[CORPUS LOQUENDI:] THREE EARLY WORKS

[CORPUS LOQUENDI:] THREE EARLY WORKS

Performance

Transformation

Identity

"'Art Sucks: Art-making is a process which sucks identity from individuals who are close to it, but not participating themselves. The only way to recover identity is to make art yourself. In early June, 1972, I captured the soul of Richards Jarden in a colour photograph. As soon as I ingest the photograph I will recover the identity that was drained from me in the past, and we will be of equal power' Art Sucks, and the two untitled performance /video works of Wilson's which appear here, show the female body as a self-determining presence, involved in physical actions which propose metaphoric and sometimes fantastic transformations.In Art Sucks, a model for the transformation of the artist's identity is first proposed in language, then carried through as performance. Wilson does ingest the photograph, with patient deliberation and some ruefulness, piece by piece. While we might hope to see visible results, none are registered by the video camera. We can be disappointed by this, or take it on faith that the meaning of rituals of this kindextends beyond the range of simple technology.In the second work, Wilson has affixed a stuffed cloth effigy to a brick wall and enters the video frame naked and wigged. With a can of spray paint she genders the figure as female, places her blond wig on its head, and sets it afire. It is a sacrificial immolation, a ritual naming,marking and purging of sexuality that recalls the burning of women as witches.The final work is a version of a performance piece of Wilson's, titled I make myself up in the image of my perfection, I make myself up in the image of my deformity. She begins by saying 'This is about the best I can do with make-up,' explaining that, with good lightingandthe right camera angle, she has been able to diminish her worst features and optimize her best ones. She then proceeds to erapply make-up in ways that exaggerate her poorest features, inverting (and subverting) the before-and-after narrative of glamour magazine make-overs" (-Video liner notes)

WILSON, Martha

Jan Peacock

s.n.

1972-1974

Creator:Martha Wilson

VHS

English

Artist Video (V)

W54 972bc.1

14 min.