"Paulr- you put a lot of value in the ability to have an artist work through their inner struggles while creating their art. And I know this is a valid technique that is used in a theraputic setting. But I'm sure the therapist would agree that "working" through your issues with corpses is not a good thing. Especially whent he corpses are treated as they are in Witkin's photos."
Kirk, I see how I could have been unclear here. I don't believe a work can attain artistic value simply because someone dealt with their issues while making it. Art therapy indeed has different standards than art. What i believe is that when art succesfully explores personal issues and struggles, it can be enlightening to others who for whatever reason are interested in a similar exploration. Art that comes out of a sincere exploration is much more likely to succeed in this respect. I have no opinion on what Witkin's shrink (if he has one, which i doubt) would think about any of this.
You mention Hitler in relation to this. I don't know about his painting, but the parallel I can draw is that scholars and historians still read "mein kampf," not because the endorse anything hitler did or stood for, but because the ideas it contains are historically and psychologically compelling. If all you got out of it was "this is how a homicidal megalomaniac sees the world," even that is something. better to understand this than not, given the possibility of someone similar entering the world stage some day.
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