September 20, 2005
bodies, sex, ecstasy
Another reason for turning to the work of Bill Henson is that it is about bodies and sexuality as well as inner experience and the unconscious:
Bill Henson, Untitled #47, 1998, Untitled, 1997 - 1998
We have hints of ecstasy:
Bill Henson, Untitled #86, 1998, Untitled, 1997 - 1998
This takes us beyond the utilitarian conception of pain and pleasure the possibility that something could be pleasureable because it is painful. This throws the theory of utilitarianism into disarray. In this world, pleasure is good, and pain is bad. The notion that pain and pleasure can fold back onto each other in complex ways is absent. The ways in which pain and pleasure can annihilate the self and liberate one from the bounds of the ego are not included.
Bill Henson, Untitled 1994 / 95
This is a world of conflicting forces. in which the boundaries of the self are overcome and the edicts of the rational ego often ignored in the pursuit in sexual experience. Though the pursuit of sexual ecstasy through pain is seen as masochism, as a perversion, Bataille argues that this is one example of liberation through surrender.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at September 20, 2005 11:57 PM | TrackBack