One of my ideas from working on ‘period’ made me evaluate my material. What if instead creating red dots with acrylic I created the dots using blood. I spoke with my tutor about this in a tutorial and there would be procedures for heath and safety that I would have to approach to make sure that everything is above board, so to say. I did a little research into artists that have used blood within their work and came across an artist called Vincent Castiglia. His work is very impressive and you would not imagine that the work he’s created has been sourced from his own blood. It weird and wonderful. Some of the images are a little disturbing, but I suppose working with blood the correlations works well. Vincent Castiglia said that “he sees his methods as putting ‘psychic energy’ into each piece.”( Reynolds, E. 2015, Mail online.)
He also has his own webpage at:http://www.vincentcastiglia.com/about/
At the start of this project i had a clear idea in my head of what i wanted to achieve. As time has gone on that idea has changed a thousand times over. The subject of female nude is still very strong but the outcome of my work is taking on different directions.
INFLUENCE
My original idea was to focus on the muscular form of the female nude. The reason i chose this subject was down to the influence from my dissertation. I suppose the whole idea of how the female nude was portrayed intrigued me. Jenny Saville creating these monumental physical images of un- idealized women with meaty flesh tones and over exaggerated proportions and unusual angle points that force’s the audience to acknowledge her. In comparison to Lucian Freud who depicted the truth in his paintings, surrounded by his familiar settings that allowed the audience to view the subject in a realistic environment so the viewer can engage/ relate and the woman exposed and identifiable. And then there is John Currin that portrayed his female nudes in an idealized manner with traditional methods using smooth porcelain skin and slender bodies, using pornographic images as source material to push his subject further.
MY OWN IDEAS
Reviewing my project, i have decided to explore other idea’s, but still keeping with the subject on the female nude. Creating mind maps have helped me build connections and links between words that i would like to explore. I know that time is ticking before the degree show but i feel that i have to make these connections in order to strengthen my art work. In an idealized world i would be able to spend the time to make myself into the project. What i mean by this is i would love to train and discipline my body so that i could use myself as source material, become the project of a muscular female nude. But we don’t live in an idealized world and i don’t have the finance to pay for a gym membership to attend 8hrs a day or to get the results I’m looking for in time for the degree shown, but i am going to give it a go an monitor my results. Running along side this incase it fails, i have reviewed the pointillism works on `Period’ and decided that i can relate this into my current work. Instead of using paint i could use blood or referring back to Jenny Saville use of `meat’ within my work to give it an added edge. More research is needed.
Michelangelo was a great artist and i discovered this image online. The reason i find this piece interesting is the figure depicting a woman is very masculine and shows a defined physic more characteristic of an idealized male anatomy as opposed to a female anatomy . It is believed that he used male models as source material for his work.
`Her muscular body reflects Michelangelo’s habit of working from a male model even for his female nudes. In fact, several of the artist’s sketches for Night, using a male model, are still preserved.’ (Ruehring , L M.)
Whilst researching about Jodie marsh the first thing that comes up in relationship to her is the term Glamour Girl. This instantly reminded me of the research i conducted through out my dissertation about Lucian Freud and his use of the term girl as a title for his female nudes. e.g Naked Girl, 1966.
The Title itself Naked Girl, invokes Freud’s attitude towards this woman in-particular. He gives her the title of girl, under valuing her maturity. Degrading her status. If Freud respected her or believed she was mutually equal to him, he would have acknowledged her in the title or at least identified her as a woman. Instead, he regards her as being less superior to him. Ultimately her personality is lost and identity disregarded.
This intrigues me as to why it is socially accepted for glamour models to be identified as girls. They are women. The definition of glamour girl in Oxford Dictionaries.com is;- A fashionable, attractive young woman, especially a model or film star.
These women are constantly in the public eye. Displayed as page 3 girls. Attracting the male viewer, making them a sexual object, and intentionally positioned to flatter there assets. They seduce the viewer with there beauty and gaze which appeals to the male desire. The women chosen to represent glamour girls are socially accepted in the public eye because they are classed as desirable objects. But are ultimately degrading themselves by allowing there status of being a women be demoted to a girl.
