EXPLORATION OF PAREIDOLIA PHENOMENON FOR MIXED-MEDIA PAINTING
Master of Fine Art (M.F.A) in Painting at the University Of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Painting has always been carried out using oil colour, acrylic and water colour on canvas, paper and board panel with reference often drawn from models or nature environment scene such as land spaces, city scape, sea scope or compositions of objects and people. The consequence of this old practice is that the limitation and the use of popular medium and challenges in exploring and developing new artistic concept can make it difficult for a young artist to find his voice in the midst of the large pool of artists.The study therefore aimed toidentifysources from which Pareidolia shapes, forms and ideas can be generated, devices with which Pareidolia shapes, forms and ideas can be generated, approaches to observing Pareidolia andprocess of realizing the observed shapes, forms and ideas in Mixed Mediapainting.

The study used the exploratory research design. Rumpled bed sheet in the darkroom was selected as the sample using the random technique and direct observation with the use of digital camera as instrument for data collection During the studio production process, several photographs were taken using a digital camera in a dark bedroom space with the flash turned off to capture the Pareidolia in the clothing.

The result of the study shows that pareidolia is a good source of inspirationfor contemporary painting. It was also discovered that pareidolia can help younger and upcoming artists to standout. It was concluded that attention should be paid to explore pareidolia as a source of inspiration because it can lead to interesting mixed-media works of arts, influence artistic creations and motivate a new or unique body of works. It was therefore recommendedthat pareidolia should be seen as a good source of artistic inspiration, pareidolia should be explored in sculptures, installations and performance art.

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