Troubled Female

When people look wide-eyed in shock.......

Controversial Art

One kind of controversial art is the art of body piercings, but not the kind that normal people would get. No, this kind of body piercing moves the whole piercing thing to a completely different level above and beyond what most people would even remotely consider, spurning the question "can self mutilation be considered art"? Here are some images.

The "corset piercing" pierces the back of a person much like a corset. This is laced with industrial strength cable.

This is another example with industrial strength cable. This time, the subject is suspended using the cable and it is punched right through her flesh.

Another example of suspension.

This is an example of a mouth being stitched closed with thread. Are these all examples of art, or self-mutilation?

Another type of controversial art is art that is considered "underground" and an artist like Banksy would be a perfect example of such an art form. He posts politically-charged pieces of graffiti that break the conventional ways of seeing graffiti. He also does parody work of existing classic paintings, but is that originality and artistic, or is it just a copy-cat delinquent maneuver? Take into account that he sometimes sneaks his works into museums and hangs them up for display:

This is a piece of his graffiti work that depicts children dancing around a nuclear explosion as though it is the mulberry bush from nursery rhymes. It has obvious political tones, but it is pasted on a public wall. Is it graffiti, or a statement?

This is a picture of two cops making out. Perhaps Banksy doesn't appreciate police. Regardless, either image is a far cry from the normal twisted words that most graffiti is associated with. The subject matter is very simple, but it seems more artistic than the norm for graffiti.

This is a famous painting, but normally, there is no broken glass, lawn chairs, or men standing outside in boxers. Banksy copied the artists work and added in his own touches. These are the kind of works that he sneaks into gallery showings. Is this art?

This is another picture that Banksy did not completely create. His touch would be the surveillance tower between the road and the lake.

Both of these kinds of art are generally considered to be controversial. The first set is controversial for obvious reasons, including that most people would consider it more along the lines of self-mutilation than art. The second set makes a statement, but is plastered on public walls and posted in galleries that it doesn't belong in.

Credit for the first set of images goes to Circle23 and nightmarebeta at Deviantart.com

credit for the banksy art goes to Banksy.

"True You" shows a nude women holding a mirror in front of her face. The eyes of a veiled women appear in the mirror. Normandi specializes in provocative photos of women wearing hijabs to protest the forced veiling of Muslim women. Some residents were very offended by this picture

"OVERLOOKED"

Catharsis

The art on The Cosby show when the black people are dressed as if they are walking in line at a a funeral. That is a very depressing piece of art to me....

Surealism

Surrealism

Europe, 1924 to 1950's

WWII

• World War II scattered artist and writers that had been based in Paris all over the world.

• While away from Paris, most participated in Dada activities. (antiwar)

DADA

• movement among

European artists and writers that lasted from 1916 to 1922

• Dada attacked conventional standards and stressed absurdity and the role of the unpredictable in artistic creation

• originated in the late 1910s and early '20s as a literary movement that experimented with a new mode of expression called automatic writing, or automatism, which sought to release the unbridled imagination of the subconscious

Surrealism

• Very difficult to read

Andre’ Breton

• Known as the principal founder of Surrealism

• French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist

• In 1924 issued the first Surrealist Manifesto

Surrealist Manifesto

• 1^st Manifesto

Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to

express -- verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the

actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.

Surrealism

• Best known for the visual artworks and writings

• artists create dreamlike paintings filled with mysterious objects or familiar objects that

have been oddly changed in ways that you would not see in reality

How

• In the mid-1920s surrealist held meetings in cafes where they played collaborative drawing games and discussed the theories of Surrealism. The Surrealists developed a variety of techniques such as automatic drawing

Automatism

• Developed as a way to express the subconscious

• The hand is allowed to move 'randomly' a

cross the paper.

Frottage

• the artist takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a "rubbing" over a textured surface

• drawing can be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement.