A Psychoanalytic Study of the Appreciation of Art

This article will discuss an abstract painting, “All Stars.” It was painted by an artist living in Toronto, Canada, named Joseph Drapell. What can one say about our experience of this painting? First of all, the experience of each of us will be very different, depending upon the specific associations, the particular sensitivities, and the overall knowledge we bring to the viewing of this fine work. Some might be thinking, “What's that? A red blob! So what?” and will rapidly lose interest. Others will find interest and stimulation without knowing exactly what or why their subjective emotional state is altered. Many, more knowledgeable about the “language” used by the painter, and more familiar with his mode of expressiveness, may enter into a kind of silent dialogue with the work, ultimately with the painter's unconscious mentation, and be uplifted by it. Each person who allows himself to keep psychological contact with this work will find that his subjective psychological state has been altered by it in some measure, although he may not be able to explain his reaction verbally.

I feel this painting to be a superb work. My experience of it, to describe it briefly, evokes thoughts and feelings about outward expansion as opposed to inner-directedness. Along with the artist, who pushes outward relentlessly against the edge with power and energy, yet is ultimately bound by it, I find my thoughts and feelings drawn to issues of aspiration and constraint. Powerfully energetic, the painting nevertheless evokes subtle emotions which reside, like its deeper fleeting tones, in the depths of one's being. The painting calls forward tensions of sexuality and puritanism, passion and intellect; nature too, in its relentless circularity is evoked. This viewer experiences solutions to these tensions through the language of the painting, the grammar of line, form, composition, texture and most of all color, which is