A category of religious experience that still
preserves much of the original blurring and fusion between art and
religion is mediumistic or spirit painting.
Performed by spiritualist mediums in different locations around
the world, this form of religious experience is characterized by
the supposed ability of an individual to serve as an instrument
for deceased artists to continue to perform their works.
Little scientific research has been conducted concerning this topic.
We present a brief analysis of painting activity performed by Jacques
Andrade, a Brazilian medium. Born in 1945, Andrade, who has been
active in the Brazilian Kardecist movement for many years, has dedicated
most of his religious life to mediumistic painting at his center
(The Leonardo da Vinci Salon of Mediumistic Art). Data about the
medium were collected on several different occasions, from 1998
to 2013, and include psychophysiological measures (hand temperature,
heart rate, bilateral skin conductance, muscle tension, and electrical
brain activity), psychological measures (Dissociative Experiences
Scale, Tellegen Absorption Scale, Revised Transliminality Scale,
and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire), artistic material, observational
data (photographs of paintings, observations of the medium in action),
and some basic socio-demographic and biographical information.
Basically we sought to evaluate: a) general aspects of the painting
technique and style employed by the medium, b) the main features
of his pictorial production, and c) the general behavior shown by
the medium during the mediumistic activity. In an effort to combine
and integrate our findings about this case, we propose a biopsychosocial
approach to the study of what might be called creative dissociation.