post the tenth // live trace excercise

post the ninth // artist comparison (self-image)

The artworks of Frida Kahlo, Marina Abramovic, and Cui Xiuwen, though they explore different media and periods of time, all include, to an extent, an aspect of self-portrayal, be it due to a positive or negative perception of one’s self-image, or perhaps reflecting on one’s own past. Essentially, each of these artists’ works have a strong relationship with the artists themselves, as the ideas and meanings behind the art are strongly set within the artists’ ideas on themselves, and in the cases of these three women, in can be noted that the female image comes into play strongly in their art.

Marina Abramovic’s photographs, which are typically digitally manipulated, have a strong sense of female identity. Whether or not the images are meant to be satire of that same femininity is questionable. Many of Abramovic’s photographs have her in a situation which would typically be considered part of a traditional female role, such as a piece in which Abramovic is surrounded by various pots and pans and typical kitchen equipment. This type of piece seems to be a solidification of the roles women are supposed to play in life, and Abramovic’s being surrounded by these stereotypes seem to indicate that she feels entrapped by traditional gender roles in society.

Cui Xiuwen’s images, also digitally manipulated photographs, seem to mostly deal with the repetition of a single figure, duplicated over and over, yet each time, the figure (Xiuwen herself), has a new pose and position, so as to create the illusion of multiple people instead of a single person repeated. Xiuwen’s use of this repetition could be interpreted as her feeling like she has no personal image when surrounded with people, she feels as though her individuality is lost amongst the populace. Her lost image is represented by being surrounded by nothing but more of herself.

Frida Kahlo, the most notable and famous of these three artists, dealt heavily with her own image. Her perception of herself is clear when looking at her paintings, she creates herself to be an ugly person, most notably exaggerating her unibrow and facial features so as to construe herself as unattractive. She also paints herself in a surrealistic fashion to emphasize a feeling of weakness and uselessness, such as a painting in which she paints herself as a wounded and dying deer in a forest. This stems from her past, where a bus accident crippled her and left her weak and sickly for much of her life, causing her self-image to greatly suffer, a theme which is prevalent in most of her work.