Perversion and pathology: a critique of psychoanalytic criticism in art

Abstract

For over three decades, Jacques Lacan denounced ego psychology for its emphasis on a strong and well-adapted ego. This article recruits the principle of that critique to examine the use of psychoanalytic theories in contemporary art criticism, with specific focus on the subject of perversion, Freudo-Lacanian psychoanalysis, and the work of art critic Donald Kuspit. The discussion examines the main influences and concepts in Kuspit's psychoanalytic criticism, analyses specific differences between this psychoanalytic model and a Lacanian theory of perversion and desire, and considers the effect of these differences in the interpretation of art.Lucille Holmes, PhD, is a lecturer in Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, a writer, and psychoanalyst. She currently researches and publishes on art education and the application of psychoanalytic theory to visual art practice. She is a founding member of the Centre for Lacanian Analysis and a member of the New Zealand Forum of the School of Psychoanalysis of the Lacanian Field. Email: la.holmes@auckland.ac.nz