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.

Keywords

• art criticism
• visual art
• psychoanalysis
• perversion
• normativity
• sexuality