A case study of a violent young man called Stan is presented to understand the nature and function of his violence as he negotiated his way through anxieties about heterosexuality and passivity stimulated by his adolescence. Stan’s early history and the clinical material are used to illustrate Armando Ferrari’s concept of the Concrete Original Object. As his psychotherapy progressed he utilised his talent for drawing to sublimate his violent activity into violent images, which, in turn, enabled him to reflect on his anxieties. Stan’s violence subsided and he was able to engage in a vocation and develop a long-term relationship with a woman.