Body Unnatural
Our bodies are never free.
They are born by various causes. Artists’, direct and perceptive, depiction of human figure have enlarged the complex connections that hide under our skin. Every human flesh shown in the artwork has pointed to a subtle yet clear message. It could be an exploration of one's private emotion, also a collective image of a giant society. The concept of 'figuration' was used by Elias Norbert as an analysis method to explain the body civilizing process. "Figuration", deemed as an intermediary role between structure and individual in sociology, explains that either the social structure or the interaction between individuals have been influential to how we sense our body. Social customs discipline our bodies so that “acceptable” figures were developed to meet the external expectation, whereas interpersonal relationship also, unconsciously, effects how one would build their body image.
The idea somehow proves what an actor once said: "When studying a role, I always start with imaging the character's figure. I used to portrait the character's personality traits first when I was young, but I eventually found out that one's body can tell me more stories about his daily life. "Besides of the external factors, our figure also reflects one's expectation of itself. One might haven't possessed the identity which he eager to own yet, but his body shown a sign of what kind of person he wants to become beforehand.
Intuitively creating his croquis-like work, one of the exhibited artists Brad Darcy has empowered his artwork contrasting attributes: clean and twisted. While the layout is clean and the lines are organically flowing, the shapes of bodies are often distorted and no longer look proportioned. Reflecting what this sentimental artist has seen in New York City, these over-sized bodies and deformed body parts speak for mind underneath the skin.
If Darcy’s works disclose artist’ interpretation of the outer world, Thordis’ works then reveal artist’ observation of inner minds. Figures in Thordis’ paintings are shown thin, boney, flat, and rather fluidity muscle, suggesting uncertainty and isolation of the objects. Bodies assembled by flat color blocks seem even more unrealistic and distant itself from the audience.
Diana Otet and Radu Băieȿ, new generation of Romanian artists, perfectly balance the concept of figurative and abstract in their works and therefore set themselves apart from the current trends of figurative art in Romanian contemporary art scene. Obsessing with the labyrinth of time and consciousness, Otet often deconstructed objects, including bodies. She interest in consciousness one embodies, rather than physical existence. Băies had been through the collapse of the Communists. Communism is no more a part of life in his generation. The Character in his drawing normally doesn’t show a clear facial expression, neither the limbs , stating the inevitable misery of sarchineg personal value.