Unorthodox Project Final Evaluation

The Unorthodox Project.

I started this project looking at the artist Paul McCarthy. I was slightly annoyed by the man, as I saw sculptures and films he had made. Seeing his art performance called ‘Painter’ where he had someone sniffing his bare behind. Reports of his live performances, where he appeared to make himself vomit. Then to read about a sculpture ‘Christmas tree’ that he made out of an 80ft inflatable, shaped as a butt plug. It all seemed very self-indulgent and not my cup of tea at all.

Yet at the end of the ‘Unorthodox’ project, it would seem that Paul McCarthy would influence me all the way through the development of my Art pieces.

It would be quite simple and easy to present something that seems unorthodox, outrageous or inappropriate in an art work, yet without a message or meaning behind it, the art would be hard to defend or make it accountable.

I researched Artist Vito Acconci and Marina Abromavich, exploring why, or how their own separate performances, in which they included masturbation, could stand up as art, and not merely perversion.

I have explored Tony Oursler’s installations, after I decided to use projected images in my art works.

I added research of Sandro Botticelli, who I have been reading up about regarding my essay, and also Kurt Schwitters, whose art works I have viewed, and heard talks about several times, when I have been at my work placement, at the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle.

After my last art project ‘The Self’. I have found myself continuing to be interested in identity.

I had seen a documentary about the Venus, that explored how the idea of this mythological goddess, had been used by people since ancient times. Regarding what which was going on in society, and individually in history, it caused people to interpret the icon through art, including stone carvings, poems and paintings. Religions and movements were based on her mythology. It is even stated that the Roman Goddess Venus, who was also known as Aphrodite to the Greeks, was the worshiped Goddess, that started a religion, that was based on the kinder, and more loving aspects of Venus, and started civility, the ‘Age of Civilisation’.

In association with the McCarthy, 80 foot tall, ‘Butt plug’, I decided to buy a blow up, sex doll, the type you may see a ‘soon be groom’ carrying around on his stag do.

This I covered in Modrock, to give it, not only a more aesthetic look, but a clear, white surface that I could project images on.

I produced images to project onto the doll, iconic images of famous people that where very well-known, and talked about as I grew up. They were literally chosen as they came up in my mind. I felt I needed to add Donald Trump as he is such a huge figure right now.

As I had looked at Venus, and how she was used as an idea to project images and ideas onto. I felt that my own ideas, and the ideas given to me culturally had been projected onto these iconically famous people. The saints, the sinners, great leaders, bad leaders, rulers and religious figures etc.

I edited the photos and blended my face with these icons. It still looked like their original faces in each image, but there was a look of myself in them too. By doing this I wanted to show this sense of my own identity entangled with ideas I have of these figures, and how each idea suits my own needs regarding myself, and my cultural narrative.

As the images were projected onto the mummified, blow up doll, the faces then morphed from one famous icon to another.

This first research strand already had many aspects to it. The next element I was looking into was sound. After looking into Tony Oursular’s work, and the eerie projected faces that come to life in his installations, I could use voices to speak directly to the viewer. I started by finding voice clips from the chosen historical icons. I found recordings of strong statements that they had made about life, that would be played alongside. This research strand has huge potential as a larger piece. It could have many mummified figures in it, and a story line running from each one to the other.

For the second research strand I looked at the idea of secret items, like a blow up sex doll being posted in a brown paper parcel. In the past, there were references to parcels that would have been ordered, being sent with ‘private’ items inside, usually pornographic in nature, with no indicators on the outside of what may be in them.

I was also considering how things that people did not want to share publicly in the past, these days, people actually want to be seen, and get attention from those taboo things. Especially in the culture of reality television.

I wanted to wrap up the blow up doll in a way that you could see exactly what it was. I posted it using the Royal Mail. There were some awkward situations that arose in the process, dealing with Royal mail staff, or the receiving college staff in their post room.

It became apparent for me this could be about the fine line between being funny, or being abusive, as these items could be seen as funny, but also they could be offensive to some.

Is it art, or just putting the viewer in an awkward position?

When I looked into the iconic images of ‘Robert Powell’ playing Jesus, in the film ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ in 1977. I found a statement that Powell had put out publicly, that he was not ‘Jesus Christ’, and his image should not be put in places of worship. He had always been my image of Jesus, since I’d seen him in that film years ago. There must be so many people who have had the same experience that I have had.

It made me want to dress up in clothes and accessories associated with Jesus. I bought items such as a beard, a wig, a funny nose and some big ears. I was playing homage to ‘McCarthy’ again as I used those plastic items. I wanted to add the ‘crown of balloons’ to the outfit. The balloons linking to the idea I had posed ‘that people are not offended if they are hit over the head with a balloon’.

I suppose I was still continuing to look at the fine line between offending people and making a point. More so, I was aware that I was slightly uncomfortable using Jesus as a figure to get my point across. I wanted to use Jesus with good reason. I felt I was putting off putting on the costume, and doing something with it.

I made a post on Facebook stating ‘Why is it taboo to make fun of Jesus?’, I received a huge amount of replies, and after reading all the different points of view, I realised, that actually I was not making fun of Jesus. Apart from the fact I don’t even know if Jesus was real, and not just a product of people with their own agendas at that time in history. I felt I would be using the character of Jesus to highlight the corrupt and manipulate side of Christianity.

Once I acknowledged that for myself, I felt a lot happier to proceed with this line of enquiry.

I finally put my outfit on, and with the encouragement from a couple of other students, I wandered through some of the occupied class rooms in the college. It felt like the initial response from people was of child like joy, as if seeing a clown, or someone fun dressed up with balloons on their head, but then with a sense of awkwardness. I had nothing for them, no entertainment to follow.

Not having something to give, or support the outfit was interesting in itself. I wasn’t about to throw myself around the class room until I vomited tomato sauce and mayonnaise like Paul McCarthy.

It seems that in an ‘art’ setting the fine line between presenting a message and being abusive is suspended, especial in the cases of Acconci and Abromavich, who would have been arrested for public masturbation, but deemed artistic, and academic in the gallery setting.

It seems that what you do, where you do it, and the willingness of the viewer to be a participant, or for them to have an expectation that something controversial may be seen.

I attended a stand-up comedy show by Russell Brand who is very much into mindfulness etc. I was so delighted to see that on every chair there was a promotional biscuit from the Hari Krishna religion, which also had Russel brands face on it, endorsing the religion.

This aspect of religion and promotion lead me to the Christian Church and ‘Indulgences’. Money paid to churches to ensure a short time in purgatory. Life was and still can be tough today, the church plays on an end of suffering, promoting an afterlife and consequences of ones actions in their living years that will depend of them living eternally in heaven or hell. Personally I think it’s cruel, preying on human vulnerability.

There is little difference in the consumerist market today. Corporations and businesses that prey on human insecurity and fear.

I made my own promotional biscuits even though baking is out of my comfort zone. I got packaging for the biscuits and put ‘Jesus loves you more’ stickers on the outside as promotional items.

I envisaged a video of me having bought so many promotional biscuits as a Christian indulgence to ensure my safe path to heaven. I would also indulge I eating them all, until I vomited.

I also made an improvised video named ‘ Pay as You Pray’ based on purchasing a plan to get into heaven, as you would a mobile phone contract. This was based and inspired by a video ‘ Muslim woman gives Jesus 7 days’

Here I am looking at the vulnerability of some believers, seeing that they feel they must put their fate in the hands of an imaginary entity, but then deciphering which one will come through for them. The response from the piece was that it was funny. Which was not my first intention, but keeping a sense of realism can make it funnier sometimes, rather than when it is contrived.

This project has been the most interesting one so far. It seems that I will be adopting some of the very things that repelled me at the start of it. With plans in hand to present a ‘live’ art performance on Friday afternoon, this improvised piece will have a structure regarding costume, and props, and may include giving an impression of vomiting. In the beginning of this project researching Paul McCarthy, I thought his performance piece where he appears to vomit was infantile and attention seeking. But here I am now, with a backup argument that supports this idea of vomiting. So this has been a huge turn around in my perception of this kind of art.

I will only be able to summarise this last performance after it has been done, as the project hand in is straight after the last crit, I will add my last conclusions and outcome of the performance.

Having pondered the Unorthodox project for the past seven weeks, it has become apparent, that once there is a clear message, taken from all the smaller research strands. This made it is a lot easier to apply.

I would hope that this performance, that will be completely experimental will bear something interesting. But also aware that it could be a failure, but with improvisation there is only one way to find out, and that is to do it.

This project started with an idea about identity, and the myth of Venus, but then it turned into different directions throughout the research briefs I followed my inspiration and made stuff and analysed it a lot more afterwards, rather than it all being about the idea first.

This project has changed the way I think. Rather than just try to say what I want to express. To actually ponder how he viewer will see the art.-

Final Piece

Video

PAY AS YOU GO DEAL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Je71XWu4lD4&app=desktop

Video

Projected Icon

https://www.facebook.com/jacqueline.paesano/videos/10156897902892166/

Pay as you go deal on Facebook with Feedback

https://www.facebook.com/jacqueline.paesano/videos/10157013151522166/

Why is it Taboo to make fun of Jesus?

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