%0 Journal Article
%T Perversion and pathology: a critique of psychoanalytic criticism in art
%A Lucille Holmes
%J Journal of Aesthetics & Culture
%D 2012
%I Co-Action Publishing
%R 10.3402/jac.v4i0.19038
%X 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.
%K art criticism
%K visual art
%K psychoanalysis
%K perversion
%K normativity
%K sexuality
%U http://www.aestheticsandculture.net/index.php/jac/article/view/19038/24546