Transpersonal Art—Does It Bite?

Authors

Judy Schavrien

DOI

10.24972/ijts.2015.34.1-2.211

Abstract

This article addresses the question of whether or not political perspective and content enrich transpersonal art and studies. The artist’s argument for making the range of the transpersonal inclusive, not just transcendent but also immanent, employs examples from her art as well as descriptions of her process. She sets the discussion in three contexts: that of art criticism, contemporary and traditional; that of art production; and that of the field of transpersonal studies. In regard to the latter, she both defines and examines the role of spiritual bypass, and argues the importance of resisting the temptation to take refuge in a form of introspection that bypasses sociopolitical concerns. By examining in detail her portrayal of Erland Josephson in his latter years, she addresses a question bridging the transcendent and imminent: How does one read a face and discern/portray a person’s relation to the inner and outer worlds?

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Schavrien, J. (2015). Schavrien, J. (2015). Transpersonal art—Does it bite? International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 211–214.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34 (1). https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2015.34.1-2.211