Matthieu Bourel

My third artist is Matthieu Bourel. Quick summary, he is originally from France and is famous for using collage but also has the skill of painting, music, sound and illustration. From the design gallery, it is said that 'through the eyes of this artist we are reminded that beauty is only skin deep.' He shows is in an anatomical fashion what he sees beneath the skin of Sophia Loren in his collage, 'Princess / Headcut', He sees himself as a musician that on;y makes collages. Even after some of his collages have been exhibited he will go back and add more layers to re - identify it.

My reflections: MY work relates to Bourel's work because of what he does in his collages that the subjects in mine physically do to their own face. He is simply cutting paper and rearranging faces to make something new. Whereas I am changing the faces in my project using a scalpel or a needle for Botox, something that cannot be reversed. I like how he drastically changes the colours and how they don't match to show that they don't belong and are not meant to be. 

Guy Merrill

My second artist is Guy Merrill, this is a summary of him and his artwork. Merrill is a talented photographer from London, England. He addresses the insecurities of both men and women. Even though women are usually in the spotlight when it comes to these issues Merrill tries to portray the same issues in the life of men. In his photographs he captures the people with average, everyday, normal bodies wanting the bodies of athletes or super models, but usually ends up with depression and wishful thinking. He has them standing in front of a mirror with a magazine in front of the area they want to change visualising what it would be like to have bigger breasts or stronger abs.

Here are some of my reflections on GM: I can relate my work to his simply because of his subject matter, like Helnwein's, his work is about the human body and how people are not happy with the image they see standing in the mirror. In my project my subjects are using various extreme procedures to change how they look but in Merrills photography they are using a simple photo from a magazine to see what they would look like with these different body parts. 

Gottfried Helnwein

The first artist that I'm reflecting on is Gottfried Helnwein. Here is a quick summary of his life in art. He is an Irish - Austrian artist, photographer, painter, installation and performance artist, He is primarily concerned with psychological and sociological anxiety, historical issues and political topics. His work is often considered provocative and controversial. The human condition as his subject matter had emerged and stayed consistent throughout his career. His photographs, 'Self - Portrait' 1987 and 'Ecstasy of Saint Theresa' 1987 are very visual and can be disturbing to some extent with their string colours, strong subject matter and the cold materials used.

Some of my reflections on GH: I relate my work to his a lot because of his subject matter: The Human Condition. I see how his controversial photographs show how raw the human body can be and how easily it can be manipulated and destroyed. It really brings to light how shocking and permanent the effects of plastic surgery can be to the body. Once you go under these procedures there is no going back. The red powder symbolizes blood and the blue symbolizes a cold corpse.

     

Research Photography

I've been looking at different body shapes and these photos are of my friends body.