Photo from: Noritoshi Hirakawa, film still, "Vier Zwei Eins"
Hello everyone! Yesterday I gave a presentation to my digital class on artist Noritoshi Hirakawa. Noritoshi was born in 1960 in Japan, and ever sense 1993 has been living and working in NYC. Noritoshi's work is about sexuality and censorship, by combining the public and private image into the same image, which theoretically, gives the viewer a more sincere depiction of that society. Noritoshi studied applied sociology, so most of his work is critiques on social construction and censorship. We talked about in class how and why he would be mentioned in Boreau's book "Relational Aesthetics" and I believe it is because Boreau is interested in looking at artists who try to depict society and experiences just the way they are. Noritoshi Hirakawa in a sense, is doing this by combining two-- very real-- aspects of our societies into one image. When Noritoshi puts these images together into one image, often the viewer feels uncomfortable or surprised by the image. This reaction to the image is a result of a constructed society facade which creates a culturally uncomfortable feeling when a public interaction intertwines with a private, for instance: bedroom, interaction takes place at the same time. To leave with you something more specific about Noritoshi's feelings on the matter, this is a quote from him during an interview about his work:
"The framework of society is
based on fictions and this makes people lie," says the photographer.
"It is always easier to believe the lies. But it is these lies that are
loosening the bonds of society." - Noritoshi Hirakawa.
The other presentations were also really helpful with better understanding the concept of Relational Aesthetics. Even though Hillary really didn't like her, I thought Venessa Beecroft was supper interesting! I also thought her work related a lot to my artist in the aspects of censorship. Venessa does seem a bit strange as a person, given what information Hillary spoke about, but I can help but be fascinated by her work.
Here are some images of Venessa's work, check her out!
Photo from: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNpulBF4hR3YHYILNpF8sxtVA3FvCUB5Em4r5_bpamIsi9NavzJg0URBvLpaDgeDCBbVtsYiQgyBWzapbMa8q3hRFN1r6EFCeYY-LfnB0FQeDYvQqE9cHZ5Exz2eAED6SBvApJt9LM-_v/s1600/MuseoMagazine-VanessaBeecroft-V
photo from: http://gliving.com/vanessa-beecroft-less-than-sympathetic-artist-becomes-unbelievable-character-in-sudanese-adoption-documentary/
vanessa beecroft, vb61: still death! darfur still deaf?, 2007, performance, pescheria di rialto, venice
Provoking comparison between Hirakawa and Beecroft as both use the human body as an essential material for their art. How they approach the body is politically and intellectually nearly opposite however both make us question the act of looking and provide opportunities to gawk unchecked.
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