If we possess the image of a thing, we possess half the thing. The image of the world is half the world…Who possesses the world but not its image possesses only half the world, since their soul is poor and has nothing. The wealth of the soul exists in images.
~ Carl Jung, The Red Book
Jennifer Sullivan and Jack Arthur Wood are honored to present Jung Lovers, an exhibition chronicling artists who plunge the depths of the psyche and pay homage to the work of Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung (1875-1961). Jung’s work highlights the search for meaning as the central crux of life, a natural path that arises in each of us towards our own awakening and wholeness. His ideas continue to inspire new generations of artists to commit themselves to that inner journey through material practice.
Compelled to curate an exhibition that would force me to explore the ideas I’ve been swimming in, I asked Jennifer Sullivan (a Jung lover herself) to collaborate. I also hoped I would learn from her, and to say only that I have, is an understatement. My background comes from a Jungian therapist whom I worked with for years and who deeply affected my painting. In a dream, I was standing in a funeral parlor with my grandfather and my great uncle Lefty. Lefty turned from the mirror, smiled and asked “How do I look?” I woke up to a text saying my cousin Patrick had overdosed. The dream was especially eerie because Patrick looked almost exactly like my grandfather. My therapist suggested I make a painting about it, saying “let the colors do the emotional work of meaning” and this practice of feeling in color has become central to how I continue to make paintings.
In making selections for this exhibition, Jennifer and I thought about artists in relation to Jungian ideas such as: the collective unconscious, the shadow, archetypes, animus and anima, dream work, and of course the spirit. We chose artists whose works are consciously or unconsciously Jungian and we invite the viewer to do their own open-ended analysis. These works comprise a taxonomy of Jungian objects and objectives, reiterated contemporarily - snakes, breasts, alchemical processes, portals, anthropomorphic furniture, western vampires, doorways to the depths, apologetic urinals that tell of transgressions, Saints licked by flames, twinkling starlight, votive totems twirling, diagrams of the mind, spirit and libido, fantasies and familiar symbols, and perhaps most poignantly the gold/God hidden in the shit - an image from Jung’s own dream work and a catalyst toward his life’s work.
This collaborative curatorial process of research and engagement in the work of others around a series of shared ideas has been one of discovery followed by confusion and renewed wonder. Ultimately, I think that is what Jung’s ideas do. His writings and paintings inspire a deeper curiosity towards our relationship with ourselves and by extension others. He offers those willing to look inward an approach that is non denominationally cosmological, a road map of symbols and relatable narratives that deeply permeate our culture. His methods are immaterial and intuitive, esoteric or idiosyncratic, their transformative power is activated by sustained practice and ultimately, they demonstrate that our path forward is not chosen, it’s created.
Text by Jack Arthur Wood