Fleeting encounter

This short paper describes a recent visit to an exhibition of modern art. It examines my impressions in the light of contemporary psychodynamic theory. The exhibition was called 'Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away…' It included the work of fifteen modern artists, mainly created between 1992 and 1994, and selected by the British artist Damien Hirst. The exhibition leaflet said that the artists had used 'real objects, body-casts, natural and man-made forms, sculpture, painting and photography, to set up a number of provocative juxtapositions'.