Studio Foundations: 4D

When creating my piece I took inspiration from a lot of performance artists where the underlying premise of feminism was hard to miss. The representation of women is always a daunting and challenging concept we often question and rethink- especially in our social climate.

I recently watched a documentary on the artist Candy Darling. She was a Warhol superstar and a transexual icon. The doc acts as a biography and part of the narration is actress Chloë Sevigny reading Candy’s diary.

I found myself relating to Candy in many ways. Her desire to be perceived as a woman, and the struggle of wanting men to want her but also need her. 

I related to Candy, because as a tomboy growing up and not necessarily conforming to social norms of what a woman should look like and act like I understood her struggle. But something I wanted to show in this, was not only the struggle of being a woman whether being born that way or as trans, but we all also struggle with love and identity. I also wanted to highlight that as women we are lucky to be able to wear makeup and have that freedom- something Candy dreamed for and died for. As much as we hate being a “woman”, and the pressure to always be beautiful, some of us might look past or take for granted that we can be that way, while others struggle with just trying to be authentic and genuine without consequence. That’s the feeling I wanted to convey in my piece. 

I used the audio from the film of Chloë Sevigny reading Candy’s diary.

I’ve got a few ides for this project, but deciding between two. So my drawing will go with idea 1 and idea 2.

My verb list also goes with both ideas. I guess it will be a surprise to us all which one I decide to do! I’m clueless! 

Verb list: To listen To replace To doubt To lack To want To recall To light To feel To follow To discover To convince To burn To examine To hope To desire To lose To hurt To paint To miss To retain