ABSTRACT
I. How long can artists pour themselves into highly charged performance situations without being burned out emotionally? (Moira Roth.1)
Artists tend to deny the relationship of their work to therapy and subsequently to psychology, insisting that they make highly inspired, intensely complex works which link them to the history of art and aesthetic traditions. This need for professional validation is somewhat arcane because underneath the surface of each artist is a shaman, an instinctual curer and therapist who lives a life outside of and beyond social medicine. Artists have found that the best way to direct their energies, learn hidden information about themselves, and face hidden fears is to pursue the relationships of space, form, color, texture, size, mass, and direction in an obsessive way. Instead of brooding about what is wrong in their lives, artists are trained to use problems as material for their work since work diverts anxiety, fear, and worry into artistic expression. Even though the art practice on some levels serves this therapeutic purpose, most
artists disregard the connection between themselves and the practice of psychology.
