Like screaming into a handkerchief

 I've been thinking about the feedback that my art is playful but has dark undertones. I've been attempting to tone down some of the anger, in the fear, I guess, that it could easily overwhelm everything else and I'll just create work that is so angry, so morose, that it won't really allow anyone to engage with it - it won't be 'words', just a scream - it will be like a trapped animal, snarling at anyone who attempts to come near it. 

Some people will (perhaps flippantly) say this is not a bad thing and should try it, but they are very wrong in my opinion. I'd say firstly that they probably don't understand how bad that could get, and secondly that I believe art is about communication, not cathartic shock-jock self-indulgence. It's ok to to shock people, but you have to do so for some semi-altruistic purpose in doing so (however misguided it might be!).

This is why Tomgos and Tathos feels so important - Tathos won't give a shit, he'll pour it all out, he loves to shock. Tathos just loves a reaction, positive, negative, the more extreme the better. Tomgos's role therefore is to channel that into something more universal, by helping Tathos to focus, to give direction, to rein in. Tathos bring authenticity and passion, Tomgos brings universality and detachment.

Tomgos's art is bland and theoretical, but Tathos's art is inconsumably self-absorbed.

A lot of art I admire has this sort of restrained horror. The restraint makes the horror more bearable and palatable, but also more real. It also helps the artist to help the viewer - it becomes about helping the viewer to understand, not just screaming in their face.

BUT I do think I need balance in all things, even balance... I wonder if a way is to explore the darkness, but also look at which elements are essential, and which are actually unnecessarily, or even distressingly, shocking? For example, I was thinking about enlisting the help of someone with a good eye for photography to take some photos of me lying in various incongruous situations, like a corpse. For instance, I was thinking of lying naked in the middle of a muddy field. However, applying the principle above - lying in a muddy field makes sense (loneliness, self-neglect, pseudo-death) but why naked? Actually, lying in something like my old work clothes would be WAY more effective (death of a way of life, death of identity, more incongruous etc).