This text analyses the questions which are at the core of the nature of artistic appreciation and the creative process. It re-evaluates traditional philosophical and psychoanalytic approaches to aesthetics, arguing that they fail to take into account the relationship of artist, art work and audience. Maclagan stresses the significance of the complex material qualities of paintings, drawing on the ideas of archetypal psychology and post-structuralist theories on the relationship between inner and outer worlds.
Author Biography
David Maclagan is an artist, art therapist and lecturer. He directed an MA at the Centre for Psychotherapeutic Studies. University of Sheffield and is also involved with the Art Psychotherapy training there. He has published numerous articles on Outsider Art, art therapy and imaginal psychology, and is the author of Creation Myths.
