Jenny Saville's Propped

Jenny Saville's Propped

Saville, Jenny. Propped. 1992. oil on canvas. 213.5x 183cm

Another illustration of Jung’s animus/anima theme is Saville’s work entitled Propped . This piece depicts a woman sitting on a high stool, naked except for a pair of white shoes. What is most compelling about Propped is its distorted proportions. The knees and thighs dominate the image in significant disproportion to the breasts and head. Significantly, the legs appear to connote a sense of muscularity, almost as if this figure is half man and half woman. Although Propped, as well as Saville’s many female nude pieces, appear to be a statement against the contemporary popular representations of the slim, tightly managed and often, air-brushed female body, her work also suggests the contemporary struggle for individuals to integrate a sense of male/femaleness within themselves.

Jenny Saville's Brace

Jenny Saville's Brace

Saville, Jenny. Brace.1998-9. Oil on canvas. 119" x 71.5"

 Jenny Saville (England b. 1970) is a contemporary British painter, often known as one of the “Young British Artists (YBA)” Although her work is often compared to that of Lucien Freud, Saville states that she owes a greater debt to Abstract Expressionist, Willem de Kooning and figure painter of the 50’s and 60’s, Francis Bacon*. Saville’s work is viewed by some commentators as questioning assumptions about contemporary beauty by depicting bodies that are not at all beautiful by contemporary standards**. The bodies she depicts are often painted on enormous canvases, reaching ten to twelve feet in height and featuring distorted, fleshy, naked female bodies.

 Saville’s work is a perfect example of the different archetypal themes in the work of Carl G. Jung.    Her work deals mostly with the darker side of society and sometimes even confusion of identity within her subjects. Saville’s pieces are massive, standing high above the viewer, forcing the audience to confront their controversial and sometimes grotesque content looming ten feet or higher above viewers heads. In addition to Saville’s huge canvasses is a surprising combination of color, a speckled arrangement of mauves, browns and blues that seem to enhance the sense of “flesh.” Interestingly, while the huge canvasses create a sense of standing back, the color and brushstrokes appear to encourage the viewer the step closer. As with the content of Saville’s paintings, this “push-pull” feeling illustrates the allure and tension in her work. These next few posts on this blog will deal with her work. 

 

 Among Jung’s archetypes, Saville appears to explore the animus/anima archetype(male or female side of the opposite gender's sex. None of us are purely male or female) with greatest depth. Brace represents a good illustration of the animus/anima dilemma. This piece contains the makings of a nightmare: a grotesque looking model with barely any arms, appears to be stitched together to the torso of a woman growing out of their side like a tumor.  This individual, while exhibiting some female qualities, (i.e. the slight indication of breasts), has a largely androgynous feel. This combination of both the male and female figures is a direct correlation to the animus and anima. In this case, the anima, the female side of the male psyche is literally attached almost as a burden to this apparently masculine person. It also highlights the Jungian dilemma as to what weight male/females characteristics are embodied in an individual personality.

 *John, Elton. "Jenny Saville." Interview 33.9 (2003): 168. MasterFILE Premier.

Web. 19 Nov. 2011.

 ** Meagher, Michelle. "Jenny Saville And A Feminist Aesthetics Of Disgust." Hypatia 18.4

     (2003): 23-41. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2011.
 

Robert Rauschenberg's Monogram

Rauschenberg's Monogram

Rauschenberg, Robert. Monogram. 1955-59.Combine: oil, paper, fabric, printed reproductions, metal, wood, rubber shoe heel, and tennis ball on canvas and wood mounted on four wheels with oil on Angora goat and rubber tire

 Robert Rauschenberg was an artist who I was introduced to in one of my classes at college. I loved the way that he combined different media to evolve his work to a completely new level. His work was often very concerned with pollution, pop-culture and environmental awareness. You can read more about him here . 

 

 This was an incredibly interesting piece to deconstruct. I found myself having a lot of fun doing so. It appears to be a commentary on pollution and human waste. The clustering of the items of the center of the platform seems to be a nod to the media and the overwhelming nature of mass culture. The thrown pieces of debris across the canvas really gives a hectic and chaotic feel. The paint across the base is laid down with frantic strokes evoking the feeling of fear and anxiety.  The red of the paint across the face might also indicate blood or an act of violence. Reading even farther into the paint, it also resembles the colors of paper and ink, perhaps pointing to the media, specifically newspapers and how "in your face", in this case literally, the media can be.

 While all of that is going on, the sheep/goat itself has paint smeared down and across its face like warpaint, further pushing the work into a militarist, primitive warfare and disorderly feel. The tire acts as a weight. It is similar to a burden making the tire seem to be hinting to the stress and pressure  that the world is placing on people.Since the goat is an animal and animals are often associated with innocence the weight seems to imply it is a burden on our generation and the younger generations to come.

 This pieces seems to invoke the shadow due to the obvious sense of chaos and violence. It however also hints at the persona and the masking of the face by the paint. This can be interpreted as representing the act of hiding behind makeup, as many people do, or hiding behind the media. Either way I believe this piece is a very interesting and fun example of these darker sides of the human condition.

Robert Rauschenberg Man At Work. Dir. Chris Granlund. Perf. Robert Rauschenberg, Darryl Pottorf, Sean Barret,. Image Entertainment, 1997. DVD.

Nick Lepard's The Event

Nick Lepard's The Event

Lepard, Nick. The Event. 2009. Oil on canvas.

 Nick Lepard is an artist I came across at the beginning of last fall (2011). I immediately fell in love with his artwork as it reminded me a bit of my hero's work, Jenny Saville. He had a way of capturing the face which really evoked the feelings of the archetypes and pulled the viewer into a different world both of recognition and the unknown. He received his BFA in 2008 from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver BC and since then has had many exhibitions in British Colombia as well as California. Lepard even did some lectures and residencies at the Capilano University in North Vancouver. You can find out all of this information and more at his website www.nicklepard.com I would highly recommend checking out his other works, I am looking forward to seeing him move farther into his artistic career.


 Looking now towards the deconstruction "scope", the portrait The Event evokes the shadow archetype of Jung's theories. The shadow archetype according to Jung was the dark side of humanity, and one had to conquer the shadow in order to assist in finding yourself.* This work has very subtle additions of non-local color, which reads both as abnormality, but also creates an additional field of depth into the work. The stare of the figure appears to be quite melancholy and the lips are drawn into what appears to be a pout. The emptiness of the stare, which is glancing back over the shoulder of the viewer, may be looking at the world. He is perhaps judging the world, gazing out over the wreckage and destruction that human beings have created upon themselves over years of perfecting war and brutality. That forlorn glance is almost begging the viewer to take a seat by him, stare out at the world with him, and perhaps attempt to make a difference and beat the shadow back in some way! 


 The brush strokes along the face especially around the nose and the mouth area begin to blur, creating a figure that appears to either be melting, behind frosted glass, or half emerging from water. This lapse of clarity seems to allude to atrophy or a figure hidden behind a veil or mask which begins to evoke the persona archetype. The persona archetype is the mask one assumes to fit into the roles given to us by society.* If looked at as atrophy, this once again alludes to the archetype of the shadow as atrophy is very similar to chaos and chaos is where the shadow rules. 


*Jung, Carl. The Integration of Personality. Collected Works Vol. (17). Princeton: 
  Princeton University Press, 1953. Print.

An Introduction

Who Am I?

Matousek, Lindsey. Speak Easy. 2012. Acrylics and mediums on board

  My name is Lindsey Matousek. I have just recently graduated Cum Laude from Cazenovia College earning my BFA. My Senior Thesis Capstone dealt with psychoanalyst Carl G. Jung(Swiss 1875-1961), his theories on personality and how there are many archetypes that form who you are as a person. I discussed using Joseph Campbell(New York 1904-1987) and the four main archetypes, the self, the persona, the shadow and the animus/anima, how artists take these archetypes and place them either consciously or unconsciously into their artwork. You may look at my own artwork here.

What is the Purpose? 

 In this blog I will take artwork by both established and emerging artists and deconstruct them using my own observations and the theories of Jung. I hope to expand the reader's minds to different interpretations of artwork and perhaps generate discussion in the future. All artwork will be credited to the artist and if available a link will be provided to their website.

Updating

 During these first couple weeks there will most likely be lots of updating as I have an entire sketchbook filled and dedicated to this act of deconstruction. After I have completed uploading this sketchbook I will most likely update every Friday. 

Questions/Comments

 If you have something that you would like me to deconstruct or just have a general question or comment you can contact me at LindseyMatousek@gmail.com or leave a comment below. I check my e-mail everyday so I will get back to you in a timely manner.  

Thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing my views!