Experience, Create, Review, Repeat

Selection of Neon Sign Examples

While researching The language idea that has sprung from the Dapper Laughs ‘comedy’ discussed in the last post, my thoughts moved towards sex advertising, strip clubs, neon signs flickering down dark alleys.

In my brain it all fits together so perfectly.

I was drawn back to the writing of Andrea Dworkin, whose feminist book Pornography, Men Possessing Women was one of the key research texts for my dissertation.  One particular line that she repeats quite a lot throughout the work is “She wants it, they all do”.  This references the idea that subconsciously, as a result of growing up within patriarchal social systems, men believe that women are ‘gagging for it’ the whole time and that should they refuse a man’s advances, they’re either deranged or a lesbian.

This phrase has been echoing in my thoughts constantly since these ideas have emerged and I feel I have to use it.  It also struck me how similar this phrasing is to the hashtag and motto used by Dapper Laughs: #SHEKNOWS.  I’ve taken his meaning to be something like ‘she knows she wants it’ which would fit perfectly with his ‘comedy’.

If I can figure out a way of making a neon sign within a student budget, I’d like to think this could end up being quite a powerful piece of work.  There are also lots of possibilities for placing the sign in different contexts and environments.  It could stand alone or work as a single element of a multi-dimensional installation work.

Next steps:

Research materials for use

Research font styles

In my earlier post Andrea Dworkin and Allen Jones I decided that language was one of the main areas of interest for me in the world of feminist theory, and one that I’d like to approach in my work.  I’ve been looking a lot at the way Sarah Lucas plays with language in her work.  For example, in Bitch she plays with common misogynistic references to women by portraying a woman as a beaten up old kitchen table with melons for breasts and a stinking kipper in place of a vagina.  This desire to use modern, abusive, masculine language in my work is becoming stronger and I’m noticing it much more around me on a daily basis.  I’m becoming more and more aware of how prevalent it really is in our society and how discomforting that is.

Dapper Laughs ‘Vines’ Compilation

Late last year I stumbled across the work of ‘comedian’ Daniel O’Reilly, better known as his character Dapper Laughs.  He rose to fame via his publication of six second videos called vines.  His popularity increased to a level of recognition that warranted him an entire series of programmes on ITV.

If you watch the video above, you get an idea of his style of ‘comedy’.

My initial thoughts when I saw his ‘comedy’ for the fast time was that he must be making some kind of statement on the ridiculousness of this type of banter language used against women specifically by particular types of ‘modern’ man.  In my blissful naivety I understood his routines as a cleverly ironic feminist comment.  Nope, the man is simply a chauvinistic, foul-mouthed idiot.

The more I watched and read, the worse it became and the more I felt I wanted to create something that could subvert his material and try to make a powerful comment against it.  Because of the quick, off the cuff nature of these short videos, when you watch them one after the other, after a time they become like white noise.  Similar to the background drone of ‘laddish’ shouts at football matches.

Depressing, infuriating, demoralising, harmful, degrading, sickly, offensive, thick.  All I could feel about it was just a torrent of negativity.

Perhaps influenced by my recent study of the work of Sarah Lucas, I was interested in the language used by O’Reilly.  One of the main focus points of my essay is the aggressive and abusive language used by men against women in an attempt to maintain patriarchal, masculine roles of power in society.  This is a perfectly packaged example of all of the worst parts of this concept.

I want to use his language somehow, create a bombardment of offensive masculinity to emphasise how damaging it can be for women as something which affects them in daily life.

– How can I find an impactful way of demonstrating my discontent with this ridiculous barrage of language?

Next steps:

Further research

Play with the language

Research contextual links with this language and other examples I’ve studied

Royal Academy Advertising Poster for Allen Jones 2014/15

I went into this exhibit of works spanning the career of Allen Jones with one main question, ‘is he a misogynistic pig??

I find I am still none the wiser.  It’s difficult to ignore the overt sexuality of the figures portrayed in both his paintings and his sculptural work but throughout all the literature about his work, you are encouraged to focus on ambiguity of sexuality and gender.  I’m not so sure.  while examining his large paintings and life-sized sculptural representations of women I can’t get away from the fact that he has almost entirely avoided displaying his women with any clothes on.  No, actually, to his credit they are fairly regularly clothed.  However, scantily and almost without exception, displaying the un-naturally pert buttocks and breasts with their monumental nipples and neat little vaginal ridges.  Men on the other hand are always clothed, often in business suits, I assume to demonstrate their superiority of station.

Perhaps I’m missing the point and I’d happily be corrected if I am but I’m afraid I don’t buy it.

Below is an idea I decided on as a take on the work Table, 1969 by Allen Jones.

Initially I had intended to start by setting the image against a very plain background in order to centralise the focus on the ‘table’.  I had in mind the possibility of going on to create an office-like setting as a progression of the idea, in order to emphasise the point in the Dworkin quote that, despite being in positions of power, in business for example, nothing has really changed in the ways that people view woman’s roles in society.  I wanted the emphasis to be on the fact that misogyny is still so ingrained in our society that it wouldn’t be surprising for people to be blasé about the idea of a woman (supposedly more powerful in this day and age) being reduced to an object of servitude.

Notebook Pages, Project Layout Ideas

Untitled, 2014
When reflecting on the success of this image, it feels somehow cluttered, too busy with too many things detracting from the main element that should be the table structure.  I am now wondering whether going back a step and experimenting with my initial idea of keeping the imagery very simple, might make for a more powerful end result.

Next steps:

Strip back the scene to perhaps a white background (whitespace)
Re-take the image in this plainer setting
Add in a sheepskin rug as used by Jones in his original sculpture.

Would the plain background and hence a clearer, simpler reference to Jones’s work give it more impact?

While reading the feminist writings of Andrea Dworkin, specifically her book Pornography, Men Possessing Women as part of my dissertation research a particular phrase struck a chord.

“The two poles of her existence as a white woman are underscored:  she is boss, she is total submissive.”

It made me think about the decades of fighting for gender equality and ask myself whether I felt any real progression had ever been made.  A particular artwork by Allen Jones came into my head; the series Hatstand, Table and Chair, 1969, the Table element of which is pictured here.

Table, 1969, Allen Jones

At the time of their creation and even now, these pieces have caused huge uproar because of their overtly misogynistic content.  They instantly intrigued me, and combined with the Dworkin quote made me want to use them somehow in my own work.

I decided that a parody of the sculpture, representing the continuing struggle of women against objectification in the modern world was an avenue I wanted to explore and so went about developing a plan for creating my own take on his sculptures.

Video of experimental work 

Having found a good sized piece of glass I needed to see how easily I would be able to support it when it rested on my back.  Not being a fibreglass mannequin means not being able to secure the glass to my shoulder blades!  By supporting the glass in order to allow me to crawl under it to then lift it gently with my back I was able to confirm that it was at least doable with some assistance setting up the photo shoot.

Although the idea of a performance/installation piece with me displayed as per Jones’s table, in an exhibition setting for audience members to view over a length of time, practicality won and photographs became more attractive a possibility.  (the glass is very heavy and difficult to maintain at the correct angle for long periods)