Why did you decide to become a therapist?
Since I was in my 30s, I thought I might have been a therapist if I had become too much in the art world. Of course, in the mid-40s, I thought I had enough fashion cycles, vicissududes and fickle. Soon, I applied to graduate school again, this time for consultation. I told a friend: “I gave up being an artist.” In the art world“If there is some shock, it feels good. I want to be an artist – I really haven’t given up being an artist.
Max Maslansky: Himbo and shame eat sea god in the bathroom2022.
Photos Max Maslansky
I know I also need a passion, not to make the art financially stable and satisfying. Being an artist is often a very selfish business involving spending a lot of time alone. The world needs art, but the cost of letting it indulge, and becoming a therapist contributes more to improving something or someone’s improvement.
Now that I’m in my second year of training as a therapist, I’m ready to make art again, and I’ve always known it, despite my desire to be part of the art world as I know it. Most importantly, I realized that making art is about self-care. This is what is most important now.
Which therapy do you want to do?
Why?
I practice psychoanalytical therapy, a branch originally founded by Freud, has since elaborated and refined by many others. I chose this because I fell in love with its language and story, and it focused on the earliest relationships in life and how they colored the present.
What do art and therapy have in common?
Art creation is self-care. If you don’t do this, a person may be taken away. In this sense, art is very similar to therapy because its practice allows you to better engage with yourself. Art and the Self are a dialectic of healing, while healing is a dialectic of healing with others, which is ultimately a more effective way to achieve personal growth and understanding. Another way of thinking helps decrypt between reality and fantasy.
Did your evolution surprise you, or did you always be curious?
My evolution surprised me. I tend to be very durable, so “giving up” the art world “giving up” feels a huge break in my life’s narrative. On the other hand, it feels like I always have to go this path because I know my values don’t match those in the art world.
What surprised you the most?
Working as an intern therapist has always been modest. Starting a new skill from scratch is sometimes difficult. But I was surprised by the speed of “learning at work”.
Has the work as a therapist changed your art?
This makes my practice feel more open and broader, and less concerned with unique purposes and goals.
Maslansky (born 1976) is a painter who exhibited in the business of Gavin Brown in New York, the 2014 edition of Make In La and elsewhere.
