Metamorphosis: Genus > Aporia

December 1, 2013September 23, 2014startind

Aporia_ ©Denise Startin

Metamorphosis of the Feminine – The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter and Paula Rego

November 26, 2013September 23, 2014startind

Image by Paul Rego

Drawing on the violence of her Portugese background and it’s folklore Rego’s world conjures up allegorical tales of the physical and psychological violation and repression of feminine experience through often surreal, psychologically, metaphorically and symbolically charged imagery. In these claustrophobic settings and often domestic interiors these female figures, cut off and contained by the frame of the image, often dominate the scene.

Rego’s Women have powerfully robust physiques and the characters in her paintings, drawings and prints are often portrayed in uncompromising and contorted positions including bending, kneeling, lying, squatting, cavorting, undressing. The abject appears in the form of urinating and defecating. Like Smith the female and the bestial are often interchangeable. There is something of the carnivalesque and the grotesque about Rego’s characters, the dancers that appear regularly in her work draw as much on James Ensor as they might on Degas. Rego has also made controversial work about female genital mutilation and abortion. Continue reading →

Metamorphosis of the Feminine – The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter and Kiki Smith

November 18, 2013September 23, 2014startind

Kiki Smith, Rapture, 2001, Bronze, 67 1/4 x 62 x 26 1/2 inches
Edition of 3

“It’s a resurrection/birth story; ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ is a kind of resurrection/birth myth.”

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is a collection of short stories in which Carter re-appropriates the fairy tale in the service of the feminine to re-work patriarchal constructions of gender from within the genre. Female protagonists constantly transgress the boundaries of the patriarchal and the received definition of the fairy tale moral in relation to the feminine (i.e the innocent female child and the sacrificial female). The primary story after which the collection is named is a re-working of Bluebeard by Charles Perrault and was influenced by Carter’s readings of the Marquis De Sade. Carter asserts that Sade “put pornography in the service of women, or, perhaps, allowed it to be invaded by an ideology not inimical to women …” [1]. This extremely brief presentation aims to highlights connections between the representation of female experience in Visual Art and The Bloody Chamber. Continue reading →

The view from Nowhere: Dislocated, re-located, discombobulated

November 3, 2013November 18, 2014startind

Hello Every Bodies

Since I am now post MA, RCA life I have to confess the life element of this statement is sorely lacking due to the fact that I have re-located (to a house on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere that feels positively rural after living in London for 3 years). I am simply left dangling post MA, RCA……Rather disconcertingly I can actually hear myself thinking, this re-location may be good for the soul but it may also be that I am slowly committing creative suicide. Anyway to take hold of one’s dislocation, discombobulation and direct one’s dangle I am exploring those areas of my practice that somehow never saw the light of day on the MA in practice but were fully present in the thesis (Barthes, Cixous, Kristeva, Irigaray et al). I am undertaking a Social Studies Certificate in Feminism, Gender and Sexuality in Literature and the study of women’s writing and how it has engaged with, and continues to transform and challenge the politics of gender, sex, and sexuality. Continue reading →

Multiplied: Contemporary Art in Editions Fair, October 18th-21st, London 2013

October 17, 2013November 18, 2014startind

Breath, Photo Lithography, Oak Frame, Anti-reflective glass, 64.9cm x 50cm

Multiplied 2013 hosted by Christie’s, 18th – 21st October, is a contemporary fair dedicated to showcasing editioned work across a range of disciplines including Printmaking, Photography and Publications from both established artists including Bob and Roberta Smith, William Kentridge and Adam Chodzco as well as work by emerging artists. You can find the work of recent graduates of the Royal College of Art, MA Printmaking 2013 on Stand 8. The Fine Art programme at the RCA is intensely rigorous, intellectually stimulating, technically and critically demanding. The Printmaking department reflects this combining conceptual rigour, technical proficiency and intense material engagement across print, installation, sound, film, performance, spoken and printed word. A Printmaking publication, Between Before and After, was also produced alongside the degree show by graduating students 2013 showcasing text and image work and featuring critical input from Dr Chantal Faust, artist Nicky Coutts, writer Rebecca Geldard and Professor of Printmaking, Jo Stockham.

A work entitled Breath, which formed part of my MA show will be available for purchase. Breath is a limited edition (1/15) photo-litho on Somerset, there are also 10 prints available unframed 64.9cm x 50cm. Details of artists works and statements from the Printmaking graduates can be found at Show RCA, 2013. A box set of limited edition prints (25cm x 25cm) produced by final year Printmaking students 2013 will also be available for purchase. Proceeds will support the growth and development of future RCA students. For more information about Multiplied please click here. The Multiplied Gallery Guide for 2013 can be found here. Information regarding Printmaking at the RCA is on page17 of the Guide. Other exhibitors at the fair include Riflemaker, Purdey Hicks Gallery, Paupers Press, Dundee Contemporary Arts and London Print Studio.