The space in-between : psychoanalysis and the imaginary realm of art
Date
2006-03
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
This investigation uses an object relations psychoanalytic framework to explore
ways that art embodies both social and personal meaning. The relationship
between the non- verbal experience of art and the pre-verbal realm of infancy is
explored and linked to bodily, perceptual and inner forms of non-discursive
knowledge which are of value for the subject. The study investigates how this inner
experience is related through art to language and representation as aspects of
external experience.
The study argues that these two dimensions, the inner/bodily and the
outer/linguistic, are held together in the art object which, as metaphor, is a
conjoined structure that embodies the maternal and paternal realms in paradoxical
and dynamic interplay. The art object, which elicits imaginary and phantasied
responses from the viewer, serves both the self (through presentational symbols)
and social needs (through representational symbols), thus allowing the creation
and communication of new meanings.
Description
Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006.
Keywords
Dissertations -- Art, Theses -- Art, Dissertations -- Visual arts, Theses -- Visual arts, Art -- Psychological aspects, Visual communication in art