Monday, January 24, 2011

Manic Painting

"Mania" by Florencio Yllana

Dr. Janusz K. Rybakowski, a Polish psychiatrist, published a brief report in the Journal of Affective Disorders about a painting in his collection. The title is "Mania", and the artist is Florencio Yllana, who was born in the Phillippines and currently lives in Brazil. Rybakowski says:
The painting was done in 2001 following the acute manic episode in the course of bipolar mood disorder in the artist. A variety of intensive bright colors, the dragon and human-like creatures stemming from the head of the crawling warrior figure can reflect the flamboyant mood as well as the generation and flight of crazy ideas, characteristic of a manic episode. To my knowledge, this may be the only painting titled “Mania” where the title has been used in the contemporarily correct psychiatric meaning of the word.
I found that hard to believe, so I did a Google image search of mania painting, and found the following on the first few pages: Andrew Mania, A Touch of Mania, Mad Woman with a Mania of Envy, and Mania 1000$. There are probably many more that aren't as easy to find.

Reference

Rybakowski JK (2011). Painting "Mania". J Affect Disord. 128:319-320.

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4 Comments:

At January 24, 2011 11:27 PM, Blogger David Lester said...

There is a wonderful museum in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, of the work of Walter Anderson, an artist who spent 18 years alone in a one-room cottage on a barrier island 12 miles off shore after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. He became a prolific painter, and http://www.walterandersonmuseum.org/ is a tribute to the outpouring of beauty that comes from the mind of the mentally ill. The tiny cottage was preserved at the museum, as well as hundreds of canvasses. It was really beautiful work, and the museum web site has an extensive gallery. The Wikipedia entry has more detail than the museum web site on Anderson's illness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Anderson_(painter)

 
At February 03, 2011 6:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

But that one may be the only one titled "Mania" (I mean, without other words in the title)

 
At February 28, 2011 8:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is a local store where I live called "Mattress Mania," and they hire people to hold signs by the street and wave to passing cars. It is amazing how common the word is, and I suppose that is why most people don't understand the seriousness of true mania.

 
At March 06, 2011 2:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mattress Mania update: Now they hold signs that say, "HONK IF YOU ARE A MANIAC!" no kidding.

 

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