WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS
(Leeds Art Gallery)
The purpose of the exhibition is to explore many different depictions of women which reveal their role in society as viewed by different people. The exhibition includes many painted portraits and is constructed to include sculptures, collages and photographs all depicting perceived female attributes. The theme of this exhibition can be subdivided into four categories – “the Masquerade”, “Being An Artist” and “Knowledge and Knowing”.
One of the most interesting features of the exhibition is a photograph by Nicky Bird, an artist born in 1960. The title of this work is “Dressed to Paint”. This is a montage photo encapsulating the mundane with iconic imagery in a surreal manner – e.g. the print photograph of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe is included. It is very difficult to understand the meaning of this image as it is encrypted.
Many of the women shown in the exhibition photographs are dressed as clowns.
Nicky Bird’s work consists of investigations into the hidden histories of specific sites that cause their resonance. Artifacts found in archives and collections have provided information about those sites and interviews with people connected with the sites have added even more.
(A project Nicky Bird is working on now is called “Beneath the Surface” and the subjects of the photographs for this are miners and brickworkers associated with the East Lothian Industrial Museum).
Also in the “Women are from Venus” exhibition, there are a collection of photographs by the model from Belarus, Elle Muliarchek.
(Leeds Art Gallery)
The purpose of the exhibition is to explore many different depictions of women which reveal their role in society as viewed by different people. The exhibition includes many painted portraits and is constructed to include sculptures, collages and photographs all depicting perceived female attributes. The theme of this exhibition can be subdivided into four categories – “the Masquerade”, “Being An Artist” and “Knowledge and Knowing”.
One of the most interesting features of the exhibition is a photograph by Nicky Bird, an artist born in 1960. The title of this work is “Dressed to Paint”. This is a montage photo encapsulating the mundane with iconic imagery in a surreal manner – e.g. the print photograph of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe is included. It is very difficult to understand the meaning of this image as it is encrypted.
Many of the women shown in the exhibition photographs are dressed as clowns.
Nicky Bird’s work consists of investigations into the hidden histories of specific sites that cause their resonance. Artifacts found in archives and collections have provided information about those sites and interviews with people connected with the sites have added even more.
(A project Nicky Bird is working on now is called “Beneath the Surface” and the subjects of the photographs for this are miners and brickworkers associated with the East Lothian Industrial Museum).
Also in the “Women are from Venus” exhibition, there are a collection of photographs by the model from Belarus, Elle Muliarchek.
In digital format, her photographs depict gluttony – one of the seven deadly sins listed in the Bible. The act of biting into a donut shown in one of her photographs is reminiscent of Eve eating the apple – forbidden fruit of the tree of life. The forms and textures of the photographs are smooth and high contrast is used to emphasize the saturation of the colours. The iconography of some of these photographs uses turquoise, pinks and reds to connote femininity. The light source in the photograph of the woman eating the donuts is coming directly from above symbolizing divine light shed from the heavens. The positioning of the camera helps to impose power as the audience seems to be looking over the donut- eating subject from a superior vantage point. The overall effect indicates the viewer’s superiority over the degradation of the gluttonous subject.
No comments:
Post a Comment