Luciano Castelli

17th February 2015 | Alice Taylor

Swiss artist (1951) Luciano Castelli is a painter, photographer and sculptor.

‘When the painter Luciano Castelli began posing for the camera in the early 1970s, he adopted a variety of roles, acting out every conceivable facet of himself. In utter disregard of gender distinctions, he variously transformed himself into an androgynous mythical creature and a glam rock diva. His virtuoso, surreal self-portraits, so far published only in limited form, are of an undiminished vibrancy in their playful eroticism and darkly narrative thrust. They reveal a hitherto underrated aspect of Castelli’s ouevre, which now, several decades later, could well be seen in an entirely new light. Very much in the spirit of the French psychoanalyst and art critic Jean-Michel Ribettes, who already in 2001 read Castelli‘s expressive theatricality as a timeless phenomenon and critique of a puritan society: “Castelli‘s expressive theatricality is there to protest at the confusion of a gregarious, prudish, vilely mercantile period.”‘ – Luciano Castelli: Self-portrait 1973 to 1986

The book Luciano Castelli: Self-portrait 1973 to 1986 edited by Patrick Frey and designed by Beda Achermann is available to buy here.

Paintings:

Backside Nude, 1992

Die Sonne Macht Geil, 1983

Jenny, 1986

Luciano Kuckt Auf Japan, 1980

Via: Luciano Castelli, Vanished like a Breeze, Comma22, Angle Records

Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden

19th January 2015 | Alice Taylor

Figurative painter Marlene Dumas is soon to have an exhibition at the Tate Modern between the 5th of February until the 10th of May. In anticipation and to give you a taster of her work to date, here are some of her paintings of nudes.

About the exhibition:

‘She is one of the most prominent painters working today. Her intense, psychologically charged works explore themes of sexuality, love, death and shame, often referencing art history, popular culture and current affairs.

‘Secondhand images’, she has said, ‘can generate first-hand emotions.’ Dumas never paints directly from life, yet life in all its complexity is right there on the canvas. Her subjects are drawn from both public and personal references and include her daughter and herself, as well as recognisable faces such as Amy Winehouse, Naomi Campbell, Princess Diana, even Osama bin Laden. The results are often intimate and at times controversial, where politics become erotic and portraits become political. She plays with the imagination of her viewers, their preconceptions and fears.

Born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa, Dumas moved to the Netherlands in 1976, where she came to prominence in the mid-1980s. This large-scale survey is the most significant exhibition of her work ever to be held in Europe, charting her career from early works, through seminal paintings to new works on paper.

The title of the exhibition is taken from The Image as Burden 1993, a small painting depicting one figure carrying another. As with many of Dumas’s works, her choice of title deeply affects our interpretation of the work. It hints at the sense of responsibility faced by the artist in choosing to create an image that can translate ideas about painting and the position of the artist. For Dumas it is important ‘to give more attention to what the painting does to the image, not only to what the image does to the painting.’’

Via: Tate Modern & The English Group

The Boob Artist

9th January 2014 | Alice Taylor

Marcey Hawk, also known as the ‘boob artist’, uses her 30D bosoms to create abstract art that has attracted high-profile clients like Rob Dyrdek, Russell Brand , and to no one’s surprise, Hugh Hefner. Inspired by witnessing a performance artist covered in paint rolling around on a sheet, she decided to mimic the style, albeit with a more erotic twist.

Karcz

10th May 2013 | Alice Taylor

Rafał Karcz is a Polish painter and experimental photographer with a self-created, distinctive technique of photo development, that is visually akin to an oil painting.

Conceptually, Rafal translates what he calls an ‘inner landscape’ – atmospheic, strong feelings or emotions that are usually negative. Yet his approach and attitude to art and photography are, of course, far from negative. He is concious that his images do not follow a commercial or ‘good looking’ style.

Technically his lengthy and varying drying process creates the distinctive aesthetic outcome that is so distinctive and painterly. Even states such as weather – the contrast of Summer and Winter – creates the unpredictable outcomes of his images.

“If i dont like the result, I can always more destroy the surface with a stronger acid treatments”

His inspiration comes from the art and music of particular eras and movements.

“Music from the end of the 60 s to current music, underground or/and independent.  From the Protopunk sound to  Motorcity detroit and contepmporary garage rock revival. Realism, expressionism, pop art and also contemporary figuration and artists like Florian Sussmayr, Paul P  and  Michael Borremans.

I like dirty psychodelia, postmodernism with a strong visual language of destroyed imagery and a distinctive colour palette”

Via: Facebook, Mega Models & Foto Blur

Vagina

15th September 2012 | Alice Taylor

Naomi Wolf (One of my favourite and highly influential feminist authors, famously known for writing ‘The Beauty Myth’, 1991) has just released her newest book ‘Vagina: A New Biography’. The book offers a cultural-history of the worshipped, censored, sexualised, shamed and powerful female body part of the vagina. Wolf aims to get “to the very core of what it means to be a woman”.

The female body is at one of it’s most highly politicised moments. Pussy Riot, the Russian Punk band have caught the attention of the newspapers and pop stars such as Madonna (below), and are often referred to in Russia as “the uprising of the vagina”. Politicians are constantly debating the definition of rape and US Democratic stet senator Lisa Brown was barred from speaking in the Michigan state courthouse for using the word ‘Vagina’, being told that she had “failed to maintain the decorum of the House of Representatives”.

The perception of the vagina has altered throughout history. The first use of the word ‘Vagina’ in the English language was back in 1682 and before Western religion imposed shame onto this body part, the vagina was celebrated as symbols of fertility.

The depiction in contemporary society see’s the vagina depicted mainly in pornography. Germaine Greer wrote in 1973 “A woman’s pleasure is not dependant on the presence of a penis in the vagina. Neither is a man’s”.

Midwife Inu May Gaskin fears that this contemporary definition contributes to to womens fear of labour and the increase in medialisation of child birth. In the past, sculptures such as the Sheela Na Gig (carved in the 12th Century) portrayed a crouching figure open enough to accommodate a size as big as her own head. As Gaskin says “I’d like to see a large rendition of a Sheela Na Gig as part of the Decor of birth rooms in maternity units”.

With the ever rising demand for labiaplasty with some girls as young as 11 asking for procedures, maybe it is time for another ‘Vaginal Revolution’. I hope that Naomi Wolf can influence us about this subject, just as her book ‘The Beauty Myth’ did.

Images:

Sheela Na Gig carved in the 12th Century at Kilpeck parish church.

Naomi Wolf’s book cover and Naomi Wolf herself.

A portrait by Jean-Baptiste Mondino called ‘Man Looking at the Origin of the World’. The original oil-on-canvas painting ‘L’Origine du monde’ (Origin of the world) was painted by French artist Gustave Courbet in 1866 and currently resides in the Musée d’Orsay.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Black Iris, 1926

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974 to 1979, was a huge installation by this hugely influential feminist artist. This piece still influences art education today.

Helen Chadwick Wreath to Pleasure No. 12, 1992-93

Clayton Cubitt, Flesh For Fantasy (Girl #5), color pigment print, 32.5 x 44.5, 2008

I went to see Jamie McCartney at his exhibition of the ‘Great Wall of Vagina’. He also does internal vaginal casts.

Back in the 90’s there was a big fuss when Sharon Stone parted her legs in a police interview in Basic Instinct.

Maybe I will treat the team to some cupcakes next week 😀

Myself and Katherine Jane Wood are reading this book at the moment. So look out for the book review!

Via: The Independent on Sunday, The English Group, Art Fag City