Sunday, September 23, 2012

performance anxiety

nude with skeleton / source 

I'm working on a piece for the next Light Grey Art Lab show called Girls: Fact or Fiction. Each artist chose a real or imagined woman and is doing a portrait of her. After thinking for a long time about the many ladies I love, I decided upon a challenge. Marina Abramovic (a-bra-moh-vitch, in case you were wondering) is considered one of the most influential performance artists of all time, and even if you're not a big fan of performance art I can guarantee her work is going to move you.

rest energy / source

A lot of her work deals with the limits of the body and the role of the observer. Some of it gets a little hairy - she wasn't afraid of hurting herself for the sake of art.  If you're really curious about her you should watch this UH-MAZE-ING documentary made about her most recent show at the MOMA: the Artist is Present. Here's a trailer, which is pretty NSFW, by the by.


Bryan and I were lucky enough to catch this show when we visited New York last year. The featured piece, where Marina sits in front of volunteer audience members without speaking during all open gallery hours, was powerful. There's even a tumblr dedicated to all the people who sat across from Marina and shed a couple tears.

It's going to be a challenge to create a deserving portrait of this amazing and talented woman, that's for sure!!

oh, did I forget to mention that she is totally gorrrrgeous dahling? /  source

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