reading

matthew barney

nan goldin

Nan Goldin's work involves the body. Her photos have an Aesthetically beautiful (content driven) snap shot quality to them. Her work is some what executed in a documentary style. She is close with most of her models. She invites the viewer into worlds that are not usually considered socially acceptable. Her photos are emotionally charged, with there theatrical lighting and sensuous color. She has done work involving the third gender, aids and sexuality.

ana mendieta

Ana Mendieta used the silhouette of her body to create actions (performances). The photo documentation of her actions is as formal as her work. She manipulates her body to create a new form. She felt that she needed to be united with her eternal source, " I have been carrying on a dialogue between the landscape and the female body, based on my own silhouette," (Barreras del Rio 10). She creates emotionally charged self portraits, which are known for there deep spiritual connection to the earth.

Hannah Wilke

velia

Bill Durgin

Natasha Rosling

Mari Richards

veronica bailey

tony feher

shih chieh Huang

patricia piccinini

Cecily Brown

rineke dijkstra

Jac Leirner

kiki smith

MELANIE SCHIFF

For her senior project at New York University, Melanie Schiff made a video of herself theoretically, "committing suicide." She is currently makeing works about the female body. Schiff is acutely aware of Ana Mendieta's work dealing with rape and death. She explaines Mendieta's work as a, "possession of self- awareness" and the ability to, "connect to the space." (1 Camper) Schiff make photos about being a female in a seemingly male dominated practice.

Schiff made a photo in 2006 entitled Mud Reclining. This Photo is a direct referance to Mendietas performance at Old Man's Creek, Iowa in 1979. In Mendietas preformance she was naked and covered in mud. In Schiffs photo the model has left her underware on. Schiff is a trained photographer which automatically makes her compositions stronger. However, Mendieta is a performance artist, she realizes the need for the body to be completely exposed in order to gain a certain affects from her viewers.

Schiff stated that, "my work is about what it is to be a feminist and still make a sexy image," (1 Frerrara). Her photos have a Duchamp aspect about them. Shiff's work is deceptively simple yet straightforward. She objectifies women and empowers them at the same time. However, this time "the photo is made by a woman" (1Frerrara). She is interested in placing a seemingly male persona, on to a female.

Erwin wurm

annette messager

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.