Making Controversy Work For You

All “controversial” artists have some type of message. This message is usually something you’ve heard before, either from a Christian conservative or maybe a man-hating lesbian or animal rights activist, but never the less, a voice that is represented visually. The voice they speak is one that touches each of our nerves and the imagery is striking. In some cases their motivation is purely shock value to force you to run away crying. At other times the artists are asking you think about the concept with new eyes and consider the other side.

James Victore typically has one simple message and one simple image but that is what makes his work so striking. There is no extensive analysis, there is no artist statement. In most cases, Victore’s work is humorous - which might take a slight edge off his work, but still the truth is quite obvious. “Graphic Design is a club with spikes and I want to weald it.” view interview with James.

http://www.marshallarisman.com/” title="Marshall Arisman">Marshall Arisman is by far the most interesting individual I have ever encountered. His earlier work speaks to the violent and perverse world of self-mutilation and gun usage. He also toys with the idea of the atom bomb and the destruction of humanity. Emerging in the early 60’s, Arisman’s work was controversial from the beginning. He was often known for his dark and mysterious spiritual powers as well as his psychic abilities. All of this has been the driving force behind much of his work. He has spent endless hours drawing what he sees as auras around spiritual figures and animals. Much like the late Francis Bacon, Arisman’s work also uses the facial expressions of the beast from within to relay the human struggles.

Damien Hurst was first noticed because of his Freeze exhibition in 1988. His second major installation where he utilized animals, A Thousand Years, consisted of a large glass case containing maggots and flies feeding off a rotting cow’s head. He went on to create the infamous Sensation exhibit, which was part of the much celebrated Sacchi collection. During this exhibit, he explored the human and animal body with explicit detail, dissecting and discovering in a manner that had never been practiced before. All of his shows require attendants to be over 18.

http://www.gagosian.com/artists/jenny-saville” title="Jenny Saville">Jenny Saville is woman who has struggled with her own identity, and so interprets the identities of the figures she paints. She has spent several years studying the obese, deformed, rejected and outcast individuals of society. Saville uses an enormous canvas to display this grotesque imagery so that the paintings are unavoidable. Because some of the paintings are a collage of multiple figures, the imagery becomes a huge piled mass of cold and twisted flesh.

Sue Coe, is an illustrator and animal rights activist. She has spent the past several years researching and documenting slaughterhouses and stockyards. These drawings and paintings have come to culmination in her graphic novel “Dead Meat” which exploits the sufferings and injustices imposed on Mother Nature and it’s creatures we take for granted. She continually creates imagery depicting a bleak and desolate earth that has been destroyed by humans. Not much of a heart warmer.

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Post by laura on 02/19
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