Vanessa Beecroft Response
Contemporary artist Vanessa Beecroft addresses underlying social and political ideas within her art, often shocking the audience with live female nudes and graphic imagery. Two of her performance pieces, 'VB61 Still Death! Darfur Still Deaf?' (2007) and 'VB55' (2005) examplify these concepts in their postmodern approach to the female nude in art, commenting on identity, exploitation and the agencies of the artworld in an ephemeral manner.
'VB61 Stiil Death! Darfur Still Deaf' is an artistic representation of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, which highlights the desensitisation of the public to brutality due to the bombardment of graphic images in the media. Beecroft communicates this to the audience by having 30 Sudanese women lie motionless upon a white canvas, their bodies covered in dark makeup. By adding and splashing pools of red paint over the figures, the artist has replicated images of horror in an effort to shock and confront the audience. This challenging aspect of 'VB61' truly encourages viewers to contemplate our changing perspectives towards censorship of similar violent images in our everyday lives. In having a live performance, Beecroft is able to directly connect with her audience in a way that is not possible through other art forms, therefore effectively confronting them with her political ideas on the desemination of unpleasant images in the media and the Darfur genocide in Sudan.
The three hour performance piece, 'VB55' challenges tradition and social codes by recontextualising past conceptions of the female nude. The work features one hundred nude women, each oiled from the waist up while wearing a pair of identical pantyhose. The women appear motionless and unapproachable in their performance space, forging a direct relationship with the audience, one with varying and intriguing responses. As her primary material, the nude female figures disorientate the viewer, their emotionless expressions and their unification causing a loss of sensuality. The simple portrayal of Beecroft's ideas on the live female body as an object within society and the artworld is only enhanced by the work's transient status and the setting of an art museum. While some audience members feel confused and shocked by the display, others find themselves faced with questions on traditional artistic conventions and the roles of women in contemporary society. It is this aspect of her art making that has made Beecroft renowned in a postmodern artworld for raising questions rather than answers, showing the complexity of her ideas.
Contemporary artist Vanessa Beecroft addresses underlying social and political ideas within her art, often shocking the audience with live female nudes and graphic imagery. Two of her performance pieces, 'VB61 Still Death! Darfur Still Deaf?' (2007) and 'VB55' (2005) examplify these concepts in their postmodern approach to the female nude in art, commenting on identity, exploitation and the agencies of the artworld in an ephemeral manner.
'VB61 Stiil Death! Darfur Still Deaf' is an artistic representation of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, which highlights the desensitisation of the public to brutality due to the bombardment of graphic images in the media. Beecroft communicates this to the audience by having 30 Sudanese women lie motionless upon a white canvas, their bodies covered in dark makeup. By adding and splashing pools of red paint over the figures, the artist has replicated images of horror in an effort to shock and confront the audience. This challenging aspect of 'VB61' truly encourages viewers to contemplate our changing perspectives towards censorship of similar violent images in our everyday lives. In having a live performance, Beecroft is able to directly connect with her audience in a way that is not possible through other art forms, therefore effectively confronting them with her political ideas on the desemination of unpleasant images in the media and the Darfur genocide in Sudan.
The three hour performance piece, 'VB55' challenges tradition and social codes by recontextualising past conceptions of the female nude. The work features one hundred nude women, each oiled from the waist up while wearing a pair of identical pantyhose. The women appear motionless and unapproachable in their performance space, forging a direct relationship with the audience, one with varying and intriguing responses. As her primary material, the nude female figures disorientate the viewer, their emotionless expressions and their unification causing a loss of sensuality. The simple portrayal of Beecroft's ideas on the live female body as an object within society and the artworld is only enhanced by the work's transient status and the setting of an art museum. While some audience members feel confused and shocked by the display, others find themselves faced with questions on traditional artistic conventions and the roles of women in contemporary society. It is this aspect of her art making that has made Beecroft renowned in a postmodern artworld for raising questions rather than answers, showing the complexity of her ideas.