The Art Of Healing
About 'Healing Figures'
Lois Goglia - Artist Statement, 1997
My "Healing Figure" constructions and sculptures explore the relationship between art and medicine
by examining the figure, its fragmentation, and its connections. While the constructions explore the
relationship of the outer body to its inner parts, the smaller, life-sized sculptures probe this
inner/outer correlation by examining the body's bones and organs.
Although stylistically different, both bodies of work are thematically analogous. The sculptures synecdocally evoke man's ills; the constructions metaphorically heal them by conjoining canvas fragments into unified images. The larger-than- life-sized anthropomorphic "Healing Figure" constructions are an amalgamation of canvas fragments, inks, paints, and pastels combined with bandages, medical tape, and x-rays. Many of the techniques used in making these constructions - cuffing, suturing, and taping - are shared with the physician.
The "Healing Figure" sculptures are created out of segmented wire reminiscent of DNA molecules, a wood pulp- polyurethane mix, varnish, and paints, and india inks. They resemble bones, organs, and skeletal parts which bring to mind the body's interior. Although visually strong and resilient, these twisted convoluted body parts retain a sense of vulnerability and affliction. Their abstracted body parts are reminiscent of scientific anatomical data, yet close examination thwarts the specific identification of any particular structure. This deliberate ambiguity allows for the viewer's own interpretation and self-discovery.
This artwork's purpose is to provide viewers with imagery which might act as a window to the unconscious and thus restore their homeostasis. Carl Jung in Man and his Symbols explains that the general function of dreams is to create psychological balance by producing dream material that restores psychic equilibrium. He concludes that visualization and imaging also serves this compensatory function. I hope that through the visualization process viewers engage in while examining these body images they might acquire self-knowledge which results in psychic well-being, equanimity, and redemption.