Berlinde de Bruyckere
LESTEL, 2008, wax, epoxy, iron, wood 

“With Letsel , and like most of Berlinde De Bruyckere’s sculptures, this heap of flesh hanging from “a thread” that is nothing but a butcher’s hook plays on the ambiguity of an animal or human flesh. “No matter,” says the artist, “we are all destined to disappear.” A modern vanity in short.”

—Foundation D’Entreprise Frances

Source: fondationfrances.com

hey, i really appreciate your addition to my Chris Burden post. it’s like the first genuine contribution to the discourse around any of my arts related posts. i get so annoyed when people erase my longer captions (usually either contextually or critically relevant to the image in question, especially remarks critical of works i post but don’t like) or they just add a critically-absent ‘this is bullshit’ which i have no time for. anyways, thanks for taking the time to add it. all the best. x

Ah! Of course— thank you so much for the lovely post. I completely understand how you feel about people erasing the larger captions. It happens quite a bit when I am writing something about body art or feminist art and without the context it can just seem like a glorification of an socially un-contextualized, apolitical masochism. Anyway, I love your blog and really appreciate the care you take with your curation, both in terms of the aesthetic flow and because it is obvious that you have an ethics and philosophy behind the work that you catalogue. Each time I look at your page, I challenge myself to slow down on my manic spree posting and move towards a more contextualized curation. Though I am a ways off from that. I’m actually thinking of starting a new blog with a smaller following so I can avoid some of the issues you’ve outlined here. Thank you for what you do—it enriches my life. ❤

Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

Carrie Lorig, The Book of Repulsive Women

Kate Zambreno, Heroines 

Sylvia Plath, “Daddy”

Anne Carson, The Beauty of The Husband 

Alice Notley, The Descent of Alette

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own 

Suzanne Scalon, Her  37th Year an Index 


psyche
Gina Pane, 1974, 27’32’’

“The word psyche has two meanings; firstly, the human soul, and secondly, from Greek mythology, the name of the ravishingly beautiful daughter of the King of Crete, who is always portrayed with butterfly wings and is worshipped by Eros. A psyché is a cheval glass; a full-length swivelling mirror.

In the tape Psyche (in some texts it is referred to as Psyché), Pane is inspecting herself in a large mirror (a psyché?), and is using make-up to draw an image of her face on that mirror. With a razor blade, she cuts herself just below her eyebrows. Then she goes and stands against a grid, holding a bunch of downy feathers in her hands. With the razor blade, she cuts a cross in the skin around her navel. Between these acts of self-mutilation, she plays with tenni balls, licks her breasts and caresses her body with the feathers. However, these moments never last long. Ritual torture always plays the lead in this ceremony of cleansing. In Psyche, the artist proves herself to be as vulnerable as the mythological King’s daughter with her butterfly wings.”

Text from LIMA