Image: A photo of Nychos’ “The Dissection of Sigmund Freud” in New York | Flatiron Hot News
Nychos, a street artist from Austria, is all about taking things apart. Well-known for his massive murals showing exploded anatomical views of pop culture characters and animals, he’s turning his attention and skills to another figure known for a different kind of dissection: Sigmund Freud.
In a new sculpture for New York City’s Flatiron Plaza, his 10-foot-tall sculpture The Dissection of Sigmund Freud will show the famous and oft-disputed ‘father of psychoanalysis’ leaning over his famous couch, coming apart to show all his inner workings.
Stark white and significantly larger than life made of matte-finished fiberglass over a rebar frame, the sculpture is meant to catch people’s eyes, to make them stop and stare. And maybe take a seat.
Nychos chose Freud in part because they share an attachment to Vienna, his hometown, but also because he feels “certain parallels” with the man.
“It’s sort of referential to my story, but I just also wanted to get people thinking about what’s inside the mind the way Freud did, but very differently. Dissecting a mind; the visual metaphor was just perfect,” said Nychos in an interview with The Creators Project. In his sculpture, Freud’s brain is literally about to escape, rising up from an opened skull.
Nychos also sees connections between his art output and Freud’s “Talking Cure,” which indicates that releasing pent-up emotions to better one’s mental health.
“Without output, I would go nuts mentally. I would be someone you don’t want to be around. I just need to create,” he says.
Despite this, and the therapeutic theme of his subject, Nychos doesn’t believe art is there to cure anyone but its creator. If individuals find a cure for their troubles in art, he says, it’s due to a part of themselves, not the skill of the artist. Art is just there “to create a feeling.”
The Dissection of Sigmund Freud isn’t his only work appearing in New York City. Beginning June 25th, Nychos’s solo show IKON begins in nearby Jonathan Levine Gallery, with more dissected artwork of well-known figures, including Lemmy of the band Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne, and Spongebob Squarepants