Feminism seems like the battle that both sexes have to face. Men fighting for their place in the world and Women fighting for their place in the work force. It feels like it should be an easy solve, spilt everything 50/50, desk space, gallery space, recognition etc.
It's never that simple.
In our class discussion we spoke of how things have changed in society;
- Women no longer seemed chained to the stove
- If a female artist produces a piece, it is not longer generalised as Feminist.
- We work just as much as men but still get paid less
- Maternity leave is no longer seen as a resignation
- Men as just a objectified as Women.
The Griselda Pollock chapter on the Feminist movement was insane but I did pick up on how she saw women being objectified based on where they came from. A white woman with a perfect hour glass shape was seen as the perfect specimen, like Tizan's Venus. Whereas a black woman with the same shape was seen as a slave, no beauty, just an item at the disposal of a man.
The Feminist movement has exposed this underlying fact in our society now, that men are just as objectified as women these days. You will find more six packs in a Mens Health magazine than average looking bodies. There is more and more of a push for young men to have ripped bodies and perfect looks than normal and real looks, not just women looking like a million bucks when she gets out of bed.
How far will this all go before it gets out of hand?
After watching Robert Hughes's Empire of Signs, Jackson Pollack's death seems that much more tragic and wasteful for the art world.
Pollack saw epic landscapes all of his life and tried to capture the essence of them in his web of drips and lines and colour.
Pollack made no effort to clearly mark out humans, landmarks or particular trees or flowers he saw in these landscapes simply as it was not his style. It was the style of his forefathers which was lost and forgotten in time. Willem de Kooning stated that Pollack "broke the ice, he created a new scale for American painting, a fresh idea of surface and touch, a new kind of space."
Pollack presented us with the idea that not all is as it seems, he put paint down on a canvas he felt had a life of it own, he wanted it to live, to be free as those epic landscapes.
Pollack let the thoughts and visions spill out for all Abstract Impressionists after him to see.
I rarely pick the same thing as anyone else, I'm sentimental as all get out and it's the little things like strike me, never a glowing neon sign.
If I were to pick the winner of the Nation Photographic Portrait Prize 2010, I would have chosen Daniel at Thirteen by Rozalind Drummond simply for the look in this kids eyes.
This boy was only 13 when this was taken and he seems so much older but in other ways not at all. With his arms crossed over his chest he gives us the illusion of being older and tougher. The photographer has shot from a low angle to make him look taller, older, tougher but he gives it all away with the curious look on his face. This image strikes me as simple but has so much depth and story. I asked Daniel Lazarow why he had "Brush Teeth" on his arm, he simple replied that he wanted to remind himself since he always forgets of a night time. It's these little facts and stories that make a portrait interesting and real. Not sterile and cold.
English:
I love Paris. It's beautiful and full of history and art and culture.
French:
J'aime Paris. C'est bel et plein d'histoire et d'art et la culture.
A piece that made me stop and stare for a while was Rest (Hvile) by Vilhelm HammershǾi painted in 1905.
Rest is beautiful and intriguing. Who is she? What's her face look like? Is she married? Where does she live? Is she well off? Is she loved?
I love that so many questions can be raised because of some pigment on canvas.
This painting isn't traditional in some aspects but is in other ways. The main feature in any portrait is a face but her back, posture and surroundings tell us more than her face could if it was present. I feel it works well. There's this kind of loud silence the viewer can hear while looking at her, unable to make out if she's sad or tired or reminiscent or all of them.
The use of soft lighting, visible brush strokes and the obvious use of angles makes me feel like it's bordering on being an impressionist painting but the use of black, the fact the painting has taken place inside and the lack of vibrant colours seems to tip the scales in the traditional direction.
Au revoir!
