Wangechi Mutu: Forensic Forms, 2004,
ink, acrylic, collage, contact paper on Mylar.
Autopsy Wanted Poster
Recreation: Forensic Forms
My collage titled, Autopsy Wanted Poster, is depicted as a wanted poster featuring an infamous criminal couple. Referring to Mutu's Forensic Forms, I created a setting that encapsulates the flawed human misconception of "perfection." This notoriously narcissistic couple despised their own flaws and envied others for having what they "supposedly" lacked. They took parts they wanted and discarded parts they did not need, thus their physique emulated their twisted views of "perfection." They were now adorned in a grotesque collage matching their deeds and personalities at the cost of others.
How to See the World. Chapter 2
1. "According to this perspective, we learn how to become individuals as part of a wider community. This outcome is the intriguing result of the revolution in studying the brain, which many would consider to be the most individual organ of all, and in particular how humans and other primates see. My point is not that modern neuroscience is the final version of the “truth” and all other previous understandings have been shown to be wrong (although some neuroscience boosters do come close to saying this). Rather, as we shall see, neuroscience and its ways of visualizing the mind and human thought are becoming the vital visual metaphors of our time. It is our version of the truth, for better or worse," (Mirzoeff 20).
2. "In his small painting Diana Leaving Her Bath (1742), Boucher sets off the sensuousness of the goddess of the hunt’s naked body with a dramatically vibrant background of golds and greens, representing the natural world behind her. The painting creates a sense of tactility to heighten its allure. By contrast, neoclassical painting, which came into fashion in the late eighteenth century at the time of the French Revolution, stressed the primacy of drawing, using hard edges for figures and objects. If we glance at Jacques-Louis David’s much-larger portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and His Wife (1788), the difference is at once apparent," (Mirzoeff 27).
The human mind is a powerful yet fragile thing. Our ability to communicate through several means (whether verbal, sign, art, etc...) conveys our unique qualities to others.
John Berger. Ways of Seeing, Chapter 4+5
1. "The tradition, however, still forms many of our cultural assumptions. It defines what we mean by pictorial likeness. Its norms still affect the way we see such subjects as landscape, women, food, dignitaries, mythology. It supplies us with our archetypes of "artistic genius". And the history of the tradition, as it is usually taught, teaches us that art prospers if enough individuals in society have a love of art," (Berger 84).
2. "The art of any culture will show a wide differential of talent. But in no other culture is the difference between "masterpiece" and average work so large as in the tradition of the oil painting. In this tradition the difference is not just a question of skill or imagination, but also morals," (Berger 88).
Art in any form can be the physical manifestation of one's thoughts and desires. When presented to others, their artwork can be interpreted in many ways that may or may not be linear with the artist.
Wangechi Mutu Dresses Cultural Critique in Freakishly Beautiful Disguises
1. "The studio walls were covered with pieces in various stages of completion and images cut from magazines, copies from books or dowloaded from the Internet: faces, eyes, mouths, animals, ethnographic studies and, her recent fascination, a particularly jowly Neapolitan mastiff. Because of her figures’ ultimate otherworldly manifestations, it was most surprising to see that they begin as rather classical drawings before they are reworked, manipulated, amputated, ornamented and otherwise transformed," (Cash).
2. "Two multipart works present a comical cast of characters. Forensic Forms (2004) comprises 10 medium-size depictions of bizarre creatures with such quirks as walleyes, gaping mouths, a blaze of black glittery hair and dangling legs like braids. Equally bizarre are the 12 figures in Histology of the Different Classes of Uterine Tumors (2006), collaged on vintage medical illustrations. Mutu incorporates elements of the anatomical diagrams into whimsical portraits—using a prolapsed uterus for a nose, for example—as if to bring some levity to these female afflictions," (Cash).
Perfection is unknowable and impossible, yet we as humans have our individual preferences and standards that will most likely not line up with other people's views. It is frustrating and chaotic, yet through that chaos, it can inspire people to explore their unique traits and find self-worth.
Work Cited:
Mirzoeff, Nicholas. How to See the World. Chapter 2
Basic Books; Illustrated edition (April 12, 2016).
John Berger. Ways of Seeing, Chapter 4+5
Wangechi Mutu Dresses Cultural Critique in Freakishly Beautiful Disguises
https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/wangechi-mutu-dresses-cultural-critique-freak-beautiful-disguises-1234655195/
No comments:
Post a Comment