From Office Ambiguous shoes, harmless pumps with ankle straps reminiscent of S&M garments. Not one strap, but two. Angelical, innocent, and slightly perverse; reversible, challenging, weak and weakening.
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Objects of desire (and seduction)
One of the parallels between art and psychoanalysis
Art and psychoanalysis are practices of the impossible on the path of initiation to the mystery, the beyond discourse. Their search is for a pure language, ideally coinciding with the Thing itself; not a familiar reflection of ourselves but a going towards the most foreign and intimate lnd. And reaching it [...] is impossible. Benvenuto, [...]
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Objects in Waiting
Curated by Tom Newell and Penny Whitehead http://www.objectsinwaiting.co.uk End Gallery, Psalter Lane Campus, Sheffield Hallam University, S11 8UZ. Private view Wed 18 Oct 7-9pm, exhibition open to the public 19-26 Oct 2006 10-6 weekdays, 10-5 Saturdays, 1-6 Sundays The curators in conversation Thu 26 Oct 4pm An exhibition of objects that were found or bought [...]
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The veil of seduction
From the John Moores 24 Exhibition of contemporary painting 2006, at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool: Jeff McMillan, The Seducer, Oil on found painting, 51 x 61.5cm, 2005 Artist Statement For many years I have collected second-hand oil paintings from boot sales and thrift shops. These form a curious compendium of subjects and styles. ItÄôs only [...]
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Laura’s Dora
I am beginning to have doubts about psychoanalysis as a therapy. As a practice, it is still relevant to the aims of my research but the questions is, how long do I need to commit myself to treatment if I only want to find out how about the context in which treatment occurs. I simply [...]
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Baudrillard’s seduction in contemporary artefacts
For those interested, I have uploaded the paper I delivered during last week’s Engaging Baudrillard conference here.
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Holiday footwear
My recent 2-week holiday in Spain was mainly taken up by two activities: resting and thinking about shoes. Since talking about the former would probably make me tired again, I will concentrate on the latter. The train of thought started during a day-trip to San Sebastian, where NÄî and I witnessed a wonderfully professional street [...]
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Madonna and adandonement
Finally, one of my favorite paintings has returned home to the Munch Museum in Oslo. I have always loved this Madonna: its nudity and, more than anything, its face, which I regard as a combination of Manet’s Olympia and the abandonement of Bernini’s St Teresa. But Munch’s virgin is a lot more than a mystic [...]
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