are free to connect ideas from the past and future, producing a form of translation conceived from an expansive suite of cultural connections. (Bourriaud. N. 2009. The Radicant Pg125)  

Why painting? 

Paintings' status is universally understood; Painting exists as a universal commodity, encompassing universal truths, morals and ethics, and from a semiotic perspective, a language of sign systems. (Graw. I 2018. Pg 20) Graw elaborates further explaining that; Paintings affectual potential understands it as a vitalistic projection, a specific indexivity, an independent existence possessing authority and self-agency. Painting's hold a special status in this regard because they are iconically and symbolically loaded value things. (Graw. I 2018. Pg 142)Painting affords the artistan infinite number of visual possibilities. Painting’s realization is only bound by individual levels of talent; A person can be creative and talented. Creativity, as a complex, determining, non-linear system, is characterized by statistical stable formations, namely attractors, and one of these is talent (Vidmenko. M. O. 2013, p. 26),Levels of imagination within the artist also dictates the potency of their visual repertoire; Imagination constitutes the terms ontological potency, that is something familiar, distinctive, and important. Imagination consists of the capacity to generate images, and mental states. The great benefit of this capacity is that, as Kant puts it;“the faculty of representing an intuition,an object that is not itself present” (Crowther. P. cited in: Wolheim R. 2001Pg. 85)The painters unique autoethnography may expose itself through social critique, imagination plays a vital role in this realization;  The paradoxical struggle of creative expression, which necessarily relies on the idiosyncrasies of the artist’s individual history and psychology, as well as the resources of the tradition of painting, and succeeding only by risking a creative appropriation of these acquisitions in the service of teaching its audience to see the world anew. (Toadvine. T. 2023 Pg 4) The painter has, in my view, an obligation to the prospective viewer to facilitate accessibility through relationality, encompassing an empathic stance; Within artistic empathy the imagination is caused to actively constitute what is not present before the senses. An artist's individual style, therefore, must hold ‘open spots’ for the beholders imagination to fill in, in order to produce the mental life that is expressed. (Gerwen. R.V. 2001. Pg 146) My painting style draws upon alter modernism's universal values, through narrative mechanisms, to apportion relationality and accessibility through semiotic sign systems; The particular affective power that paintings exert on their viewer's,painting has the ability to deeply penetrate our innermost feelings, far exceeding the power of the spoken word, through the emphatic materiality of its signs. (Graw. I. 2018.Pg 17-19) 

Alter modernity 

Alter modernity is a critical response to postmodernism.Nicholas Bourriaud’s Alter modernism is a constituent of new theoretical perspectives contextualizing the void after postmodernism.Contemporary theories outlined within the publication; Meta modernism. Historicity, Affect, and Depth After Postmodernism.(Akker, Gibbons, Vermeulen 2020) describes the cultural and intellectual practices of the postmodern era over the last 40 years; Jeffrey Nealon’s Post-Postmodernism (2012).; Alan Kirby’s Digi modernism (2009).; Gilles Lipovetsky’s Hy-permodernTimes (2004).; Raoul Eshelman’s Performatism(2008).; Billy Childish’sand Charles Thomson’s Remodernism (2000).; Christian Moraru’s,Cos modernism(2011). Nicolas Bourriaud’s,Alter modernism (2005). The publication describes; The crystallization of meta modernism into today’s dominantcultural logic: networked protests, a new wave of terrorism, the increased usageof the notion of the Anthropocene, the omnipresence of digital tools, the globalfinancial crisis, and finally the rise of right-wing populist movements,that Contend that weare currently inhabiting a “new regime of historicity,” (Ciorogar.A. 2019 Pg 388-390) 

Nicholas Bourriaud founded the term Alter modernism during the curation of The Tate Britain Tate Triennial in 2009. Bourriaurd outlines; “The term ‘alter modern’ which serves both as the title of the present exhibition and to delimit the void beyond the postmodern, has its roots in the idea of ‘otherness’, and suggests a multitude of possibilities, of alternatives to a single route”.(Bourriaud.N 2009. Pg12) The Tate triennial exhibition was curated to involve the artists that Bourriaud recognized as fulfilling the new alter modern agenda. ‘The art is characterized by artists cross border, cross-cultural negotiation; a new real and virtual mobility the surfing of different disciplines, and the use of fiction as an expression of autonomy.’ (Bourriaud, N.1998. Pg 225).Bourriaud presented a collective discussion around the premise that postmodernism was ending and that we are experiencing the emergence of a global alter-modernity. “Postmodernism is dead. A new modernity is emerging, reconfigured to an age of globalization, understood in its economic, political and cultural aspects: an alter modern culture”. (Bourriaud. N 2009. Pg10)A new culture characterized by cross-border synthesis of identities a creolized culture, polyglot expansion an archipelago; “We are now entering a new epoch of Alter modernity, wherein much of postmodernist ideology is questioned. We should not rely on the past; we should otherwise use its influences not its doctrines; “Despite valiant attempts to move "the postmodern critique forward" (Allan), to generalize it into a "theory of the contemporary" (Connor), or to pluralize it into the more descriptive postmodernisms (Altieri), the postmodern does indeed appear to be a twentieth-century phenomenon, that is, a thing of the past”. (Hutcheon, L. 2002)My research champions alter modernities creolized archipelagoas it offers a grounding for my practice as an autonomous paintertoutilize satire’s fiction.Alter modernism moves into a new epoch in which a narrative within representational satirical painting can belong. This satirical narrative explores universal satirical codes and signs.Several of the Tate triennial’s exhibitingartists fulfilled a representational painting perspective. Notably; Navin Rawanchaikula Thai artist whose ancestral roots are in the Hindu-Punjabi communities of present-day Pakistan.  Bourriaud wrote in a ‘letter to the editor', in Navin's Sala 2008; “This generosity of iconography: Perhaps we have got too used to a dry spell of thought, instead of highlighting this tradition as such, like those bad artists who have no other ambition than to conform to what the market demands of them.” (Bourriaud, N.2009. p 227)   

Relationality 

The term relationality is theoretically qualified through both the social sciences and philosophy. Predominately, theories are focused within the areas of; actors, causation, and social structures; Philosophical Relationism argues that social analysis should privilege processes, transactions, and practices. (Emirbayer 1997; Tilly 1997. Cited in: (Nexon. D. 2010. Pg.99) Sociological relationalism conceives of the social world as consisting primarily of substances or processes, in static things or dynamic, unfolding relations; Rational-actor and norm-based models, diverse holisms, structuralisms, and statistical variable analyses.  (Emirbayer. M. 1997. Pg 281)  Relational theory encompasses the merger of intrapsychic perspectives. The intrapsychic largely consists of the “internalization of interpersonal experience” (Ghent,1996). Relational theory is interested in the relationship between the external environment and internal world (Altman, Briggs, Frankel, Gensler, & Pantine, 2002). (Cait. C.A. 2008 Pg.159).Relationality concerns Interconnectedness, collaboration and informed consent; Relationality is a theory that underscores how social connectedness, through mechanisms of empathy, fosters collective action in noncentralized modes of network governance. (Kan W.S Lejano. R. P 2023. Pg.1)In these terms, relationality suggests accessibility through openness of encounters; The things around us become what we are through encounters, with encounters and relations generating an openness, fluidity, and dynamism of life and the world. (Colebrook. C. 2019. Pg 175).  

It is very important that my work is accessible in form and content, and I strive to position this readability within a broad user spectrum. Art is a shared experience, and so how the public interacts and relates to my work is at the forefront of my thought processes when engaged within my practice and when exhibiting.Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation. To understand the mechanisms of human understanding, I will outline how relationality is cognitively accessed through learned behaviour.The philosophical tradition that underpins relational aesthetics was defined by Louis Althusser, as a materialism of encounter. So the essence of humankind is purely trans-individual, made up of bonds that link individuals together in social forms which are invariably historical (Marx: the human essence is the set of social relations. Cited in:  Bourriaud. N. 2009. Pg.7) Myresearch willfocus on the existence of being;Phenomenology;The process of being. Intersubjectivity;The way of being with others.Recipocracy;A returning of the same, and Reflexivity; the processes by which an individual reflects upon the ways their own assumptions and actions influence a situation. I will discuss accessibility and equality in relation to understanding, underpinning my personal and professional egalitarianism. Satire may exhibit harrowing imagery, so I seek to understand the mechanisms of coping.Catharsis,empathy and altruism,will be discussed in relation to audience encounter.Latterly, I will discuss Satirical Painting as universal relationality.The phenomenon of the envirobiopsychosociospiritualself, corresponds to broad and diverse concepts of how, and why, every unique individual’s experience relates and co-operates within societal systems.Therefore, relationality corresponds to individual and collective truths, combining equality, and personal ethics.Relationalism affords a broad sense encompassing a theory of reality that interprets the existence, meaning, and nature of things; Considering how the self develops in relationships with others and how the self is based on patterns from this interactive process (Atwood & Stolorow, 1984; Benjamin, 1988; Mitchell, 1988; Sullivan, 1953).  

Bourriaud’s Alter modernity affords a theoretical platform of universalism that creates a mode of universal language through relational semiotic sign systems. Semiotically speaking, both producers and viewers take up positions, adopt attitudes and points of view which are influenced by their position within their unique set of social relations; This ideological positioning involves a specific way of using signs and a structured aesthetic sensibility, both grounded in a particular system of social relations.  (Riley. H. 2011. Pg 8) The constituents of learned behaviour are cognitively formed.The relationality concept is implanted through normalization and socialization processes; We engage the idea of relationality primarily at a meta-theoretical level and address its metaphysical understandings that condition our thinking and the borders of imaginable possibilities. We start with the ontological register of existence, or the filter that results from the fundamental assumptions that we embrace and enact.  (Trownsell. T. Chadha Behera. N.   Shani. G 2022. Pg 3.)  

Phenomenology 

Phenomenology describes the ontological register of existence; “Existential phenomenology is the phenomenology of being in the world defining existence as relational. No one can experience what we experience in our separate life-spaces". (Mann, D. 2020.) Phenomenology studies the structure of various types of experience ranging from perception, thought, memory, imagination, emotion, desire, and volition to bodily awareness, embodied action, and social activity, including linguistic activity.The founder of phenomenology the German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859–1938); Sought to make philosophy “a rigorous science" by returning its attention "to the things themselves" (zu den Sachen Selbst. Cited in; Hopkin's. J. 2005. Armstrong. P.B: Online) Husserl hypothesized the three steps of cognition; bracketing, description, and horizontalization; Bracketing: Explains our experience of the world as bracketed pairs.  Setting aside our values, assumptions and expectations of how things are and should be. Description: Prioritizing what is understood and experienced, rather than an explanation of the cause.  Horizontalization: Everything is of equal importance, there is something equally significant that is out of view. (Moran. D. 2002)The structure of these forms of experience typically involves what Husserl called “intentionality”, that is, the directedness of experience toward things in the world, the property of consciousness that it is a consciousness of, or about something. (Smith, D. W. 2013. Pg 1.)  

The French philosopher Merleau-Ponty played a central role in the dissemination of phenomenology, integrating it with Gestalt psychology, psychoanalysis, Marxism, and Saussurian linguistics. Major influences on his thinking include Henri Bergson, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Max Scheler, and Jean-Paul Sartre, as well as neurologist Kurt Goldstein, Gestalt theorists such as Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka, and literary figures including Marcel Proust, Paul Claudel, and Paul Valéry. In turn, he influenced the post-structuralist generation of French thinkers who succeeded him, including Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Jacques Derrida.  Merleau-Ponty published two major theoretical texts during his lifetime: The Structure of Behavior (1942 SC) and Phenomenology of Perception (1945 PP) (cited in: Toadvine.T. 2023 Pg.1) Phenomenology describes the nature of existence.  Interrelations through Individuals, groups and systems describe the cognitive relationality of intersubjectivity. 

Intersubjectivity 

Cognitively human beings share an intrinsic embodiment of relationality; Embodied Cognition encompasses wide-ranging research, drawing from work in psychology, neuroscience, ethology, philosophy, and linguistics.  Traditional cognitive science also encompasses these disciplines, finding a common purpose in mental processes that are computational processes; the brain, qua computer, is the seat of cognition. (Shapiro, L. Shannon S. 2024. Pg 1.1).Therefore, intersubjectivity is a fundamental mode for interrelational and collaborative social structures. The German philosopher Husserl was the main exponent of intersubjectivity through the theory of phenomenology; Intersubjectivity, be it a concrete self–other relation, a socially structured lifeworld, or a transcendental principle of justification, is ascribed a central role by phenomenologists.The first philosopher ever to engage in systematic and extensive use of intersubjectivity was Husserl. (Sahavi. D. 2011. Pg. 180) Intersubjective meaning is informed by normalization and socialization processes. Crouch deliberates; “Universal signs are ingested both through diverse cultures and pertinent to an individual’s own culture. The cultural Design- The societal substrate is formed by intersubjectivity, the collective elaboration of meaning.” (Crouch, 2020. p.122). Learned behaviour is contextualized by the process of interpellation;The capacity for intersubjectivity exists in everyone, because it provides the floor, the ‘unthought known’ (Bollas, 1987: 3), of everyone’s early experience which may be suppressed and repressed but is never erased. To this extent everyone is open to interpellation at the level of unconscious intersubjective communication. (Holloway. W. 2009. Pg.221)The collective elaboration of meaning incorporates learned behaviour encapsulating morals, ethics, and a reciprocal nature. 

Reciprocity 

Returning love or favour, the reciprocal nature of humanity is omnipresent. The word derives from the Latin reciprocus, meaning; returning of the same. Evolutionary biologists and experimental economists have proposed that we are hard-wired for reciprocity and have described reciprocity asthe evolutionary basis for cooperation in society (Nowak and Sigmund 2000. Cited in:Molm, L. D. 2010 Pg. 119). Social coherence and norms precipitate individual actions through learned behaviour. Individuals learn to coexist and collaborate; Social norms, the informal rules that govern behavior in groups and societies, have been extensively studied in the social sciences. Anthropologists have described how social norms function in different cultures (Geertz 1973), sociologists have focused on their social functions and how they motivate people to act (Durkheim 1895 [1982], 1950 [1957]; Parsons 1937; Parsons & Shils 1951; James Coleman 1990; Hechter & Opp 2001). (Cristina. B, Muldoon. R,  Sontuoso. A.  2023) Philosophy theory broadens the normative function; Beliefs, expectations, group knowledge and common knowledge have become central concepts:Social constructs are seen as the endogenous product of individuals’ interactions (Lewis 1969; Ullmann-Margalit 1977; Vandershraaf 1995; Bicchieri 2006). Interaction reactionsinformSelf-fulfilling expectations; Norms are represented as equilibria of games of strategy, and as such they are supported by a cluster of self-fulfilling expectations. The purpose of my project is to understand the cognitive behaviour of individuals, which will enable me to intervene effectively and sensitively within my practice, and when exhibiting my work.It is crucial that we need to diagnose the nature of a pattern of behavior to intervene on it.(Cristina. B, Muldoon. R,  Sontuoso. A.  2023) further to this, Knowledge of the cognizes of behaviourmay be gleaned from the value of reflexivity. 

Reflexivity 

Reflectivity, developed from the theoretical ideas of Argyris and Schon (1976), is the process by which an individual reflects upon the ways their own assumptions and actions influence a situation, and thus change their practice as a direct result of this reflective process, reflectivity becomes a type of research method, one which allows a practitioner to research her or his own practice or that of others in order to change or improve it. (Fook. J 1999 Pg. 11) Epistemologists, and sociologists, refer to reflexivity as a product of cause and effect,embedded in human belief systems. An understanding of others' actions, in the relation to ’me’: The comparative understanding of others contributes to self-awareness; self-understanding, in turn, allows for self-reflection and (partial) self-emancipation; the emancipatory inte, finally, makes the understanding of others possible" (Scholte 1972:448 Cited in: Salzman. P. C. 2002. Pg 806), Reflexivity then can be conceptualized into two areas;The way individuals and groups can change their behaviour to fit into a given set of circumstances, and secondly, how the painter can develop their own work to offer a broader scope for relationality. The cognitive processes informed throughphenomenology, Intersubjectivity, reciprocity, and reflexivity, relate to Satire’s codification through signs, icons and symbols, thus affording a relational capacity to explain the internal and external aspects of inherent message meaning within painting; The perceptualist approach contends that pictures are to be explained in terms of the psychological effects that they produce. Conversely, the symbol-based approach contends that pictures, like language, depend on the correlation of a set of marks with a field of reference, and are analyzed as complex symbol systems, giving reason to how a painting is seen, how it is shown, along with the structure, and the organization of the painting itself. Mimetic theories give primacy to a painting's representational content, formalist theories give primacy to its design, composition, treating features such as line, shape, and colour as independently significant pictorial elements. (Gaiger, J. 2002) Paintings universally affectual sign systems, afford a contingency for accessibility, equality of purpose may maintainan egalitarian stance. 

Accessibility and Equality 

Egalitarianism is of vital importance to my personal and professional ethos, alongside a belief that art is for everyone, not an elite few, in this context accessibility and readability areparamount; Egalitarian doctrines rest on the idea that all human persons are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. (Arnson. R. 2013. Pg 3-8) My personal moral ethos adopts the ethical position of justice for all; Egalitarian justice doctrines rest on the fundamental premise that all persons have the same fundamental worth and dignity, which commands respect. (Arnson. R. 2013. Pg 3-8)The moral relativist relativizes moral judgments within moral codes and frameworks.Different individuals bring diverse moral standards and there is no objective choice. Harman describes three versions of moral relativism;Normativemoral relativism, which holds that two people can be subject to different moral demands and not subject to some more basic demand that accounts for this given their different Situations;  Moral judgmentrelativism, states that moral judgments implicitly refer to one or another person, group, or set of moral demands; and Meta-ethical relativism, which holds that conflicting moral judgments about a particular case can both be right. (Harman, G. 1978 Pg. 148)However, moralizing is undesirable, and potentially ethically problematic. I sensitively acknowledge that my paintings offer a form of rational compassion with a keen sense of justice; We tend to empathize with those whose needs are salient, and who are close by and similar to ourselves. Furthermore, empathy concerns our relation to specific individuals. But if we want to make the world a better place and promote policies affecting larger groups of people, we should put empathy aside and instead promote a form of rational compassion, since a keen sense of justice and moral obligation is far more relevant. (Zahavi. D.2022. Pg.1.) Rational compassion in terms of sensitivity to individual sensibilities is paramount. Therefore, an understanding of human coping mechanisms is pertinent. 

The mechanisms of coping.    

An understanding of the mechanisms of coping in relation to potentially harrowing imagery enables me to sensitively assess curational pathways, and understand how, and why potentially disturbing image processing is undertaken.Universal human coping mechanisms encompass both a biological and cognitive bias. An example would be when watching a horror film just at the point when a particularly harrowing/gory moment happens, instead of a horrified recoil, a deep-seated laugh occurs. This is both a biological and cognitive response to a stressor. Fight or flight is an innate, universal coping mechanism. “A fight response; Arousal-endorphins-elation-counteraction-humor (laughter); ‘The ‘fight or flight’ response, or ‘acute stress response,’ If a stimulus is perceived as a threat, an intense and prolonged discharge of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), followed by attempts to flee, and, if not successful, by attempts to fight.”  (Schauer, M. Elbert, T. 2010 pp.109–127) One person's stress may well be another's pleasure; According to Kenneth et al. (1997), one useful definition of stress describes it as our psychological and physiological reactions to a situation perceived as exceeding our coping resources. Many psychologists distinguish between the situation (the "stress") and our resulting response ("distress"), recognizing that it is the latter that is likely to be detrimental to health and well-being. How negatively we react to stress depends on several factors, including how much control we feel over the situation, how predictable and intense the stressor is, and our individual perspective.(Baqutayan.S.M.S.2015 Pg.481).The human reserve in the face of adversity and shock, produces biological and cognitive coping mechanisms to alleviate stressors. 

Stoicism 

Stoicism helps us to adjust to stressors. Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, explains: A man's excellence or virtue depends entirely on having the right mental attitude toward things. Stoic philosophy provides us a path to navigate the chaotic modern world with intention and virtue. (Cited in Maximillian V, K. 2021). Stoicism is a cognitive function; The Stoicposition is a lekton characterized by an impression. Conceptual thinking arises subsequently to the occurrence of impressions. Stoicism holds that concepts are a type of impression, that results froman agent, in effect, internalizing, and repeated, similar impressions. The actof thinking involves articulating or reflecting about the propositionwhich one has assented. (Lesses, G. 1998. Pg. 7) Pain and stressor venting encompasses cosmopolitan theory; The ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism idealized composure in the face of pain and other emotions as the path to virtue (Sellars, 2016). In modern psychology, stoicism has been defined as the “denial, suppression, and control of emotion” (Wagstaff & Rowledge, 1995) and has been studied experimentally using the emotion regulation strategy expressive suppression, which involves the voluntary inhibition of facial expressivity in response to a negative stimulus (Gross & John, 2003. Cited in: Anderson, S. R., 2020) Stoicism has a biological stress response; The stress response leads to the secretion of cortisol and catecholamines, which in turn affects the functioning of interconnected physiological systems (the metabolic and cardiovascularsystems).  These biological reactions are necessaryfor the Body to respond effectively to increased environmental demands. (Doan. S.N., Dich. N., Evans, G.W., 2016. Pg 311). Stoicism relates to the construction of audience reception within my painting, by apportioning comedic imagery, to universal signs, graphics, and icons, to express contemporary truths and wrongs, I placate the viewer, lessening the anguish and distress caused by potentially harrowing imagery. Placation utilizingComedic Affecthas been used extensively by painters throughout history as Sypher acknowledges; We appreciate Rouault, who sees man as a Clown. In its style Picasso's giant Guernica, that premonition of total war, is a shocking comic strip in black and white, showing how the ridiculous journalese of painting can be an idiom for modern art. Guernica is like a bad dream and Kafka's novels are nightmares. The dream is nonsensical and free, having none of the logic and sobriety of our waking selves; the very incongruity of the dream world is comic(Sypher, W. 1956. Pg. 311.) Stoicism reduces stress, catharsis de-regulates stress. To position oneself as a painter of potentially harrowing satire is to understand these coping mechanisms and empathically attend to the complex sensibilities of the recipient. An altruistic stance enables an apportioning of unselfish concern for others. I view empathy as an ethical predisposition understood through the lens of altruism. 

Catharsis Empathy and altruism.   

The concept of Catharsis is theoretically dense, however, an emotional response throughcause and effect, is generally agreed. Psychotherapists utilizethe idea of distancing within catharsis. The idea of “pendulation” (Levine, 1997) similar to the process of distancing/ role-taking. Psychotherapists use alternation between what they call de-regulation and regulation (of emotions) to help patients deal with trauma. For example, the victim of a car accident is encouraged to relive the moment,coming and going between the accident and the present (Heller & Heller, 2004). The right rhythm representsoptimal distance, a balance between painful and comforting moments. (Scheff. T. J 2007. Pg 107) 

           Painting as satire provides a value orientated response suggesting a cathartic intervention, “Satire has a cathartic function which releases or ‘vents’ emotional tension, modern theories of satirical catharsis similarly frame satiric purgation as the expulsion of otherwise distressing feelings and emotions” (Keane, Kivisto. cited in Declercq 2021) inthis way participants/respondents are implicitly involved through interpellation, the aesthetic power of painting in an immanent sense through recourse to the notion of affect.My practice, painting as satire, incorporates potentially sensitive imagery that may preclude negative motions of affect. My personal and professional ethos is not propagandist, or aggressively confrontational. Rather, I possess great empathy for my fellow human beings; Empathy is understood as a phenomenon involving both cognition and affect and is primarily defined as the objectification of myself in an object that is different from me.  (Ercolino. S. 2018. Pg. 245) My work encompasses both positive and negative empathy;Positive empathy is empathy for others’ positive emotions; negative empathy is empathy for others’ negative emotions (Morelli, Rameson, & Lieberman, 2014, 57, 60; Andreychik & Migliaccio, 2015, 274–277). Human beings live in complex societies relating to and cooperating between genetically unrelated groups of individuals.Altruism is a selfless mode, apportioning an unselfish concern for others through a desire to assist, not because of obligation, duty, or loyalty,rather, itinvolves acting out of concern for fellow humans wellbeing; Behavior is normally described as altruistic when it is motivated by a desire to benefit someone other than oneself for that person’s sake. The term is used as the contrary of self-interested or selfish or egoistic words applied to behavior that is motivated solely by the desire to benefit oneself. Malicious designates an even greater contrast: it applies to behavior that expresses a desire to harm others simply for the sake of harming them.(Kraut.R. 2020. Pg 1.1)Theoretically There are three main interactional rationalistic theories of altruism; egotistic, egocentric, and altercentric. The egoistic perspective; (Axelrod. R) Altruistic assistance would be offered if one expects future benefits. The egocentricview; (Becker. G) Argues that the donor's utility function includes the utility of potential recipients.The altercentric approach (Frank. R. Herbert S). views the benefactor's action as stemming from a personality trait that arises from artificial selection. (Khalil. E.L. 2004. Pg. 3)The egocentric interactional rationalistic theory view described by Becker explains my own ethos in relation to altruism.I do not possess malicious intent, nor am I self-interested or holdany selfish indignation. Through my painting I hope to engage potential recipientswithin a framework of quiet contemplation, I wish to engage recipients within my vision,presenting my workas a visual catalyst for human endeavor and dysfunction, as a reminder of the state of being human. I hope that by engaging with my work,all recipients receive relational catharsis, and a sense aesthetic fulfillment. The specificity of Painting holds a particular strength of meaning for audience encounter. Graw stipulates: ‘Paintings invite us to recognize our own likeness in them, an image of our subjective condition in the neoliberal economy, paintings provide a material basis for our vitalistic projections of subjectivity’. (Graw, I. 2018) 

Satirical Painting as universal relationality.   

Being exposed to the paintings of others is a powerful tool for cultivating an intersubjective ethical sense. The satirical subject matter inherent within my work opens meaningful dialogue through a complicit recording of the relatable ravages of human life. Artwork can be described as a relational object, relations between individuals and groups, between the artist and the world, and, by way of transitivity, between the beholder and the world” (Bourriaud, N. 2009) 

  Fig. John Hogan. The Cleansing. 2022 (Purge your sins) Oil on Canvas 5x5in 

The cleansing (purge your sins): A satirical critique of religion, purporting the concept of vanquishing a human being's sin. Sin (good and bad) in my view, is every human being's right, fallibility is intrinsic to humanity. 

A painting can engage everyone meaningfully, through embodiment of its presentation. People can acquire the necessary language and procedures to receive and internalize its meaning, which vdescribes the affective structure of the image and its capacity to operate within the affective register of subjectivizing /interpellation processes, furthering the universal relevance of my practice.  

Fig. John Hogan. Axis Mundi (seven deadly sins) Oil on canvas 32x46in 

My painting Axis Mundi (seven deadly sins) describes the center of the earth, referencing the May pole- new beginnings- A Sarcastic inference aspect of each of the deadly sins is exhibited, implying that sin is pandemic within humanity.Declercq postulates; Critique is the committed moral opposition against a target, sustained by an analysis of that target's perceived social wrongness. Satire offers an emotional catharsis that helps us cope with a troubled socio-political world. (Declercq. D. 2021. Pg 7-8)  

Painting commands a space for uniqueness, as through its specificity it necessarily involves its creator both within a defined mark system, along with a psychological and emotional connection the artist makes during the process. As an artist, I respond to emerging ideas, theories and processes that communicate to me through the process of working within and across multicultures.My unique life experiences are recollected through paintingcombining with my impressions, ideas and beliefs while surveying the social context of conflicted ideologies. My paintings promote my goal of an egalitarian and just society that offers easily read and understood visual encapsulations of this vision.My practice produces works to be appreciated for their aesthetic beauty and emotional power, its inherent subject matter provides a value orientated response which initiatesa cathartic intervention. Self and society exist ‘sous rature’ and in difference from each other, thus making autoethnographic painting a tool for a relationallysymbolic interaction. (Rambo, C. 2017) Satire is relational, universally understood semiotic sign systems are ingested creating an intrinsic value of accessibility, readability, and relationality, utilizing comedic affect; By using comic iconography, painter’s make a joke provoking laughter, attacking presuppositions and conventions. By annexing the comic character, they recontextualize it, as well as appearing to blur the distinction between high art and popular culture, this abandonment of seriousness has given painting of this persuasion its philosophical character. (Wagstaff. S. cited in: Higgie. J. 2007. Pg. 79.)  

Conclusion 

I argue for a resurgence of satire, as a mediator for the adversities of the universal dysfunction of perma crisis, enabling a wider public access to painting. My research responds to a gap in both the theoretical concept of satire within contemporary painting (after 1970) and, the rarity of painting as satire within the art world. I am arguing for the resurgence of satire within the specifity of fine art painting, under the auspices of alter modernism. I have facilitated a comprehensive literature review which has informed the context structure of my table of contents; Satire, relationality, alter modernity and painting, which represents both a theoretical underpinning and includes practice as painting methodology, to inform, validate, and add credibility to my research argument.I have organized my thesis into three chapters,which have sought to strengthen my argument. I have analyzed how every individual has been normalized and socialized, and the reasoning why an individual may interact with the world. I have analyzed how an individual may form opinion based upon the accessibility of the work. I argue for a return to the importance of artist as author, and the subsequent autoethnographic proliferation of the narrative. The act of making a painting is altruistic, alter modernity offers a theoretical construct based within the auspices of universalism, a universalism that encompasses egalitarianism, and by implication, a relational counterpart. Conversely, Postmodernisms moral countenance of colonial west centric relativism, negates and problematizes the author and the narrative. I would argue that the heterogeneity of art necessitates a return to the importance of auto ethnographic practice, placing the innate knowledge of the artist primarily. The aesthetic meaning encased within a work of art is highly subjective unless the universality of visual language is employed. Artists are innately aware of the codices of visual aesthetics and utilize this knowledge to apportion meaning through universal appreciation mechanisms. Namely; colour, tonal variance, line and shape, form, light and shade, abstract and representational elements, depth of field, visuospatial dynamics, movement, and evidence of artist involvement. Elements that aid in the production of aesthetic appeal. Aesthetic appreciation is ultimately informed by the unique individual and based upon a multitude of envirobiopsychosociospritual elements that contribute to the overall effect upon self. I argue for the potential of Satirical painting as a personal, and societal narrative for critique and entertainment, above and beyond contemporary multimedia. I argue that paintings unique specificity, along with its attached signs and symbols are the perfect vehicle, for satirical approval. My research has shown that a universal language exists.Satire offers a broad spectrum of stylistic and mechanistic codes and signs, to access this universal language to promote an effective and efficient accessibility. The semiotic language of satire codes has been used in conjunction with the study of human visual consumption. My research has utilized hermeneutics as an interpretation and understanding of events, and through analysis of meanings for the respondents of events. I have collaborated with diverse theoretical disciplines to further my research aims. My project has used the disciplines of psychology and social anthropology to underline the constructs of intersubjectivity, recipocracy, phenomenology, and reflexivity in relation to human image interpretation.