Experimental Stage

 This is the first of my experiments. I have painted a piece of cardboard with white acrylic and used pva glue to position images taken of my female family members with magazine clippings of what society sees as beauty. I have also included a slight silhouette in black acrylic which is something i have done in my previous projects which were influenced by Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory. As i was experimenting with imagery i did place some photographs of recent technology but it didn't seem to fit in a similar way to that of Hannah Hochs' work. The images i have used to create this image are taken from some similar to Cindy Shermans film stills and i think they work well alongside the magazine cuttings, however it isn't clean enough and has little substance or meaning compared to the point i wish to get across about insecurity within females in society affected by the media. This is good though as it means i can now find ways of developing my collages as the project goes on.


This is another of my first set of experiments in which i have used more magazine cuttings than my own sources and it has a much more effective edge than the previous i feel. I have also included some family images from when my sisters and i were younger, but this again doesn't seem to have the ability to create an effect, i see it as more of a mood board to guide the following pieces.

Marcus Harvey

Marcus Harvey (born 1963 in Leeds) is an English artist and painter, one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). Having been suggested to look at his work, I find his ‘Sex and the British’ series’ most interesting.
Harvey takes his image sources from pornographic magazines and in this set of early canvases he uses paint as a means to explore the concept of excess. This piece (Julie From Hull, 1994) replicates a sense of urgency. It’s a large gushy range of a pink paint palette, representing a dirty looking amount of flesh, using a heavy graphical line over the thick expressionist ground, the form means the image becomes obvious as a vaginal painting, featuring the body of a woman with no head but with pearls and suspenders. Evidently taken from pornographically sourced material.

 Marcus Harvey (B. 1963) 

Doggy
oil on canvas
84 x 84in. (213 x 213cm.)
Painted in 1993-1994

I have read that it takes Harvey half an hour to clean his hands after a painting session, saying ‘It’s like being a murderer’ as is evident in this piece of a naked female from behind. Is this ‘dirty work’ a representation of the porn industry? I personally cannot relate to the work and find it difficult to look at. The way it uses such simple line to determine the female form works alongside the messy, colourful background to display an image representing anger at the world of porn. His work is very harsh and really displays someone who has views of sex as being animalistic and cannibalistic. You can tell he really enjoys the experience of the paint, similarly to how I enjoy the use of collage to determine a point or feeling towards the representation of women.