31/12/2012

27/12/2012

I'm becoming increasingly interested in people, and how the hell they manage to carry on.

It makes me think of that book, Written on the Body, and women being elemental and salty and sensitive and strong.
Inevitability
Powerlessness
Power
Talisman
Salt

23/12/2012

Pedicini, I (2012) Francesca Woodman; The Roman Years: Between Flesh and Film. Rome:Contrasto
Cerere and the Seeds of the Classical. P.55-81

This essay discusses the relationship between photography, particularly of the Nude, and painting of the nude, referring to self-portraiture as a context + use of the nude in painting, photography etc throughout different time periods.

58. “She fused subject and object in the self-portrait.”
Subject-object. Is it Tracey Warr who spoke about this in her essay?

Painting – Photography.
Is the combination/separation of different techniques at all relevant to my question?
(Use of gesture + the body to express identity. Don’t forget this)

58. “Woodman’s photography explored a number of parallel artistic endeavours, the emancipation of the female figure in art, the body as a language, and the poetry found in everyday life.”
The female identity. Collective.

“The artist was also the model, nullifying the power dynamic between photographer and subject.”

^^Is this the difference between using your own body and a model’s – lack of power hierarchy/interference? Does it inherently then make for clearer, more lucid or more honest, expressive work? Is it more efficient, less diluted?

____________________________________________

As I read I realise the things I am becoming most interested in;
The intrinsic HUMANITY that is present or expressed in works using the body. This sense of empathy and connection beiing inescapable. Viewing the body through your own.. The artwork is then not only perceived intellectually, but also experientially.

This relates to - How 'effective' it is to use the artist's body in their work. This being an 'efficient' method of communication - because it is all about communication. It's sharing informationn, confirmation, reaching out for someone in the dark.

There are the two conflicting (or are they?) notions:
-The Body as humanity
-The particular body as identity - one human

Can you separate the body from the individual psyche? Can you separate the body form the race, the unit?

22/12/2012 (3)

It scared me

22/12/2012 (2)

Don't worry though, because I have a plan.
Everything is about making connections, making connections, fixing things, making sense, bring in the calm, understanding, understanding everything. There are a lot of things happening to me right now, and you drag everything behind with you as well from forever. Collecting and sorting. I know that there's half a roll of film and I can't remember what it has but I took it before, and now I'll finish it, and once I have it and I have these images then I can go through them and make the connections that I need to make, and once I've done that I'll understand what I need to talk about. I know that there's something, it's just been a while and I'm tired and it's easier to sleep and drink and go for walks and murmur.


I feel that I really want to work again, and I want to be in Plymouth, and I want to be fierce. Or if not fierce anymore, something else,  not vague and timid, Certain.

22/12/2012

How do artists use gesture and their own bodies as a means of communicating identity, autobiography, and internal processes?

·         Exploring specific artists’ specific uses of their own bodies

·         (Comparing/contrasting different approaches)

·         Question the value of discussing the artist’s personal identity as opposed to a more universal/impersonal theme

·         The body itself as a symbol of universality, humanity. Inevitably relatable. (Empathy)

·         Evolution of use/perception of the body. Taboo, association...

·           

Oh I’m tired, this is dull.
Hold that thought

Oh books books, dull dull

Marsden Hartley, “Art - and the Personal Life” 1928

Chipp, H. B. (1968) Theories of Modern Art. London; California: University of California Press. P. 526-528

This essay expresses Hartley’s strong opinion that art and the personal life should be kept separate, and that art should be approached only logically and technically and never be hampered by emotion: “I do not admire the irrationality of the imaginative life.” (Chipp 1968:527) He expresses a belief that the presence of emotion or the artist’s identity is distasteful.

Writing Identity: On Autobiography in Art

Steiner, B (2004) Autobiography. London: Thames & Hudson. P. 11-28

This introduction discusses the difficulty of tackling autobiography in creative mediums, and the benefits of using both methods other than text, and selection and omission when discussing autobiography: “IF coherent, continuous autobiographical narrative is an impossibility, then it makes sense to open up the study of autobiography to other forms of expression.” (Steiner 2004:13)

The Naked and the Nude

Clark, K (1980) The Nude. Middlesex; New York: Penguin Books. P. 1-25

Discussing body ideals and conformity, this writing tackles the subject of the body/nude as an aesthetic model to be described and perfected, and as an inevitable object of human desire, empathy and association. The body is not discussed in terms of either its owner, or the artist’s internal processes.

The Body in Contemporary Art. P. 7-15

O’Reilly, S (2009) The Body in Contemporary Art. London: Thames &Hudson

In this introduction the Body in Art is regarded in terms of the psychical and inextricable connection between the human psyche and body, as opposed to viewing the body as merely a vessel for the mind. A clear distinction is made between ‘The Body’, and ‘The Figure’; “Figurative artwork tends to reside in the realm of the optical, whereas that involving the body required a wider consideration.” (O’Reilly 2009:10)

The Informe Body

Warr, T (2000) The Informe Body. [Online] Available at: http://people.brunel.ac.uk/bst/1no1/traceywarr.html (Last accessed: Jun 12 2012)

‘The Informe Body’ by Tracey Warr discusses the Artist’s body and its significance in terms of the body’s position as both subject and object; universality and empathic connection to the audience; taboo and the body as a controversial tool and the body as a means of either self expression or exploring collective ideas.

The Body as Language. Body Art and Like Stories

Vergine, L (2000) Body Art and Performance; The Body as Language. Milano: Skira Editore. P. 7-27

This essay serves to hypothesis on the motives behind using the body in art, with particular emphasis on aggression towards the body, psycho-physical connections, and the reciprocation and projection between artist and audience: “It is indispensible that the public co-operate with him [the artist], since what he needs it to be confirmed in his identity.

18/12/2012

I've been thinking very much about Annette Messager again lately... 'Practical Woman', collector, mother. It seems a very female stance to be a rational irrational. Building things up and putting them in order but living in internal and external chaos. c.h.a.o.s. Or perhaps that's just the perception... Female hysteria, madness, struggle, unreasonable. PERSONA.
It's a reassuring thing I think. Women are reassuring, comforting. And comfort can be found in creating order and being sensible and taking stock and looking back and documenting and building up a body of this STUFF because then it's there and that reminds you that you are here and you have done this thing to this stuff, so you're here and the stuff is here and everything's okay.
 When order is lost and the chaos creeps back in is where it gets strange, and it can happen slowly, through cracks and holes and that's frightening and confusing and distressing so you just keep doing what you always did, but there's no sense or justification for it, it's just doing what you do because it's better than sitting in the dark and jibbering.
But I'm still sitting in the dark and jibbering, and I'm trying to figure out how this happened and what to do about it.