Gilbert & George/Orlan

Gilbert and George's idea that our own bodies can be used as objects of our art is pretty clever and its introduction into art galleries as "living sculptures" really provided a fascinating spin on what was commonly thought of as art. The transition from everyday objects being gazed on in a whole new light with the introduction of readymades to the works of Gilbert and George which used their own bodies in the context of art is an example of what makes art so fascinating because it constantly redefines itself and only exists through the common influx of groundbreaking new ideas and interpretations. Fr them to exist as the sculptures themselves makes the art carry a whole new meaning; they spoke of how human beings have living souls while traditional art materials do not. Their works were cited to have influence on musicians like David Bowie (I like the idea of art bleeding through from an underground phenomenon to a mainstream one; one can see the evolution of how an idea becomes palatable for a wide audience). In the case of "The Singing Sculpture," the idea of a person just singing to a pre-recorded tape and calling it art must have been radical to a lot of people at the time (as in not accepted as a legitimate art form). In the case of people like David Bowie, who presented his music as well as his own body image as art (Ziggy Stardust), found widespread success by redefining what people think of when they think of musicians (music as well as their own bodies as "objects"). Any idea that can seem radical to unsuspecting eyes can become instantly palatable through an easy pill called Pop music. In fact, the whole phenomenon of performance art intertwined with music can by traced to such events as the Who destroying their instruments after every performance in the mid 1960's and even further than that I'm sure. Gilbert and George's influence on the art world as well as the music world still reverberates today. An example of this is British Sea Power's music video for "Remember Me," which I thought of immediately when seeing the video of the "living sculptures" in Thursday's class.



Orlan is an artist whose early work was radical at the time (her own body being treated as the art itself, which is perfectly exemplified by her being photographed within a frame in the "corps sculptures" series), but the video of her going under the knife while reading text that related to body image was a bit shocking. Her latest work in which she has her own image dictated by a certain culture is an interesting idea. It provides a nice contrast to what different society's believe is that standard for beauty and body image and it uses her own image as a starting point for each one.