Jan Cleveringa’s academic background and early career provide a clear foundation for psychological dimensions in his artistic practice. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney (1987–1991), majoring in Psychology and Political Science. This was followed by studies in painting at Sydney College of the Arts and a Master’s in Management (Community/Not-for-Profit) from the University of Technology Sydney. Before fully committing to art in his 40s (starting with a 2013 residency), he worked in welfare organizations.
These experiences shape his art’s focus on human-nature relationships, cultural change, mindfulness, egocentricity, and the “human condition.” While Cleveringa does not frequently name specific psychologists or theories in public statements, recurring themes suggest influences from environmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive approaches to perception and communication, and ideas around behavioral change and mindfulness. His self-described “punk type” attitude toward experimentation, philosophy, and psychology further points to an eclectic, anti-authoritarian engagement with the field.
Core Psychological Themes in His Work
Human-Environment Interconnectedness and Communication
“Listening to Trees” explicitly frames trees and the environment as active communicators. Wind-driven mark-making becomes a “gestural communication” or “mark-making communication” between artist and landscape. This resonates with environmental psychology concepts such as biophilia (human affinity for nature) and ideas of reciprocity in human-nature relations. The later disruption phase, which is cutting and reordering, symbolizes humanity’s tendency to intervene and reorganize the natural world, reflecting awareness of egocentric perspectives and their consequences.
Cleveringa’s statements often highlight “interconnectedness” and the need to recognize that “we are not separate from trees.” This aligns with ecological psychology (e.g., James Gibson’s affordances) and systems thinking, where perception and action are embedded in dynamic environments. His outdoor collaborative process treats the landscape as a living system with agency, moving beyond anthropocentric views.
Mindfulness, Awareness, and the Human Condition
Cleveringa repeatedly invokes “mindfulness” as a key outcome or intention. Works invite viewers to engage as participants rather than passive observers, challenging egocentricity and encouraging reflection on past, present, and future impacts. This echoes mindfulness-based approaches in psychology (e.g., Jon Kabat-Zinn’s secular adaptations or Buddhist-influenced contemplative practices) that emphasize present-moment awareness and reducing automatic, self-centered patterns of thought.
The disruption metaphor by fracturing natural gestural and mark-making communication, can be read through lenses of cognitive dissonance or behavioral psychology where humans are aware of interconnection yet act in ways that disrupt it, creating internal and external conflict. His welfare background likely reinforced insights into human vulnerability, resilience, community dynamics, and the psychological costs of disconnection (from nature or society).
Psycho-Social Impacts of Technology and Cultural Change
Earlier series explored the mobile phone’s effect on the “psycho-social landscape” using filters and screenshots as metaphors for fractured identity and perception. This draws on media psychology and studies of digital technology’s influence on attention, social connection, and self-image. The contrast in the Disrupted Dialogues exhibited works (recycled acrylic action elements vs. traditional oil precision; gestural vs. meticulous lines) may symbolize tensions between fast, disruptive modern life and slower, attentive modes of engagement. The slow blots of ink being still while air flows and lines thin and go fast.
Pluralism, Experimentation, and “Punk” Psychology
Cleveringa explicitly links his practice to Paul Feyerabend’s epistemological anarchism (pluralistic, rule-breaking approaches to knowledge) as a way of valuable discovery. He describes a “punk type” attitude combining experimentation, philosophy, and psychology. This suggests openness to non-mainstream or integrative psychological ideas or chances,perhaps humanistic psychology e.g., Carl Rogers on congruence and growth, Carl Jung’s collective conscience or Gestalt principles of perception and wholeness, given the way he unifies disrupted fragments into cohesive assemblages.
The reassembly process itself can be seen as a creative problem-solving or meaning-making activity, akin to narrative therapy or post-traumatic growth models, where fragmentation is acknowledged and then reconstructed into new, meaningful forms.
Welfare Career and Political Science Synergies
Work in welfare organizations likely exposed him to real-world applications of psychology: crisis intervention, community support, behavioral change, and the psychological effects of systemic issues like inequality or environmental degradation. Combined with Political Science, this fosters a macro-level view influencing how individual psychology intersects with power structures, culture, and policy evident in projects like his installation sculptures such as The Corporate Snake and #dontpausetheclause, which use psychological and semiotic levers for systemic change.
Overall Influence on Art Practice
Psychology provides Cleveringa with tools for understanding perception and how viewers might “read” disrupted marks, motivation like why humans disrupt natural systems despite awareness, and transformation using art as a vehicle for shifting consciousness toward sustainability and mindfulness. It infuses his work with empathy for the human condition while avoiding didacticism. The art becomes a psychological mirror about his capacity while reflecting our patterns of communication, interruption, and attempted reconnection.
His influences appear integrative rather than tied to one school while blending empirical psychology training with philosophical pluralism and lived welfare experience. This results in art that is conceptually rich yet accessible, process-driven yet reflective, and ecologically engaged without losing sight of human interiority.
Cleveringa’s psychological lens ultimately supports the series’ core invitation and his intent for us to listen more deeply, become aware of our disruptions, and imagine more mindful ways of relating to trees, to each other, and to the broader environment. This makes “Listening to Trees” not only an aesthetic project but a quietly therapeutic and socially conscious one.
Jan Cleveringa ~ Artist 