Saturn Devouring His Son – Francisco Goya

The only other brightness in the picture comes from the white flesh, the red blood of the corpse, the white knuckles of Saturn as he digs his fingers into the back of the body. There is evidence that the picture may have originally portrayed the titan with a partially erect penis, but, if ever present, this addition was lost due to the deterioration of the mural over time or during the transfer to canvas; in the picture today the area around his groin is indistinct. It may even have been over painted deliberately before the picture was put on public display.

Various interpretations of the meaning of the picture have been offered: the conflict between youth and old age, time as the devourer of all things, the wrath of God and an allegory of the situation in Spain, where the fatherland consumed its own children in wars and revolution. There have been explanations rooted in Goya’s relationships with his own son, Xavier, the only of his six children to survive to adulthood, or with his live-in housekeeper and possible mistress, Leocadia Weiss; the gender of the body being consumed cannot be determined with certainty.

 

Degree show build – Day 2 / finishing the plinth build

Today was the last day I wanted to commit to building my plinths, therefore finished them after helping with the degree show build in the morning. We first had to create a belt of people moving large and long pieces of wood up the stairs, pointing them upwards as people on the stairs pulled them up. This worked well, however it was still proven to be difficult due to how heavy they were. We then helped James build scaffolding structures to be able to reach the ceiling to remove and add structures for specific pieces, and touched up on the painting that were dark/very colourful, and scrubbed the floors.

My plinths are finally built and sanded down, and will only need filler and painting done next, which I’ll ask my first year helper to help me with (Sadie) to make sure I don’t spend any longer on them while the degree show build is still ongoing. It took me a while to finish them because I needed Nigel’s (the technician) help with cutting my wood, as I wasn’t authorised to use the machine. He was busy helping many people at the same time who are also currently working on their final pieces, which is what caused this long delay.

The Grotesque Body

Exaggeration, hyperbole, and expressiveness are all key elements of the grotesque style. Certain aspects of the body are referenced when talking about the grotesque. These things include elements of the body that either protrude from the body or a part of the body that can be entered. This is because the body in many cases is seen as pure where as the outside world is not. Therefore, parts of the body that allow the outside world in or allow elements inside the body out, are seen and used as an exaggeration of the grotesque. It is said in an article by Koepping; “Absurdity and Hidden Truth: Cunning Intelligence and Grotesque Body Images as Manifestations of the Trickster”, Koepping refers back to Bakhtin’s statement, “The themes of cursing and of laughter are almost exclusively a subject of the grotesqueness of the body.”

Italian satirist Daniele Luttazzi explained: “satire exhibits the grotesque body, which is dominated by the primary needs (eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, sex) to celebrate the victory of life: the social and the corporeal are joyfully joint in something indivisible, universal and beneficial”.

Bakhtin explained how the grotesque body is a celebration of the cycle of life: the grotesque body is a comic figure of profound ambivalence: its positive meaning is linked to birth and renewal and its negative meaning is linked to death and decay. In Rabelais’ epoch (1500–1800) “it was appropriate to ridicule the king and clergy, to use dung and urine to degrade; this was not to just mock, it was to unleash what Bakhtin saw as the people’s power, to renew and regenerate the entire social system. It was the power of the people’s festive-carnival, a way to turn the official spectacle inside-out and upside down, just for a while; long enough to make an impression on the participating official stratum. With the advent of modernity (science, technology, industrial revolution), the mechanistic overtook the organic, and the officialdom no longer came to join in festive-carnival. The bodily lower stratum of humour dualised from the upper stratum.”

Before people began to develop literature or art, leaders would sit in their halls surrounded by their warriors amusing themselves by mocking their opponents and enemies. The warriors would laugh at any weakness or defect, either physical or mental, giving nicknames which exaggerated these traits.

Soon warriors sought to give a more permanent form to their ridicule, which led to rude depictions on bare rocks, or any other surface that was convenient.

In the Medieval Grotesque Carnival, emphasis is put on the nether regions of the body as the centre and creation of meaning. The spirit rather than coming from above comes from the belly, buttocks, and genitals, which is what I’ve tried to re-create in my art by using these exact body parts.

Frances Connelly, a well known art historian, describes the grotesque as “a boundary creature”, which is what I’ve hopefully achieved in my projections.

In her influential 1982 essay “Powers of Horror”, Julia Kristeva developed the term ‘abject’ to explore the human reaction to the fragmented, decayed or impure human body. The abject refers to the horror felt in response to a threatened breakdown in meaning caused by the loss of the boundaries between self and other, the loss of a sense of self.

Degree Show Build – Day 1

Today was the first day of term, and the first day of the degree show build. We all teamed up and started clearing everything out, took the tables and chairs and packed them all up into built storage spaces. We were then busy getting Mike’s work up because of how large it’s going to be, thus had to build walls around it. I took part in the moving, tidying, building, assisting, and the stacking.

The walls took a while to get up and down, but the space is now looking very open, and I can start imagining the degree show. I didn’t, unfortunately, get the chance to work on my own piece, because we needed as many pairs of hands as we could get to build the walls, but will hopefully be done tomorrow so that I can continue with my plinths. This is certainly possible since we’re ahead of our schedule.

 

Jeanne C. Finley, Gretchen Stoeltje – A.R.M. Around Moscow, 1994

A.R.M. Around Moscow documents particpants in A.R.M. (American-Russian Matchmaking) to explore the relationship of personal power to domestic identity, and economic and political structure. Finley and Stoeltje followed 21 American men as they travelled to Russia to meet 500 local women. Each man was provided with a car, driver, translator, apartment, and meals for a “14-day tour of Russia’s most beautiful and highly-educated women” at the cost of about $4,700.

From the moment of their anxious arrival at the Moscow airport, and throughout their dances, dates, and tearful departures from their newly acquired fiancees, these American men repeatedly disparaged American women as “too feminist,” “demanding,” and most importantly, “lacking in traditional family values. The Russian women, exhausted from balancing their careers and domestic responsibilities, look to these men as a possible hope for a better life and mutual love.

“At its heart, A.R.M. Around Moscow is about a new U.S. export, the feminist backlash. Whereas the Russian women yearn for liberation from an uncertain future, the American men look to a past where they were armed for domination.

 

Hermine Freed – 360º 1972

This piece is an example of early feminist video art. The frame is filled with two concentric magnifying lenses, one larger than the other. Behind them is a mirror. The mirror turns and reflects the landscape around it. Distortions of the moving images appear in the lenses while the space behind remains stationary. A voiceover reports what is being seen in each of the layers of space. There are at least three simultaneous soundtracks. One scene is a country house and garden, another is a city apartment.

I found this piece interesting because of the use of mirrors and distortion it caused through the lens and this link to my work. This sort of work began in the 1960s when she started to use video in order to document other painters and in 1972 began to experiment with the medium to question gender conventions and women’s self-perception.

Snakenub – Arcade exhibition opening

Snakenub’s opening was wonderful to see, by the artist Jacob Taylor, who’s current project looks into our happiness and to what extent we as people will go to achieve happiness in their everyday lives. It featured a great mixture of paintings, prints, and wooden shaped paintings. Some had strange but interesting things in them, such as “send nudes” in letter spaghetti, high-end brands, cigarettes, playboy, and even a Nazi symbol made of horses.

I really enjoyed the paintings especially, and found one in particular useful towards my own work, which was the one with the fruit bowl, surrounded with other objects that had connotations of death, illness, and big famous brands. I though these parallels and contrasts were interesting to put together, as a fruit bowl being so large and central in the paining makes it an important aspect, almost distracting from the other things. Using fruit for the grotesque is exactly what I’m trying to achieve in my own final piece.

Meg, Imo and myself were also featured in the Arcade’s instagram story from the event.

CSAD post – Diffusion

I was recently featured on CSAD’s instagram page once again about my Diffusion internship, which is really great for getting my name out there for what I’ve been up to in the Cardiff art scene.

I also wrote a blog about my experience with Diffusion in the Welsh language, going into a bit of detail about the experiences I had and the people I’ve met, which will be posted soon on the CSAD blog. I think it’s important to spend some time doing these things, because people do often read them, and it means that my name will be active when people search for it, coming up with a range of different activities I’v been involved in, proving that I’m an active member in Cardiff’s art scene.

Diffusion – Day 25, last day invigilating

Today’s my last day invigilating, which is bittersweet, as I’ll definitely miss being at Shift and speaking about the work during events. I came in early to make sure everything was in full working order, and was able to chat about the plans for the next couple of weeks during the uninstall. We’re also having a staff party tomorrow night to celebrate the success of the festival and our hard work paying off.

I spent most of the day downstairs in the main gallery area, making sure I greeted every visitor that came in, and offered any help they needed or any questions they had. I was also managing the volunteers who were up at reception, since it was a stormy and cold day, and offered to swap with them and make them hot drinks for when they needed a break.

The self-curated wall today

Plinth Build – Day 2

I concentrated on making the lens holes for my projectors today, and measured exactly where they’d all be, and made sure they were all level with one another. I did, however, come across a slight issue: the projector with the cable inside didn’t fit inside the plinth properly. this meant that I had to cut out another hole for the cable, which will run round to the back of the plinth, and will be taped to the plinth to keep its tidy look. They’re starting to look really great, and I think will look good for the exhibition once everything’s set up. I have really tried to make them to the best of my abilities, and should definitely add to the piece’s overall presentation.

I did also have to make another one, because the plinth I already had just didn’t look as tidy as the one’s I had made, and thought it would stand out if I left it alone. Therefore, I used the rest of the afternoon starting on the fourth.