A new exhibition at Cunningham Dax is due to open next week in Melbourne, and I regret not being able to get there for it. According to the flyer:
Avoiding the Void features works from the Cunningham Dax Collection which reflect and engage with existential ideas and concerns. The exhibition invites viewers to contemplate the insightful ways in which the creators of these works have grappled with difficult questions that are ordinarily avoided.
Joan Rodriquez
Isolation
Charcoal and Conte on paper
There are also public talks on the topic of Existentialism, a topic around which psychotherapy has gravitated for some time, and through the writings of Rollo May, Irvin Yalom, Ernesto Spinnelli and Victor Frankl (to name some of my personal favourites) has been greatly enriched.
(As an aside, I see that Spinelli will be visiting Sydney in November this year, an event not to be missed for those existentially inclined.)
It’s maybe a little presumptive to comment on the title of the exhibition, not having seen the exhibition itself, but I wonder about “avoiding”: is this what the artists are considered to be doing or not doing? In my experience, it’s the latter (the not avoiding), the via negativa of many spiritual traditions, that is the only way through, or in.
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“Avoiding” is a fast track to neurosis. It’s a sure fire way for the shadow to make its presence known, Hmmmm? This might be how one can feel “possessed” when producing a work of art? Thanks for looking at this even though you didn’t go to the art show. I would be VERY tempted to go and listen to Spinelli in November. However, distance and other circumstances get in the way.
For me, holding fast to the void (thank you Rumi) has always held the greater appeal.
Very true PH, you’ve spurred me on to another couple of posts on the subject…