ALCHEMY EDITION 57
On the second floor of SFMoMA within Open Ended: Painting and Sculpture, 1900 to Now, lives a Jackson Pollock painting titled, Guardians of the Secret. Completed in 1943, Guardians was part of Pollock's first solo exhibition. Much has been written about this work, mostly pointing out its Native American influence and Jungian archetype themes. Pollock is said to have brought his Jungian analyst to the show opening, which of course makes Pollock even that much more intriguing to me. Upon completion of graduate school, I gifted my mentor a small framed postcard of the painting. To me, the images evoke a tale of the therapeutic relationship. The analytic couch appearing in the center, the male and female representations of the patient at either...