Double Visions

Although renowned egghead Carl Jung may have been something of a bore and blowhard (and quite possibly a Nazi sympathizer), his contributions to modern psychology are unquestionable. Chief among them is the notion of mankind’s dual nature. For those of you who slept through Psych 101, here’s the skinny: Within...

By Benjamin Leatherman

March 31, 2011

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Although renowned egghead Carl Jung may have been something of a bore and blowhard (and quite possibly a Nazi sympathizer), his contributions to modern psychology are unquestionable. Chief among them is the notion of mankind’s dual nature.

For those of you who slept through Psych 101, here’s the skinny: Within every human exists the possibility for both good and evil behavior, which explains why everyone from Lindsay Lohan to Muammar Gaddafi can be naughty one moment and nice the next.

The potential for both virtue and vice is explored in lurid and lascivious detail in Jerry Portelli and R.L. Gibson’s exhibition “Psychomachia,” opening with an artist’s reception on Friday, April 1, at Perihelion Arts, 610 East Roosevelt Street. The pair collaborated on more than a dozen unique photographic diptychs, each depicting old-timey circus performers in provocative poses and illustrating the seven deadly sins and seven holy virtues.

“We seek to honor the sideshow freak as the masque form of the very best and very worst of humanity, regardless of individual morality,” Gibson says.

Fri., April 1, 6-11 p.m.; Fri., April 15, 6-10 p.m., 2011

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Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music, and nightlife. He began writing for New Times in 2003 and joined the staff full-time in 2005. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Contact: Benjamin Leatherman

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