etant donnes

Valerie Hegarty

gordon matta clark

do ho suh

cildo meireles

mona hatoum

francesca woodman

Francesca Woodman was making photos around the same time Mendieta was preforming actions. Both artists were using her own body. Woodman made a photograph of a print of her body in the snow. Half of her body is in the photo. She leaves the viewer with everything he or she needs to know about how the work was made. Where as Mendieta's photos leaves more untold.

Woodman used her body to make black and white photos. Mendieta uses her body to make actions and documents the actions with photos. Woodman is also preforming an action but her emphasis is on the photo. Woodman's composition of her body makes the photo strong. Mendieta's concepts and ideas are sometimes stronger then the photos that are taken.

Woodman committed suicide in 1981 by jumping out a loft window in New York. Mendieta supposedly commited suiside four years later in 1985 at the age of thirty six. She was said to have jumped from her appartment window in New York. She fell from the thirty fourth floor. Her husband Carl Andre a minimalist artist was tried for her murder but found not guilty.

sarah lucas

Jac Leirner

james turrell

christo and jeanne claude

readings

Gaston Bachelard

"corners"

eva hesse

andre zittel

Ann Hamilton

Myien: fuchsia

gabriel orozco

My Hands Are My Heart
1991

richard long-robert smithson-andy goldsworthy

richard long



robert smithson
spiral jetty







andy goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy makes mostly earth works. Many of his works have been documented with photos or drawings. He creates indoor installations for galleries. He made a Mud Wall for the Museum of Scotland. When he installed the wall the mud was wet. When the mud dried it cracked and left a pattern revealing what was originally beneath. Mendieta made relief sculptures out of mud using practically the same process.

Mendieta's wall relief sculptures are representations of her own body. Goldsworthy's work talks specifically about the material and how the material decays over time. Mendieta's work deals with political issues as well as gender and identity. Mendieta uses the body which instantly brings life to an image. Beauty is something that should never be overlooked. Each of Mendieta's images have a beautiful quality to them, even if the subject matter is somewhat disturbing. Beauty in Mendietas images usually has an underlying political agenda.

Both Goldsworthy's Mud Wall and Mendietas wall relief have an aesthetically beautiful quality to them. Goldsworthy speaks specifically about experiencing the material,"The process of watching something being born and grow has a tired, tense, slow excitement driven more by fear of what may happen, (143 Abrams)." Mendieta's wall relief pushes the viewer to think beyond use of material. Where as Goldsworthy focuses specifically on material.

She created sculptures out of logs and drawings on leaves. These served as less controversial they were supposedly more suitable for a gallery. Her earlier works were more stimulating and aggressive often having disturbing undertones of rape and death. If she were alive today she would probably be making contemporary art, that would still push boundaries.

kim Rugg