Anyway, after mentioning that song by Le Tigre, I had it stuck in my head all day. So I came up with the bright idea of researching some of the artists they mention. One of the first ones was Eleanor Antin. Yet another feminist artist from the '70's (I'm not sure why I've been on such a '70's roll today), she made a video piece called Representational Painting in which she records herself applying make-up in front of a mirror. It's meant to explore the ways in which society pressures women to live up to certain impossible ideals of beauty, which of course is an standard concept that feminists love to explore (I'm not trying to imply that it's cliche, just that it's common; as long as we're expected to live up to societal standards, then it should continue to be challenged).
Working off of where she was going with Representational Painting video, Antin took a series of 148 pictures of herself over the course of 37 days, during which she dieted with the goal of losing ten pounds, entitled CARVING: A Traditional Sculpture. The pictures are reminiscent of Eadweard Muybridge's famous photographic studies of motion from the 1800's, except hers are all of the same four positions: front, back, and both sides. Hers is not a study in motion as much a study of the effects of dieting on her body; the motion is in the dwindling size of her frame.
-h
No comments:
Post a Comment