Ghada Amer clearly has very strong thoughts on feminism and the differences between East and West cultures, and has chosen to express these through her art. However, I think she does it in a way that doesn’t force you to agree with her, or make it so that you will only like the work if you do agree. I think this makes the pieces very successful as they can appeal to a variety of people without putting them under pressure, and also because of the controversy covered in her pieces, more viewers will be drawn in who want to witness it. The mixed media of dripping paints and hanging sewing threads work well together as they don’t contrast each other too much but bring more texture to the work, as well as representing this role of femininity in society. The pieces first appear to almost be messy, with the outlined figures and variety of colours continuously overlapping each other, but instead draw you in more to this world of canvassed fantasy.
An example of this is a piece called “the dance”. Immediately, I was drawn to the very expressive faces of the females at the top of the piece. The drips of colours that Amer uses then begin to draw your eyes downwards, leading to other similar figures and more sexual scenes. The large amount of action going on in the piece takes away some of the graphicness of what the singular figures are in fact doing, and with the drips of paint and thread tangling into each other connecting the female couples together, replaces it with a sense of individuality and control, like a web of passion. It continues to draw you down, until all you are left with are vertical drips of colour on a white canvas.
In “Womens Qualities”, 2000, Amer adopts a slightly different style. Instead of repeating fragmented images, and overlapping, there is simply on image of a lady. She is positioned in a way that she is completely exposing herself to the viewer, but instead of seeming like she is offering herself to you in a sexual way, she seems to be inviting you towards her, asking you what you think of her. The large, bold drips of coloured paint give the effect of wallpaper, but this effect is almost immediately destroyed again by the graphic image behind. This doesn’t ruin the piece of course; it simply intrigues you more, wondering why she is there and what she wants of you, the viewer. It is strange and unusual how Amer makes the figure control the piece and the emotions of the on looking viewer.
“Eight Women in White” has a much different mood to the previous pieces. She has abandoned the usual bright colours and drips of paint, replacing it with dark shadows and smears. The women once again are showing sexual positions, but even thought the repeated image of the lady in the middle is looking at you, is presenting the viewer with her back. The mixture of this and the dark colours make you feel sad and wonder it is that she, unlike the usual women, wants to hide herself from you. The smeared paint adds more to this sadness as it is almost as if the colours bleeding is because tears have been dripped over the canvas.
Ghada Amer has influenced me to not be afraid of blending media or to be a bit controversial. She has also made me realise that although sometimes in art you really want to express your thoughts or opinions on a matter, sometimes you can be more successful by not forcing this matter on the viewers or trying too hard to make them agree with you.
Amer has been described as the “Egyptian Bad Girl”, but although she doesn’t desire to offend, most of her work does!
No comments:
Post a Comment