What Male?

So today I watched the music video for Shakira's new song "She Wolf" and I was struck by how unconcerned she seems with the "Male Gaze". First some theory background from Wikipedia (paraphrased).

In analysing visual culture, the concept of The Gaze describes how the viewer gazes upon (views) the people presented and represented. Feminist theory developed The Gaze in describing the social power relations between women and men — how men gaze at women; how women gaze at themselves; how women gaze at other women; and the effects of these ways of seeing.
In the essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey introduced the concept of The Male Gaze as a feature of power asymmetry. Theoretically, the male gaze has much influenced feminist film theory and communications media studies. In film, the male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene may linger on the curves of a woman's body, for instance. Feminists would argue that such instances are presented in the context closest relating to that of a male, hence its referral to being the Male Gaze.
The theory suggests that male gaze denies women human agency, relegating them to the status of objects, hence, the woman reader and the woman viewer must experience the text's narrative secondarily, by identifying with a man's perspective.

In these videos Shakira seems to objectify herself, contorting and gyrating seemingly for the pleasure if a man. Really Shakira? A cage? But watch closely; look in her eyes. It's like she's looking in a mirror. She put herself in that cage and she's having a blast. It's like performance art or an intense workout. She is so active in contrast to the classic passive role. I can't imagine a man approaching her.

A while ago I stumbled upon this art piece by Oliver Laric that appropriated Mariah Carey's Touch My Body music video and removed all the surroundings to isolate her movements and expressions.

She looks like an idiot and a soft core porn actress. I find this artwork successful because I had a strong reaction to content that I had previously accepted as normal. "Come on and give me what I deserve." Ugh.

Ryan Trecartin

In May I went to see The Genereational: Younger Than Jesus at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. From the New Musuem's website:

For “Younger Than Jesus,” the first edition of “The Generational,” the New Museum’s new signature triennial, fifty artists from twenty-five countries will be presented. The only exhibition of its kind in the United States, “The Generational: Younger Than Jesus” will offer a rich, intricate, multidisciplinary exploration of the work being produced by a new generation of artists born after 1976. Known to demographers, marketers, sociologists, and pundits variously as the Millennials, Generation Y, iGeneration, and Generation Me, this age group has yet to be described in any way beyond their habits of consumption. “Younger Than Jesus” will begin to examine the visual culture this generation has created to date.

More here

A video I took while I was there:

Untitled from Kayode Ojo on Vimeo.

^The girl sleeping is a work in which the artist paid women to take sleeping pills and sleep in the gallery. It may or may not be about feminism or women's role in art, impressionist painters habit of using prostitutes as models, etc. I was really into the redhead museum employee. She has such an interesting look.

The show was insane. I can't really describe it but there was alot of video art and instillation and when I left the world looked different. My favorite art there was definitely the work of Ryan Trecartin. I had never seen anything like it before. The videos were like everything I love/hate about reality TV deeply concerned with the Internet and modern life with wild characters who were entitled, irreverent, superficial and of indescript gender. Usuallly I video art in a gallery or museum doesn't hold my attention but I could not look away from these. Me and my friend had a full day planned so we made the effort to eventually move on. There was a small crowd around the two rooms filled with junk/furniture/sculpture that housed the viewing screens. The critic Jerry Saltz called Trecartin the star of the triennial and I agree. You can watch all of his videos online except for the newest works that were in the New Museum show. Here is I-BE AREA which is my favorite. It's an hour and 48 minutes long but if you just want a taste the first 6 minutes is really good.

I-BE AREA

I love the breakdown and repurposing of language. It's like a new language. Non-linear is a good description of his style. Apparently the crazy makeup is supposed to mesh with the speech to expand their expression. I'm completly fascinated. More of his work here. New York Times article here. Interview here.

Ben Alper

Images from Ben Alper's ongoing project The Family Dig.

Mom Wrapped In Afghan, 2008



Fran, 2008



Hannah, 2008



Hannah In The Kitchen, 2008

I really like these. This is not my family and yet I find the pictures interesting. Something about the perspective of these makes me feel like I'm just standing there watching them. Maybe it's that they're taken from normal personal space distance.

Ben Alper's website here. He is a co-founder of a photography collective called The Exposure Project. Blog here.

Princess

So I spent the weekend in Brentwood, Tennessee. I'd never been before and it was pretty much like being on The OC. Not really but kind of. Everyone I met was really great but I could see potential for the twisted upper class drama that places like that are known for. Being there made me think of art that addresses the issues or aesthetic of upper middle class princesses.

Charlie White








Girl Posed



A still from "American Minor"

This work shows a grotesque quality caused by the prepackaged lifestyle offered to young girls.

Angela Strassheim

When I look at these I think about how a desire for suburban perfection creates tension and a sense of dread. Strassheim's technical expertise results in perfect pictures of people who may need to be perfect. My mind adds the possibility of failure and things that must be concealed. My reactions could have something to do with the darker events that have taken place in my otherwise peachy-keen neighborhood.

Michael Schmelling

I really like these portraits by Michael Schmelling. They feel fresh and intelligent. The mix of quirky subject matter and a somewhat clinical approach is really interesting.

Bonaroo



Melonie Diaz


Beirut


The Felice Brothers


TV On The Radio

Website here

Conrad Ruiz

Orgiastic watercolors depicting scenes of manly awesomeness. I think these are really funny.

Lemon Lime Victory, 2008

Public Display of Affection, 2008

Overload, 2009

^ This is kind of how I felt about Obama fever. More HERE.

That Boy Needs Therapy

In April I went to the opening of a group show called "Are You Sure You Are You" at the Spencer Brownstone Gallery. The show was about Internet art and the title came from a work by Daniel Everett. The Mac OS X software comes with a virtual therapist application with which the artist discussed his existential issues.

Conversations with a Computer

This therapist application actually exists. Instructions here. I tried it out and I found the idea of"Eliza" surprisingly engaging. Some of her questions and answers really made me think.
Daniel Everett has some other interesting projects on his website. A few things I like:

Omniscience Beta

You are here

Speed Run

Looking at his work makes me think about technology's role in loneliness, anonymity, and surveillance.

From the press release of the aforementioned group show:

The novelty of the personal computer and the Internet has morphed into a mundane reality that is haunted by the specters of anxiety, boredom, Internet addiction and identity theft. Turning this postmodern condition on its head, the works in this exhibition possess what could be described as a strategy of web-based aesthetic transcendence. They are proof that the user can overcome the condition of the quotidian not by shying away from her computer (and thus the Internet) but rather by considering it as a provider of aesthetic (higher) experience. Developed initially as a scientific tool, the computer has been damned to the realm of the practical. Yet when it is interpreted as an aesthetic space, one is presented with an almost infinite number of creative possibilities.

I'm excited.

Let Me See You Move Like You Come from Colombia

So I was poking around Columbia University's 2009 MFA website and I found some cool stuff.

Davida Nemeroff






Balloon Cross, 2008



Gorillas in the Mist, 2008



Glowtograph 1, 2008



Glowtograph 2, 2008




Jaqueline Cedar









^ I love the lighting in these. It reminds me of parking lots at night or a football stadium. High drama.


Erik Wysocan




The Sleep of Reason, The Dream Reason, El Sueño de La Razon

Lightbox, polarizing film, inkjet print (El sueño de la Razon Produce Monstruos - from the series Los Caprichos (1799) by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes)
20" x 26" x 6"

The Dream Reason, The Sleep of Reason, El Sueño de La Razon

Lightbox, polarizing film, inkjet print (El sueño de la Razon Produce Monstruos - from the series Los Caprichos (1799) by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes)
20" x 26" x 6"

By whom will these keepers be kept? (Quis costodiat ipsos costodes?) II
Lightbox, polarizing film, acetate
20" x 26" x 6"

Eta Carinae

Graphite on Acrylic Panels, Wood

2006

"they weren't exactly my friends, but I did like them"

Stained Glass, soil, plants, mirror

2007

^This work just blows my mind.

Collin LaFleche

At School, 2007

Henry Holding Emily, 2007

Will and Alex, 2007




Ray in Prospect Park, 2007


"In December of 2006 I met Will and his group of friends, who grew up in New York and had known each other for most of their lives. At the time they were in their Senior Year of high school. These images were taken throughout the year that followed, and document a time of transition from adolescence into adulthood: the end of high school, the last summer together, and the move on to college."

If I had to pick a photographer to represent my generation I would pick Collin LaFleche. He is close to my age and that inspires me. I think he transcends all the snapshot kids. I am blown away by the romance of these pictures. More greatness on his website here.

Kids

Aw yeeeaaahhh. That emerging shiiitttt. Interview Magazine had an article about the "New New York Art Scene" Aritcle HERE. I was inspired to feature some art babies on this blog.

Jack Siegel


^ This is he

The internet told me that he's from the west coast and now he goes to Pratt. He hangs out with famous (as in people (like me) who don't know them care what they're doing) art babies and takes pictures. He has a website called the skullset here.

I'm fascinated by the bond between documenting and creating/feuling this scene.


Aurel Schmidt

She's not really new and has alot of press coverage, but I'm not over it because I kind of can't look at some of her work. I was looking at a slideshow at tiny vices and i had to stop because I was afraid something awful was going to pop up and I was going to freak out. Yeah I'm a puss. I don't like bugs and I don't like rotting things. Also there are alot of pics of her looking hot and cool and New Yorky and she's from like bumfuck Cananda or something.

















I'm honestly having a hard time posting these. I'm upset and distracted. I'm going to have to remove them.
Ian Aleksander Adams

^ that's him

He just graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design.