The human body: a medium of art

Just like paint, or clay, the human body can be a medium by which an art piece is created. Many artists, including Spencer Tunick and Anthony Gomley, use human bodies as the central figures within their work. In class today, we viewed many works by Tunick in which many naked people are gathered together in various settings. Tunick stated that he just creates "shapes and forms with human bodies. It's an abstraction, it's a performance, it's an installation."One piece I felt had an emotional meaning was a photograph of many naked men within a New York City diner. The piece, titled "Positively Naked," is extremely realistic and touching. All of the men in the photograph are HIV positive, and must endure the various adverse social, emotional, and medical consequences of their disease.


Other artists, such as Gillian Wearing and Damien Hearst, have asked for more than just the bodies but also the active participation of their subjects. Hearst asked that identical twins throughout the world sign up to re-portray one of his works at the Tate Modern. Gillian Wearing created a series of photographs in which she asked random strangers in NYC to write down whatever they wanted on a sign. She then photographed the stranger holding the sign. She felt that the signs allowed the strangers to truly express their feelings. I believe that these strangers are so honest in what they write on the signs because they have rarely been asked to share their own feelings.



-Tina