Freud treated every sitter, subject and object with the same intense focus. The emphasis the artist placed on the value of the live experience, of paying attention, of extended looking and intensity of time with the subject, became the means to take the artist to his inner world. Freud found ‘the harder you concentrate, the more things that are really in your head start coming out.” His statement carries in it much that is relevant to contemporary art practice.
This lecture from Christina Kennedy, Senior Curator and Head of Collections at IMMA, explores Freud’s processes, mechanisms, motivations and how they link to contemporary life and conditions within and beyond the art context. Among the topics of discussion include: ‘The psychology of space’, ‘animism in objects’, ‘framings and settings’ and ‘the studio as site / counter-site’.
Topics will be explored through the work of Irish and international artists including Daphne Wright, Ellen Altfest, Marlene Dumas, Jenny Saville, William Sasnal, Amy Sillman, John Lalor, Kathy Prendergast, Diana Copperwhite, Nick Miller, Niamh O’Malley, Mark O’Kelly, Laura Fitzpatrick, Bridget O’Gorman & Sue Rainsford, Richard John Jones and others.