Garry Shead and the erotic muse

AG115533
Published by Craftsman House 2001
203 pages, hardcover
ISBN: 978187704018

Sasha Grishin argues that despite the stylistic diversity encountered in Shead's art, there exists a single unifying thread which runs throughout his work - an erotic impulse which allegorically may be associated with the erotic Muse. This is the common strand which runs through his experimental films, it is both the catalyst and central theme of each of his major series of paintings and it is the quintessential inspiration for his collages, drawings, prints and photographs. Yet it is more than an impulse which may be equated with Freud's wish fulfilment through dreams or art, and it is more than daydream subject matter which finds its illustration in art. It is argued in this book that the erotic impulse in Shead's work belongs to the realm of inspiration, profound and central to his being, rather than to any particular genre or literary theme. This impulse can be compared with the artist's Muse, in Shead's case, Erato, the erotic muse. This book brings together an extensive body of illustrations drawn from four decades of the artist's work. In the analysis of Garry Shead's oeuvre, the author draws on the artist's diaries, letters and other unpublished papers.

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