Icon

Icon:

Bird explains how the artistically rendered image or statue of Jesus, the Virgin Mary or other holy figures and Christian saints are Icons that are made to, “portray an otherworldly reality clearly distinguished from ordinary appearances.” (Bird, 2012) Icons are mostly a Orthodox Christian practice since Islam and Jewish faiths do not believe in having idol-istic images.

However, this type of art gave western artists opportunities to work and be supported by the Church. Bird believes that the multiple reproduction of these icons of worship, have been imbued through the ideas of Pop art and it’s iconoclastic worship of mass produced popular culture.

I like icons and I have made a special place for them in my home. I don't pray to them but they do remind me of specific periods of my life and of the philosophical beliefs that they represent. I can also see how in our image saturated culture certain product logo's or pop culture celebrities have become iconic and easily identified and associated with more then just fame but otherworldly, or saint like qualities. This is due to the attention the media places on them yet their personalities are portrayed as larger than life. Two come to mind, Oprah Winfrey and Johnny Depp. 

I have used icons in my art and I most likely will continue to do so. My favorite are Catholic icons of Jesus from my grandmas house and other brightly colored Mexican and Indian icons.  I can see myself doing a series of iconic photos, collages or even a short documentary on icons. 

Concentration #1, for Conceptual series

Based on the Ecstasy of Santa Theresa by Bernini.

I had a hard time getting my and my volunteers poses to be exact while using a timer on my camera yet I think we did a pretty good job.

I could not find a real arrow in time for the photo shoot so I plan to make the sai into an arrow in photoshop.

After several hours of trying to make it work within the frame and without annoying my friend, whom was a bit hard to direct, I finally

settled on these four yet need help to decide which one is best?

please tell me which one you vote for. The Title will be "The Ecstasy of Sinner Maria".

This will be part of a series of 4 photos with the concept of evolution.

It is my hope to express, in still photography with a various amount of photoshop manipulation, my personal, spiritual, intellectual and philosophical evolution from innocent Catholic girl to multifaceted, mature artistic individual.

Body As Medium:

Body As Medium:

Bird speaks of the body being a universal medium since no matter how artists choose to use it in expressing conceptual ideas, we all have one and we can all relate to this “mortal coil”. (Shakespeare, from Hamlet)

However some artists have been very literal in using nail clippings and bodily fluids as the art medium.

“The risks in both performance and object-based work are comparable, as moving appeals to common humanity risk crossing the border into sensationalism or exhibitionism” ( Bird, 2012, pg. 192)

I have never been drawn to this kind of art and from the beginning I felt it was crossing the border as Bird suggests, into sensationalism.  But as I learned more about the history and individual artists’ intent it became more accessible and easier to understand. I do like to be presented with things that make me uncomfortable just for the fact that I know I always learn something when I push myself out of my comfort zone. I think it would be fun to make a print using my fingers, hands, feet, side of my face and lips in a mandala shape. I might even add some strands of hair for texture. I like using the body as took much better then using the body as medium. 

Here are two photos from each kind:

 Wafaa Bilal:

"Bilal’s level of physical endurance was tested in 2010 with a project titled “And Counting.” It honored deceased Iraqi troops, including his own brother who was killed by a missile in their hometown of Kufa, Iraq. He made a statement about the invisibility of Iraqi civilian deaths by first having a borderless map of Iraq tattooed on his back, followed by 5,000 red dots representing fallen American soldiers and 100,000 dots in permanent invisible ink representing the deaths of Iraqi civilians. The entire process took 20 hours to complete. The dots of invisible ink are only seen under a black light, where they emerge as an eerie layer of luminous blue all across his back. In the videos of the process, Bilal remains cool and collected — even after hours of tattooing, his hands are steady.

His most recent project, “The 3rd I,” involved surgical attachment of a camera to the back of his head. For an entire year, starting Dec. 15, 2010, this camera streamed an image every minute to the project’s website and provided his exact GPS location. Through this project, Bilal wanted to examine the places that humans leave behind as their fixation on the future becomes increasingly central to their lives."

http://thetartan.org/2012/1/30/pillbox/wafaabilal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUrwdqwzqMU

And here she is again...Marina Abramovic:

"I started realizing I could use any material I want, fire, water, and the body. The moment when I started using the body, it was such an enormous satisfaction that I had and that I can communicate with the public that I could never do anything else. I could never go back to the seclusion of the studio and be protected by the space there. The only way of expression is to perform."

 http://www.theartstory.org/artist-abramovic-marina.htm

Anatomy

Anatomy:

 The study of the body and all of it’s intricacies has been a scientific exploration for doctors as well as artists. Leonardo da Vinci was one that took it seriously and carefully dissected and then meticulously sketched his findings in his journals. This study, along with math and other subjects became part of the curriculum for a serious artist in the fifteenth century. Understanding how the body was built and what made it move would be helpful for an artist to produce a realistic life-like rendering.

When reading about the artist Mona Hatuoum’s “corps etranger”, I had to look it up since it sounded so strange, but then, Im not that surprised since it seems like each female artist, from our readings, continues to push the boundaries further and further. Im starting to feel like it is closely related to Punk Rock, which in many cases, was a performance created to challenge and shock. I liked her piece I found called Pull:

Here is a photo and the link. In trying to better understand I liked the description below since it clearly asks the question of how does the public invade our private space and vice versa.

“In Pull The viewer was invited to pull a hank of hair hanging down in a specially constructed niche below a TV screen. When the hair was pulled, the artist’s face on the screen registered a feeling of pain or discomfort. The hank of hair was in fact attached to Hatoum despite the illusion of the TV screen above it. The TV screen and the viewer acted as the public sphere and the artist’s face and body physically behind the screen acted as the personal sphere. In this three day performance Hatoum placed her actual face and body behind a TV screen rather than making a recording representing it. This is in order to draw the spectator’s attention to the private versus public dichotomy and to invite the participating viewer to question the realm of the public and the private.” mireille.astore.id.au/Thinker/hatoum.html

http://artbash.co.nz/forums/reviews/pulling-my-leg

Body as Surface

Body as Surface:

Bird gives us examples of how using the body as a canvas dates back as early as the fifth century. Both permanent and temporary mark making and artistic gestures have been used and applied in scarification and tattooing methods. Social, group identity, traditional ceremonies and personal expression have been the motivation for creating these artistic body designs. Like any other art, this type of art can be as simple as an outline to as elaborate as a highly detailed and intricate 2d painting.

Bird also mentions three female artists that use their bodies as surface and I looked into the French artist Orlan. I was intrigued by she used plastic surgery to change the appearance of her face to mimic specific works of art. I found this interesting article :

“But is it her aim to change the idea of beauty? "I am not sure I can change such a thing, but I can produce images that are different from those we find in comics, video games, magazines and TV shows. There are other ways to think about one's body and one's beauty. If you were to describe me without anyone being able to see me, they would think I am a monster, that I am not fuckable. But if they see me, that could perhaps change."

Orlan's operating table became her baroque theatre. Designers, such asPaco Rabanne and Issey Miyake, created costumes for Orlan to wear during the surgeries. Poetry was read and music played while she lay fully conscious. Each surgery was captured on video, broadcast in galleries and sometimes fed to audiences around the globe via live satellite link-ups.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/jul/01/orlan-performance-artist-carnal-art

Orlan is quoted in this video saying:

“Materiality doesn't interest me; I’m after the idea, and how I can materialize the idea to get to its essence.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ1Ph-Pprj4

I think as women we are subjected to a predetermined scrutiny pertaining to how our surface looks and we are easily judged on surface alone. This is internalized without any thought of how we do it to ourselves and participate in the grand façade. It seems like, mainly, beautiful women artists have been the ones that have been brave enough to undress and reveal more then their flesh but their desires to be appreciated for their naked, revealing, and thought provoking ideas. 
At least this is how I view the three women mentioned along with Marina Abramovic .
For myself, I have used my body as surface and have one small tattoo that is meaningful to me. I like the idea of painting my body and projecting images onto my body both which I have only briefly tried and never fully explored.
I have seen some beautiful temporary and permanent body art. I amm always amazed at the time, blood and pain that goes into tattooing. I cant resist showing a few below and one meme from FaceBook. the first three are Gesine Marwedel and the rest are google images.

http://www.gesine-marwedel.de/galerie/