Week 8 — Artist — Joseph DeLappe & Micol Hebron
Artist: Micol Hebron
Media: Studio work, curating, writing, social media, and crowd-sourcing
Website: http://micolhebron.artcodeinc.com/pages/bio-and-artist-statements-and-old-news/
Instagram: @unicornkiller1
1. About the artist:
Hebron is a Professor at Art of Chapman University. Hebron seems to use social media as a platform to bend the rules. For instance, Hebron has played with the rules of Instagram in which women’s nipples cannot be posted. However, Hebron organized a way to protest Instagram’s policy by creating a template in which the image of a male’s nipple can be photoshopped on to an image of a woman’s breast. This shows that Hebron is passionate in bending the rules and attempting to reform social constructs of nipples. In some ways, Hebron is not a traditional artist because she doesn’t use mediums like painting or drawing, instead she uses crowd-sourcing and collaborative projects. Hebron explains that her work is based in “social media, performance, video, digital media, social interaction, happenings, and the construction of platforms that allow for other artists and community members to come together to discuss or create something collaboratively” (Hebron artcodeinc).
2. Formal Analysis:
Hebron’s art installation, Sisterhood is Powerful (2011), seems to be a multimedia piece because it isn’t like a traditional painting or drawing. Hebron used quartz crystals to make a 5 ½ foot tall vagina. The art also includes: a shag carpet, a fountain, and pina coladas. To describe the form: there are no lines, the shape of the vagina is oval, the color is mostly white and brown, the scale is large, and the texture is rough.
3. Content Analysis:
Hebron was trying to normalize seeing a vagina out in the open. Like Hebron’s work with nipples, she is attempting to break the rules surrounding women’s bodies. Also, Hebron attempted to make this a fun and interactive art piece, which is why she made it into a fountain of pina coladas. Hebron seems to advocate for women’s rights and freedoms through her art installations.
4. Synthesis / My Experience
Because I identify as a woman, Hebron’s art pieces make me feel less alone as a woman. I like the fact that Hebron pushes boundaries because often many people feel like they can’t challenge gender roles. I like Hebron’s Sisterhood is Powerful because it’s a very “in-your-face” piece since its large to scale. I personally like pina coladas so that’s a great way to get the conversation flowing. I want to be a English teacher so I have done my fair share of Women’s Literature readings and I feel like this is something great to read about.
Artist: Joseph DeLappe
Media: Electronic media, online gaming performance, sculpture and electromechanical installation
Website: http://www.delappe.net
Instagram: @josephdelappe
1. About the artist:
Joseph DeLappe is currently a Professor of Games and Tactical Media at Abertay University. DeLappe is interested in engaging with “issues of memory, politics, history, physicality, and the virtual world” (DeLappe). Overall, DeLappe is most known for his art pieces that explore the political atmosphere, new media, and interactive gaming. DeLappe has made his mark and has been interviewed for well-known news channels like CNN, NPR, CBC, and others just to name a few.
2. Formal Analysis
I chose DeLappe’s art piece titled Doing my Taxes (2002). DeLappe used a Macintax software in which he recorded his computer’s activity while completing his taxes in 2001. The finished product uses red and black ink to create jagged zig-zags. The piece is displayed as a large scale and the texture is flat because it is on a rice paper scroll. However, there is a curve towards the end of the piece because the scroll of paper is propped against a wall and then trails down to the floor as a path. This is a multimedia art piece because there is a mixture of paper, digital media, and red and black ink.
3. Content Analysis
DeLappe is poking fun at the concept of doing your taxes because at the end of the process its just one big blob of ink. As an American, you know that taxes are a pain that have to be done once a year. Thus, DeLappe uses art to show that taxes become something continuous like the scroll. It is interesting that DeLappe only uses two colors because, like doing taxes, it isn’t a very colorful activity. Also, the scribbling is incoherent because not everyone knows how to do taxes.
4. Synthesis / My Experience
At first, DeLappe’s art was a bit confusing to me because I’m so used to traditional art like paintings and drawings. However, the more I read about DeLappe’s work, I realized that art can be complex and more than just visual. In other words, DeLappe’s art says a lot without saying anything. In order to understand DeLappe’s art you must be informed with current events and even the political atmosphere. I like the fact that DeLappe uses unconventional mediums like his Macintax software in which he created the scribblings for Doing my Taxes.
Compare and Contrast:
Overall, both DeLappe and Hebron use very unconventional mediums of art which was different for me. One way in which they differed was DeLappe’s background with videogame digital art. However, they had many similarities such as both being professors and performance artists. As a contrast, Hebron focused on more contemporary issues and feminist issues. As for DeLappe, he focused more on political issues.
