ART 422 Body and/as Image:Expression, Identity, and Subjectivity
An intensive discourse has emerged around the concept of the body in the humanities during the past couple of decades. In this class we will explore the human body as a medium of expression, identity formation, and subjectivity in the twentieth century. Representations of the body in painting, photography, sculpture, and video will be analyzed and discussed in relation to artist statements, art historical interpretations, and critical, theoretical writings from the early avant-garde (Cubism, Futurism, Dada, and Surrealism) through contemporary art practices & theory (Body Art, Performance, Feminism, Postmodernism). Some of the artists whose work we will examine are: Marcel Duchamp, Alfred Stieglitz, AndrÈ KertÈsz, Claude Cahun, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Willem de Kooning, Matthew Barney, Vito Acconci, Joseph Beuys, Philip Pearlstein, Yves Klein, Ana Mendieta, Janine Antoni, Laurie Anderson, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mona Hatoum, Orlan, Kiki Smith, Shirin Neshat, Cindy Sherman, Bill Viola, Carolee Schneemann, Chris Burden, Yasumasa Morimura, and Lynn Hershman.