Author Speaks on Art and Human Unconsciousness

By: Arie Kirk in The Utah Statesman

Issue date: 1/31/07 Section: Campus News

 

After two decades at The New Yorker, Lawrence Weschler is now studying the occurrences of convergence in photographs, art work and everyday events.

 

Convergence, making connections between seemingly unrelated pieces of art, modern photographs and objects, was the focus of a public lecture given by Weschler at USU on Monday [Jan. 26].

 

Weschler said he believes humans have a collective unconsciousness causing certain past images, which are "hot-wired" into our brains, to reappear in later images. It was this belief that led him to his most recent publication, Everything that Rises: A Book of Convergences.

 

"Once you start thinking this way, the reference on either side gets deeper and deeper," Weschler said.

 

During his lecture, Weschler compared pieces side by side, illustrating the unusual instances in which convergence is obvious.

 

He highlighted Rembrandt's "The Anatomy Lesson" and a photograph of Che Guevara's corpse taken in 1967. Weschler said the similarities are uncanny.

 

The positioning of the bodies are the same, laying flat on a table surrounded by a group of people. In Rembrandt's painting, there are physicians looking at the body. The photo of Guevara has Bolivian army officers positioned in nearly the same formation around the table. Both show someone pointing to the midsection of the respective corpse with their right hand.

 

Several pieces were also shown that have striking similarities to paintings of the life of Jesus Christ. Whether it is his birth, ministry, crucifixion or resurrection, images captured in earlier works of many painters are seen in modern-day photographs.

 

Weschler said, "What is it about Christianity that works so well? It is what birth is, what a mother's love is, what betrayal is. That was just a better story for artists."

 

Pictures of warfare, Iwo Jima, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and Sept. 11, 2001, were also compared to century-old paintings. They, too, had striking resemblances to one another, Weschler said.

 

Weschler came to USU as part of the art department's Visiting Artist Program. Those who attended the event were encouraged to bring their own convergence. More than 120 people attended the lecture, several of which shared their own examples of convergence.

 

Historians have criticized Weschler's work, saying serious people don't study coincidences to such an extent. In response, Weschler said, "Live your life that way. That's OK."

 

He warned against people reading too much into the idea of convergence.

 

"Is it significant? Is it stupid? Make of them what you will," Weschler said. "Take this as far as you want. Take it for what it is, then let it go."