The Grotesque in Western Art and Literature: The Image at Play

Connelly, Frances S. The Grotesque in Western Art and Culture: The Image at Play. , 2012. Print.

Connelly's book was one of my key resources for my paper.  It gave an overview on the origins of the grotesque and it explained that the grotesque is divided into three categories:  arabesque(ornamental), carnivalesque, and trauma.  Connelly emphasized the obscurity of the grotesque for example on page 14, she explains "the grotesque is an action and that an image is grotesque by what it does and it demonstrates that , although the grotesque courts ambiguity and flux..."

On page 82, Connelly gives a brief explanation of the carnivalesque.  she explains that it "represents a powerful expression of the grotesque one that developed from medieval European folk traditions and street theater...[it] provokes raucous , often ribald laughter as it mocks and subverts social convention, individual pretension, and hierarchies of all kinds." 
the carnivalesque works with the material world, and especially the body.  This is not as the body conceive it, but as our own mortal bodies experience it.  Carnivalesque imagery features bodies with wide-open mouths or big bellies, bodies striking lewd, exaggerated, or ridiculous positions, and bodies with things coming coming in or out of them."

Reading through the chapters I realized that my work is a combination of the carnivalesque and trauma.

"...the abject and monstrous drag us into a fearful, liminal world that threatens the carefully constructed veneer of our identity...the repulsion we feel when confronted by the monstrous of the abject is matched equally by an intense fascination, each undercutting the other. "

"Monstrosity and abjection elicit an overwhelming desire to draw a boundary between ourselves and their fearful otherness."

"We experience the uncanny when we are unable to determine our relation with something we encounter, to establish a psychic boundary between it and ourselves.  Freud observed 'many people experience the feeling of the uncanny in the highest degree in relation to death and dead bodies, to return to the dead, and to spirits and ghosts'"

"The cultural role of the monstrous is, as Jeffrey Jerome Cohen writes, to embody 'fear, desire, anxiety, and fantasy, giving them life and an uncanny independence'.  The monstrous is pure culture.  A construct and a projection, the monster exists only to be read:  the monstrum is etymologically 'that which reveals,' 'that which warns.' '  Groups or Persons can be made monstrous by being cast as boundary creatures, represented as threatening to the norm whether on the basis of ethnicity, sexual preference, or most fundamentally, gender."

The Grotesque in Art and Literature

Kayser, Wolfgang. The Grotesque in Art and Literature. Gloucester, Mass: P. Smith,         1968. Print.

For my research I acquired various books on the grotesque.  In Wilhelm Kayser's book, I acquired information on the origins of the grotesque.  On page 19, he explains that the word is derived from the Italian La grottesca and grottesco.  These "refer to grotta (cave) and were coined to designate a certain ornamental style which came to light during late fifteenth-century excavations, first in Rome and then in other parts of Italy as well.."

"...[the]word grottesco...was used to designate a specific ornamental style suggested by antiquity...[it was] playfully gay and carefully fantastic [and it was] ominous and sinister in the face of a world totally different from the familiar one-a world in which the realm of inanimate things is no longer separated from those of plants, animals, and human beings and where the laws of statics, symmetry, and proportion are no longer valid..."

At this time, the ornamental style was strange because it conflicted with NeoClassicism and the realism which appeared in the art at the time.  Kayser explains that the grotesque has always been considered strange.

I included this source because it helped me understand the origins and reaction to this genre.  It also helped me understand how the grotesque and its meaning have been changing over the course of centuries.

Enrique Gomez De Molina

I discovered Molina from one of my friends.  He is a talented artist, creating strange Chimeras, or animals that embody several animal characteristics.  On his website his artist statement states:

"The impossibility of my sculptures brings me joy and sadness at the same time.  The joy comes from seeing and experiencing the fantasy of the work that has coupled with the sadness of the fact that we are destroying all of these beautiful things."

His work is beautifully crafted but he acquired the animals illegally, which doesn't add up to the statement above which is on his website.  I am including his because I admire the silhouettes he creates using various parts but I am also conflicted because he is using endangered and illegally acquired animals.

Here are some examples of his work and a link to his website:

http://www.enriquegomezdemolina.com/

Paradise, 2010

WTF, 2008

Talia Greene

Greene is another artist that incorporates insects into her work.  She is a mixed media artist that uses photography, digital printing, drawing, and sewing.  I am drawn to her work because she uses her work to draw attention to various tensions such as nature vs man's need to control it.

Here is a link to Halsey Institute which gives a brief bio about the artist and it shows several of her works:

http://halsey.cofc.edu/exhibitions/single_artist/talia-greene/



I like how she combines contrasting materials and creates cohesive pieces.  Additionally, I like ho weird her work is.  In the works above she used dead ants for each gentleman's hairdo.

Gregor Gaida

Gregor Gaida is a polish artist that creates sculptures made from wood, aluminum, cement, and resin.  The Yatzer article describes the basis of his work comes from photographs he finds in magazines, books, and other media.  "The focus of his interest lies on composition and the protagonists’ pose in the images, as well as the openness in interpreting their actions. A special meaning lies in the gesture that indicates cultural, social or political discrepancies. Thus isolated, the images’ original message collapses and turns into a different, or many different, possibilities of association. The found footage is often no more than an impulse that is no longer discernible in the further development of the shape. In the end, the result remains a translation of reality, equivalent to his inner point of view."

The work in this particular article shows Gaida's interest in the figure paired with the narrative.  In comparison my work, though I haven't ventured into making anatomically correct figures, I enjoy the skill it takes.  Within my own work my monsters are distorted emotional bodies.  I use elements such as fingers and toes, recognizable parts but I combine them with animal characteristics.  For instance on his website, selected works from 2011 and 2014 such as the Polygonal Horse, as seen below, I register with that aesthetic, taking recognizable forms and abstracting or changing the form visually and aesthetically.

http://www.yatzer.com/The-wooden-tales-of-Gregor-Gaida
http://www.gregor-gaida.de/index.php?page=start

 Gregor Gaida 2008
200 x 180 x 195 cm
polyester resin, wood
prayed lacquer, iron

Rafael Gomezbarros

I found this article which describes the work of Rafael Gomezbarros.  In the Saatchi Gallery 50 of his 20 inch ant sculptures engulf the gallery.  They are made of resin, fiberglass, and human skull casts.  The article states that the exhibit "depicts the plight of immigrant workers across the world."  In another article, in The City Paper goes on further to explain that "Gómezbarros uses ants to explore the negative issues that affect Colombia, such as displacement and migration.  As insects that are constantly on the move, “ants live displacement,” he says. It is unclear whether the ants are the invaders or the invaded, another “dual” aspect that appeals to the artist."

I like the idea of creating a swarm of creatures that engulf a space.  To me his metaphor makes sense.  For my work, my monsters, creatures, or as Lisa calls the, "bugs" symbolize my thoughts and how they invade every part of my mind, magnifying my personal problems. 

http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/21/5922231/the-saatchi-gallery-ants

http://thecitypaperbogota.com/culture/the-artist-and-the-ants/

Swarms, Flocks & Herds: Installations by Kristi Malakoff

I found this artist while researching installations  Similar to Claire Morgan, I enjoy her use of multiples, it creates presence without creating one large piece.  Unlike Claire, Malakoff doesn't use taxidermy animals, instead she replicates the silhouettes or visual references on paper, cardboard, etc.

I find her work fun with a hint of kitsch especially with the vibrant butterflies.

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/03/swarms-flocks-herds-installations-by-kristi-malakoff/

Claire Morgan- Froze Moments: Freaky, Funky Eco Art Installations

Along with researching the grotesqueand monsters, I have also been exploring installation work.  One artist that I found is Claire Morgan.  Morgan creates freeze frames that evoke life and death.  This is due to her materials, taxidermy animals and insects and decaying natural materials such as flowers and leaves.  Various animals are entwined in a geometric framework, engulfing a separate species.  The imagery is mesmerizing.  Her work shows how beautiful and fleeting the natural world is.  Maybe she is pointing out to the viewer that we should enjoy it.

I like her work because I enjoy the visual strength of numbers, something I want to explore in my work.  I feel that a large number of my monsters will help me get my concept across to the audience.

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/02/06/frozen-moments-freaky-funky-eco-art-installations/

Jason Briggs

Jason Brigs is a ceramic artist that creates strange visceral objects made from altered, thrown porcelain, a traditional and highly revered clay body.  On his website he describes his works as objects that stir the desire to touch.  He tries to create things that have never existed before, drawing visual references from the human form, and sexuality while abstracted the form and creating something new, foreign, and forbidden yet tactile and attractive.

I love his work, the way he has change the traditional sense of porcelain creating strange creature-esque forms.  His work gave me the idea of introducing hair, human hair into my work.  This addition makes his work appear to be actual flesh and kind of gross, because it sort of looks like pubic hair.

Here are some examples of his work and a link to his website:"Pearl"   Porcelain, hair, nail polish. 12 x 8 x 7   (Base: satin.)  2011.
http://jasonbriggs.com/

 
"Pearl" Porcelain, hair, nail polish. 12 x 8 x 7   (Base: satin.)  2011.


"Angel"   Porcelain, hair, steel. 15 x 11 x 9   (Base: silk, panties.)  2011.

Andrea Hasler: A continuing exploration...

I decided to further explore Hasler's work.  I found her website where she has various documentation of installations that she does.  Her artist statement states:

"My work offers models of relational aesthetics that are undesirable at first glance in terms of the ideal tie between desire and the social sphere. It speaks of nature, which references existentialist moments within the repetitive scenario between power and struggle, consumed and consumer, subject and object, action and reaction in popular culture."

I enjoy Hasler's work because she questions boundaries and standards we live by.  I have come to realize that like Hasler's my work is about the emotional body, inspired by tumultuous thoughts that have escaped outside myself.  Looking through her work, it is obvious that she is able to talk about her work, while I am still trying to find my footing.

Below is a link to her personal website, enjoy!

http://www.andreahasler.com/

Here is an example of one of her works:



'full-fat or semi-skinned?' Installation shown at Next Level Projects/London 2010

Sam Wolfe Connelly

I love Connelly's paintings, he creates subtle scenes of the grotesque by creating strange situations with the human form.  Either a woman with what appears to be feather covered legs or  a drowning man, he deals with dark material.  In various works he hides the identity of his forms, drawing the viewer in, due to their inclination of curiosity.  The visual vocabulary is strange and visceral with a hint of creepiness and obscurity.  Though he doesn't use the monster image, he uses the human form in strange positions to point towards the grotesque.

Here is a link to his website and a gallery that shows his work:

http://samwolfeconnelly.com/pages/gallery.html
http://www.arcadiacontemporary.com/artists/connelly/#/1



THE WALLS WHICH STAND - graphite/charcoal



ABOVE MY FLOORBOARDS, graphite/carbon

Carrie Longley

I have known about carrie Longley for a while now.  She creates strange organisms out of clay, blending visions of human and animal anatomy.  I enjoy her surfaces, a combination of fatty, bulbous flesh and stretched skin over bone.  It is obvious that she looks at anatomy for reference.  I am trying to do that more in my work.  recently I acquired an anatomy book from the library as reference.

Here are some examples of her work and a link to her website:

www.carrielongley.com



I enjoy how she displays her work as though they are specimens found in a lab.  A possible display solution.

Hannah Hoch: A continuation...

Frances Connelly. Modern Art and the Grotesque. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University                 Press, 2003. Print.

Here is another source about Hannah Hoch.  In chapter 9, it discusses Hannah Hoch and her obsession with grotesque bodies.  The chapter compares her work with Connelly's definition of grotesque.  For instance, "the grotesque is an aesthetic strategy that cuts across or against boundaries and categories.  By combining the primitive and modern, the male and female, the natural and the man-made, grotesque images like Sweet One challenge presumed universals of classical beauty as the pertain both to art and to the body.  Photo-montage, by its definition brings together unlike things from disparate worlds and thus transgresses and destabilizes boundaries more naturally than any other medium.... The photograph is intuitively felt to be a mirror of reality, photo montage, with its surprising juxtapositions of disparate photographic images, is is inherently more unsettling than paintings or sculptures that similarly jumble categories."

In the text there are various images that combine photographs of naked women and various ceremonial masks.  This juxtaposition creates strange imagery that takes the viewer aback.

The text goes further to explain Hoch's extensive use of the female form."[The} historical and theoretical construction of the grotesque likewise tends to evoke the female, though it builds more on the bodily metaphor.  Dark and cavernous, earthly and material.As Marsha Meskimmon has recently argued, monsters are all about maternity, about a "misshapen birth, an abortion, the result of bestiality or a woman's union with a demon, the product of some trauma delivered to a pregnant woman."

I found this description of the association of the female form with the grotesque interesting.  It makes sense because if you look at various scary movies, i.e. The Exorcist, Carrie, Rosemary's Baby, evil, ugliness, or the grotesque emerge or come from the female form.

Various works commented on medical debate about sexual identity and beauty enhancement.

Anyway, I enjoy her work because it is weird and somewhat controversial.


Strange Beauty (Fremde Schonheit), 1929.  Photo-montage with watercolor.


Sweet One (Die Sui be).  Photo-montage with Watercolor

Hannah Hoch

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jan/09/hannah-hoch-art-punk-whitechapel

While doing research on the grotesque I discovered Hannah Hoch, a female photo-montage artist who created works that were political comments and celebrated the New Woman.  For instance in one work  "Heads of State... she took a recent newspaper photograph of German president Friedrich Ebert and his defence minister Gustav Noske, pictured in their bathing trunks at a Baltic resort, and set their paunchy figures atop an iron-on embroidery pattern of a woman with a parasol, surrounded by flowers and butterflies."

In the article it describes her work as a surreal gtotesque.  I agree because she destroys the ideals of what art is, cutting up pictures , giving life to severed limbs and creating alien and deformed figures.  Though she is a two dimensional artist, I enjoy the way she explored composition using collage.

Here are some examples of her work:



 Staatshäupter (Heads of State), 1918-20

Kiki Smith

I love Kiki Smith because I enjoy how she works in a variety of media i.e. printmaking, wax, bronze, and clay. Also she creates work that deals with "forbidden" topics such as feces in her piece "Tale."  In that work particularly she questions why once feces separates itself from the body, it becomes taboo.  She creates a shocking image as a woman crawls across the floor, feces smeared on her bottom as a "tail" of waste trails behind her.  She confronts the viewer with taboo subjects by creating blunt images.

I found an interview of Kiki Smith on Art21 under the title "Stories," which I feel embodies her work because she creates narratives within each piece.

Pictures of Work:

Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/art21/watch-now/segment-kiki-smith-in-stories

OR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aRhXY0wQiE

AND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cVn6YzOuGE

Hustvedt, Siri.  “Kiki Smith Dismembers Body And Mind Insides Out.”  Modern Painters (2006):  70-73.  Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Aug 2014

MATTHEW BARNEY

Matthew Barney is an interesting artist, he explores topics that straddle between the ordinary and the absurd.  In his film series, Cremaster Cycle, he creates imaginative environments that represent male and female sexuality.Barney acts as director, producer, actor, and artist. throughout this theories he dresses as various characters such as a satyr, a magician, a ram, Harry Houdini, and the murderer Gary Gilmore.  I found a video of him on Art21 and YouTube where he describes the Cremaster Series. .

I enjoy Barney's work because how different the content is and how absurd and frivolous the visuals are. I may not understand the content of his work BUT I can't helped to be awed or snared by his imagery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJfI1LRK0tc

http://ec2-75-101-145-29.compute-1.amazonaws.com/art21/artists/matthew-barney

Mark Greenwalt

Though I am strictly a sculptor I admire the grotesquely beautiful drawings of Mark Greenwalt.  I love the combination of the idealistic anatomy with the deformities of extra limbs.  I love his use of color and texture to bring his figures to life.

Here is an insight to the content of his work:

"I use various drawing media to synergistically combine complex creative dualities via allegorical human figures.  These might include the tension between reason and intuition, chaos and order, or the beautiful and the grotesque.   Although these figures are often derived from anatomical sources, they seldom represent biologically living beings, but instead represent a shift away from forms occurring independently in Nature and toward forms highly dependent on Culture.

My figures often directly and indirectly reference this era’s recorded wealth of culturally mediated figuration – from master drawings to stuffed animals, from anatomical illustrations to animistic tribal effigies. In my cyclic processes of forming, deforming, and reforming, I appreciate the role of growth and decay in the creative process and reflect on the absurdities of spiritual receptivity in a mechanistic world."

-http://www.markgreenwalt.com/

Christopher Marley- "Beetle Mania"

I discovered this artist last year, when I saw my roommate's calendar filled with gorgeous compositions of insects.  He is quite interesting, he collects various species of insects from around the globe, organizing them by species and color he plays the role as an entomologist and an artist.  I just like the idea of taking these gross nightmare inducing things, for some, and creating works of art.  He doesn't only deal with insects but taxidermy animals.

I know what your thinking but he collects pelts from animals that have already died.  He receives the deceased animals from zoos and aquariums.

Though Marley isn't necessarily creating grotesque work, I enjoy his precision and scientific sensibilities.  I enjoy the diverse colors among the various species.  I like the way he displays his work.

Here is a link to his personal website and some pictures of his work:

http://www.pheromonedesign.com/

Ellen Jewett: "Feather Of Me"

Ellen Jewett is a self taught sculptor that has a background in Biological Anthropology and Fine Arts.  She makes three dimensional sculptures of, what the website describes, as 'grotesque hybrids.'  I can see the association because her work combines animal anatomy with the whimsical combining various animals together to create these fantastic creatures.  I love the texture she creates in her work and the use of negative space.  I also enjoy the quote: "...sculpting has always been about life, biological narratives, emotions, and movement."  

Here are some images a link to the website:

http://www.featherofme.com/ellen-jewett-the-grotesque-hybrids/

"Wild Exaggeration..."

I found a great article on an exhibition that used grotesque.  "Wild Exaggeration" was a group show that exhibited works by Israeli and international artists.

 "The common denominator underlying most of the works featured in this exhibition is a concern with the grotesque body - an exaggerated, distorted and ridiculous body that exceeds its own limits, and whose different parts are incompatible with one another. At times it may take the form of a hybrid body composed of animals, objects and plants, while in other instances it appears as an exaggerated and distorted human body"  

See more at: http://www.artiscontemporary.org/agenda_detail.php?id=360#sthash.12WvcS7C.dpuf

I also researched where the exhibit was and who they showed in the exhibition.  Here is another link:

http://www.hms.org.il/Museum/Templates/Showpage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=841&FID=1521&PID=3434

If you look through the images and artists, the grotesque theme is obvious but different at the same time.  There is a wide range of creepiness, humor, satire, ridicule, and confusion.

The first thing I thought when I read this article was dammit, I wish I found this article when I was doing my research for my paper.  Second, I agree with the description of grotesque where it is about chaos and over stepping boundaries.  Artists use their creativity as an outlet to question everyday life standards.  For me, the grotesque allows me to be messy and confrontational things I am hesitant to be in other parts of my life.

Some of the artists I liked were:

Shira Zelwer

Peter Jacob Maltz

Adi Nachshon

Heidi Stern

Anan Tzuckerman

THE GROTESQUE CERAMIC ART OF MARIA RUBINKE

These ceramics figures/figurines are terrifying and cute in a twisted way.  I like how she contrasts the white of, I'm guessing, porcelain combined with the deep crimson.  I haven't been able to find more information on the content of her work, just that she combines child-like innocence with grotesque elements.  Here is a link and a sneak peek of her work.

http://mashkulture.net/2013/04/30/the-grotesque-ceramic-art-of-maria-rubinke

 

The Mutter Museum

I came upon this museum after speaking with a fellow classmate.  It is a medical history museum that is located in Philadelphia.  It displays preserved collections of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments in a 19th century "cabinet museum" setting.  What the site doesn't advertise is that many of the items in the museum were required illegally or mysteriously.  

http://muttermuseum.org/

September 11, 2014 - Andrea Hasler

I found a new artist that uses grotesque imagery to fuel her work.  She creates bloody 'human' sculptures.  She renders objects such as purses, clutches, shoes, and tents out to be made of intestines and human material.  They are repulsive yet I don't want to look away.  Though the main context of her work is different than mine, I appreciate how much guts (no pun intended) she has in creating graphic and disturbing imagery.  Its the kind of work that holds the viewer's gaze, no matter his or her  opinion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/24/andrea-hasler_n_4816576.html

Here is a peek of Andrea Hasler's work:

September 3, 2014- LAUREN GALLASPY

I was browsing through the library's articles and I found an article on Lauren Gallaspy.  She is a ceramic artist that creates intricate ambiguous forms.  I find her work entrancing how she combines three dimensional and two dimensional imagery. I love the grotesque quality to her work, how she creates the illusions of these fleshy mounds of flesh, with ears or anatomical-esque features.  Also the surfaces are to die for with layering of under glaze,gouache and varnish.  As the viewer, you are pulled in the simulated depth.

West, Christina.  "Lauren Gallaspy's Workmanship of Risk."  Ceramics:  Art and Perception.  90 (2012): 54-57.  Academic Search Complete. Web 28 Aug 2014

Here is a link to her website, where she has numerous examples of her awesome surfaces!

http://www.laurengallaspy.com/

Finally, here is an artist statement from Lauren Gallaspy.  I included her description/ artist statement because I like the exploratory nature of her ambiguous forms.  At the moment in my own work I have started dealing with anamorphic sculptural forms that deal with the unknown.  I have attributed them to the grotesque genre but they may be something entirely different.

"My attention centers around a longing for interaction with objects existing within the border space between the known and the unknown.  I wish to make work in which controversial hierarchies of value- the concrete over the imaginary, fact over fiction, efficiency over pleasure-- are dismantled, their parts rearranged to form objects through which pathos, obsession, and imagination are encouraged. Imagination is not utilized as a retreat from, but rather a recognition of, the startlingly specific ways we make sense of ourselves and our surroundings.  In material form, the imaginative act becomes a way to help shorten the distance between what happens inside our heads and outside our bodies.  Clay is utilized in this activity as a covert material-- a thicket in which animals of association may hide."

Lauren Gallaspy.  Ceramics Monthly. May 2010, Vol. 58 Issue 5: 46