The body

Meaning = Signifier + Signified = Sign All images become meaningful as a sign 1. Signifier – What do you see? •  Begin with a thorough account of what is there, what exists. Also account for what is not there 2. Signified – What does it mean? •  Interpreta?on proceeds with an analysis of what you see to determine what the image or object is about. Cultural Iden?ty and the Body in American Art The Body as Freedom The Body under Surveillance The Body as a “Sign” The Body as Cultural Ar?fact The Body in Art The Body as Freedom Themes/Ideas •  “Modern” Art •  Abstract Expressionism –  American Iden?ty –  The Heroic ar?st People •  Clement Greenberg •  Harold Rosenberg •  Jackson Pollock The Body Under Surveillance Themes/Ideas •  The “Gaze” •  Social/Cultural Iden?ty –  Gender Roles/Expecta?ons –  Poli?cal Iden?ty People •  Wafaa Bilal •  Miriam Shapiro (Womanhouse) •  Judy Chicago •  Cindy Sherman •  Barbara Kruger •  Alison Lapper •  Marc Quinn The Body as Cultural ArHfact Themes/Ideas •  Social Signifiers •  Posthuman –  cyborg People •  Orlan •  Stelarc •  Eduardo Kac •  Felix Gonzalez-­‐Torres •  Wim Delvoye •  Marc Quinn •  Alison Lapper The Body as Freedom Abstract Expressionism “Form follows func?on” a Modernist mantra Finding essences Modernist Home Design Modern Now what? View from the Window at Le Gras World’s first photograph Clement Greenberg Purity, Essence, Flatness •  Art critic who developed a widely
accepted theory of the Modernist art
movement as a progressive
development of artistic invention in
which artists built upon the work of
other artists
•  Identified a movement towards
“flatness” as the fundamental
direction of modern painting
Clement Greenberg Pictorial Depth 19th century portrait Ar?st unknown Edouard Manet The Fifer 1866 Visual Depth Claude Monet Haystacks End of Summer Morning 1891 Claude Monet Vetheuil In Summer Pablo Picasso S@ll Life with Chair-­‐Caning 1912 •  By mid 20th century painting approached “purity” or its “essence”
through the elimination of narrative and descriptive form in favor of
expression, and universal concepts represented in properties of paint
and how the paint has been applied to the canvas
•  A “pure” and “authentic” painting is composed of nothing more than
the essential materials needed - paint, canvas, and structure – according
to Greenburg
< Pollock – Full Fathom Five 1947 Morris Louis – Aurora 1958 Abstract Expressionism – ultimate fulfillment of Greenburg’s
theory of painting.
Harold Rosenberg “Arena in which to act” “At a certain moment, the canvas began to appear to one American painter aier another as an arena in which to act -­‐ rather than as a space in which to reproduce, re-­‐design, analyze, or ‘express’ an object, actual or imagined.” -­‐ Rosenberg, 1952 Jackson Pollock -­‐ Autumn Rhythm 1950
Harold Rosenberg Abstract Expressionism according to Rosenberg •  Process –  The act of pain?ng, the struggle of the lone, unique crea?ve voice, was the content of Abstract Expressionism rather than the imagery •  The body –  The ar?st’s body, or the images produced through the body’s ac?ons, represent internal psychological experience (anxiety, fear, emo?ons) of the ar?st –  Pollock “I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them.” •  Universality –  Abstract Expressionist art (according to Rosenberg) represents a universal expression of a contemporary (post WWII) experience – Freedom – and allowed the viewer to feel the same experiences as the ar?st just by experiencing the work Jackson Pollock The Body as Freedom Harold Rosenberg •  The physical acHons of the arHst reflected a heroic, specifically American idenHty. –  The ar?st represented the modern 20th century individual, a free and independent thinker –  The ar?st was “heroic” in the sense that he transcended ordinary life and struggled through his work to locate this universal human experience The viewer’s Body – Independent and Free It was assumed that through Abstract Expressionist pain?ng the viewer would experience the freedom and individuality of the ar?st (through their recogni?on of the ar?sts’ movements in the paint) as they viewed the work of the Abstract Expressionists since it was presumed to be a “universal” expression of human experience. The viewer then is freed from the confines of ra?onal and literal thought represen?ng the ul?mate expression of American Iden?ty as free thinking individual. The Body Under Surveillance IdenHty and The Gaze Looking is never neutral Looking at images can give pleasure and reinforce a worldview. How we “see” is affected by social, poli?cal, personal, and technological influences. The combina?on of our personal experience and the social condi?ons within which we see cons?tute the gaze. We always “look” with perspec?ve that oien corresponds to our iden?ty. Yet our iden?ty is composed of the almost infinite images that we consume throughout our lives. Our “gaze” affects how we see “other” bodies as well as our own. Women in Art Yves Kline – 1962 Blue Women “Womanhouse”, 1972
The gendered body
One of the first openly femalecentered art installations,
Womanhouse - a series of
fantasy environments
exploring the various personal
meanings and gender
construction of domestic space
- organized by Judy Chicago
and Miriam Schapiro.
Conceived of “house” as a
“signifier” where female
identity is constructed and
defined
Female identity (and body) is
not entirely one’s own, but is
determined at least partially
by social, political, and cultural
expectations.
Menstruation Bathroom, Judy
Chicago
“the ‘management’ of menstruation
through a wide array of commodities
meant to sanitize it is
dramatized” (p. 180 AAS 1945)
Ironing performed by Sandra Orgel
Bridal Staircase by Kathy
Huberland
Judy Chicago – Dinner Party 1970s Cindy Sherman “Un?tled Film S?lls” -­‐ 1980s-­‐1990s Cindy Sherman hqp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=?szC33puc0 Cindy Sherman (Fashion) hqp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtATCPCC8b8 Barbara Kruger Kruger appropriates the language of propaganda and adver?sing for her work. She examines and presents how adver?sing affects iden?ty (par?cularly female iden?ty). Her work suggests that through adver?sing, female iden?ty is ?ed to consump?on. The text in her work func?on simultaneously as capHons, Htles, and dialogue IdenHty is constructed through the interplay of images and text Iden?ty is constructed from a network of influences that define roles, govern behavior, and set up power rela?onships (Ad for organic skin care product) Barbara Kruger We Won’t Play Nature to Your Culture Barbara Kruger An? wrinkle cream ad Chris Burden – Shoot 1971 Wafaa Bilal “Domes?c Tension” or “Shoot an Iraqi” 2007 Wafaa Bilal …and Coun@ng The Body as Cultural Ar?fact Marc Quinn Marc Quinn Discobolus – Greek ~450 b.c. Marc Quinn Stuart Penn Michelangelo David 16th century Marc Quinn Jamie Gillespie 2000 Marc Quinn Helen Smith 2000 Selma 2000 Marc Quinn “Alison Lapper Pregnant” 2007 Venus de Milo 100 b.c. Alison Laper 2012 Paralympics London Stelarc Eduardo Kac Orlan •  She endures it as an ar?st who believes the body is merely a surface covering that can be shed or transformed as readily as a costume •  “I chose them not for the canons of beauty they are supposed to represent, but rather on account of the stories associated with them. •  “For me art which is interesHng is related to and belongs to resistance, It must upset our assumpHons, overwhelm our thoughts, be outside norms and outside of the law” Orlan APemp@ng to Escape the Frame 1966 Orlan The Body as Cultural Object The Second Mouth (7th Surgery) 1993 Ross Laycock was Félix’s partner, and when he was diagnosed with HIV his doctor set his ideal weight at 175 pounds. “Portrait of Ross” is precisely that: 175 pounds of candy set in a pile. The candy is unguarded, the purpose being for the viewer to take some of it from the mound. Each and every day, the remaining candy is removed, weighed, and more is added un?l it weighs exactly 175 pounds. Then it’s set back out again. Portrait of Ross 1957 -­‐ 1996 Felix Gonzalez-­‐Torres Portraiture as cultural ar?fact Baci = italian for "kiss” "I'm giving you this sugary thing; you put it in your mouth and you suck on someone else's body. And in this way, my work becomes part of so many other people's bodies. It's very hot." -­‐ Gonzalez-­‐Torres Un2tled (Corner of Baci) 1990 Wim Delvoye Cloaca – 2000 Cloaca (def.) a waste pipe that carries away sewage or surface water A machine that replicates the diges?ve process. Delvoye stated: “everything in modern life is pointless. The most useless object he could create was a machine that serves no purpose at all, besides the reduc?on of food to waste. “ “Weaponized” Abstract Expressionism Interna?onal Poli?cs, and Na?onal Iden?ty and Art Cold War PoliHcs and Art -­‐ 1950s •  Following WWII, US government wanted to promote the United States as social, poli?cal and cultural center in the world •  An?-­‐communist aytudes influenced government policy •  CIA covertly funded and supported Abstract Expressionist art in Europe through organiza?on called Congress for Cultural Freedom •  Communists in Europe denounced modern art •  Modern art exhibi?ons were intended to present the social and cultural freedoms of democracy, and its inherent superiority to the more oppressive socie?es in other parts of the world, through this art and to promote an “American way of life” •  Free Expression was equated to a Free Society Arshile Gorky Willem Baziotes Adolph Goqlieb Jackson Pollock Willem DeKooning • 
Red Scare in America Joseph McCarthy -­‐ House Committee on Un-American Activities 1951
(started in 1930s)"
–  Commiqee inves?gate the Works Project Administra?on (WPA) sugges?ng that it had been infiltrated by the Communist Party –  Many ar?sts had worked in the WPA during the depression and were called out by the commiqee as communists An?-­‐Communist Comic book cover 1947 Joseph McCarthy Red Scare and American Art • 
George Dondero (R. Michigan) suggested that Modern Art was part of a communist plot to undermine the principle of eternal beauty. –  “All art is Communis?c. Cubism aims to destroy by designed disorder. Futurism aims to destroy by the machine myth…Dadaism aims to destroy by ridicule. Expressionism aims to destroy by aping the primi?ve and insane. Abstrac?onism aims to destroy by the crea?on of brainstorms…Surrealism aims to destroy by the denial of reason.” –  "Frankly, I do not understand some of the statements made by the President regarding the Museum of Modern Art. Modern art is a term that is nausea?ng to me. We are in complete accord in our thinking regarding this subject and its connec?on with communism. No one is aqemp?ng to s?fle self expression, but we are aqemp?ng to protect and preserve legi?mate art as we have always known it in the United States.” –  Dondero receives the Gold Medal of Honor for the exposure of communism in art from the American Ar?sts Professional League