BRAD OVERTON’S NEW EXHIBITION, EROS AND THANATOS, DELVES INTO THE IMPULSES OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE.
In 1920, Sigmund Freud wrote his essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle where he discusses the dynamics between the life drive and the death drive. The life drive, which he called Eros after the Greek god of love, is identified through positive emotions such as love and creativity. Negative emotions and risky behaviors are revealed through the death drive, or Thanatos, a post-Freudian term. Freud argued the duality of the two, in that they help define one another but are distinct and opposing.
Artist Brad Overton focuses on this concept in his new exhibition Eros and Thanatos at Blue Rain Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The show will feature new calavera portraits and his annual painting of the Koshare. In contrast to Freud, Overton “suggests that maybe [Eros and Thanatos] are just two sides of the same coin,” explains the gallery. “Maybe they are different manifestations of the same energy turned up or down in frequency— and perhaps that energy flowing from a single source does so for good or ill in our lives depending on our ability to nurture or suppress what it fuels.”
This story is from the July 2019 edition of American Art Collector.
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This story is from the July 2019 edition of American Art Collector.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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