soniartem

Casting and making a mould from a real pig’s heart. I am planning to suspend it at my end of year show and have threads come out from it. This was a really interesting experience, I am happy with how the plaster cast turned out. I had to make multiple versions as the artery on the first cast broke. It was quite delicate.

          Ethics and art - How considerate does an artist have to be?

Contemporary art seeks to challenge traditional boundaries, almost seeing how far it can go before it crosses the line. It can at times be confusing, confrontational and controversial and can shock or thrill the audience depending on the subject matter. Contemporary art can be anything from an installation to a painting, a performance to a sculptural piece, it can even be a random object that is claimed to be art. As there is no uniformity or formula, the artist can use any medium and can exhibit anything he/she wishes to.

Controversy in the art world has always existed. Even in Caravaggio’s religious works in the 15th century which depicted religious figures in a very realistic manner. One of his most controversial paintings at the time was ‘The Death Of The Virgin’ which depicted The Virgin Mary on her death bed. The controversy was not of the subject matter but more about the way that this biblical scene was painted. The Virgin Mary can be seen with her hand over her slightly bloated stomach and bared ankles which the audience found very upsetting. For these reasons it was rejected by the Chapel of Santa Maria della Scala for which it was commissioned by in Rome. It was also said that the woman that modelled The Virgin Mary for this painting was a common prostitute working in Rome. This brought further distaste to the artwork. Nowadays, it is a revered masterpiece however when painted, it was disputed over. A controversial modern day representation of The Virgin Mary is ‘The Holy Virgin Mary’ by Chris Ofili’. This painting depicts The Virgin Mary surrounded by the backsides of Women from adult magazines, balancing the canvas on two pieces of elephant dung. Ofili stated that it is a ‘hip-hop version (of the figure)’. The painting stands out with its vibrant use of colour, the yellow and purple starkly contrast with each other making the painting quite jarring and bright. Many would not find the artwork offensive at all however at the same this portrayal offended many religious people. It is difficult to please every individual audience member although I think that there is an unspoken responsibility to have mutual respect for the audience and be considerate of groups of the audience that may see your work.

When it comes to exhibiting artwork, ethics are important to consider. This form of ‘moral accountability’ encourages the respect of the audience. However, everyone will have a different opinion and take on the artwork and our life experiences will cause us to interpret art in various ways. At the end of the day, it is up to the artist to decide what to include in their work but some may argue that this doesn’t mean that the artist shouldn’t be held accountable for any content they exhibit. On the other hand, some artworks are intended to be controversial and aim to shock. The series of work 'Plum Grove' by Peter Howson (1994) does just that. This series of paintings, influenced by the break-up of Yugoslavia and the creation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, aims to portray these events in a graphic manner and the effect of the war on the civilians. Howson was the official War Artist for the British contingent of the UN Peace Keeping Force to Bosnia in 1993. As a result, his paintings included rape scenes, violence, and other graphic scenes which he witnessed himself or from eye-witness accounts. His paintings depict people in contorted positions with green and blue skin tones giving a sense of distress and pain. The paintings are quite expressive and have a sense of movement alongside a sense of exaggeration, exaggerating various features of the figures giving a further sense of suffering. The paintings undoubtedly leave the audience feeling uncomfortable. Although this series of work is in a way raising awareness of the events, some may say that censorship is necessary. Audience members who were not victims of the Yugoslavian conflicts or who have never experienced war of any kind can’t relate to the imagery as much as war survivors or people who have witnessed similar events. Although the subject matter is distressing and upsetting, the audience members are all effected in different ways based on their life experiences. The artist can choose whether or not to censor their work or to take ethics into consideration depending on the emotions they wish to stir up.

Appropriation, borrowing or recycling aspects of someone else’s work, plays a big role in contemporary artwork too. For example, in Banksy’s piece, ‘Show me the Monet’ (2005) a framed image of Monet’s painting is visible with orange shopping trolleys and traffic cones in his famous lily pond. I think that it shows the over-commercialisation of Monet’s work and art in general. Nowadays it is easy to see images of artwork online and it’s also common to buy merchandise with various pieces of art printed on. The imperative ‘Show me’ in the title of the piece further emphasises our consumerist society and ever growing demand for instant gratification. All of this has contributed to the devaluation of the artwork. Although the physical painting still costs a fortune, it is accessible on many platforms and is over-marketed so its purpose and meaning have been lost in the process.

I think that when it comes to handling delicate subject matters, it is important to somewhat take the audience into consideration. Some artwork is made for the audience to question and to be shocked by and will affect everyone in a different way but I think that there can be some occasions where a piece of controversial artwork can become disrespectful. Overall, I think that it is the role of the artist to push the boundaries of modern-day society and to adapt when necessary; a sense of mutual respect for all opinions and all views is important. Despite the fact that nowadays, art is created to challenge the audience and express emotion, I think that it’s the role of every artist to know what is appropriate and what isn’t depending on the subject matter they wish to portray.

 References

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/howson-plum-grove-t06961

https://artswithanna.com/2018/09/28/ethics-and-arts/