Richard Billingham
Untitled (part of series)
Photograph 1993-1995






























Duane Hanson
Queenie II
Polychromed Bronze, with accessories
life size
1988

Alexandra Talbott

Tutor: Andrew Vass

Word Count: 1053

Contextual Studies Assessment task III MAJOR ESSAY
Choose two artists whose work addresses identity. Discuss a single work by each artist.
Explain the ideas each artist is trying to represent and how they are expressed.

Both Billingham and Hanson candidly address identity within the working classes through use of realism, whether it be voyeuristic (Billingham) or use of Hyperreality juxtaposed against a traditional gallery environment (Hanson). Whilst the relationship the artists have with their work is entirely different they both raise the issue of the individual in the neglected society, that which we would rather forget than be confronted with; especially in a high art format. Yet, it is necessary to acknowledge the diversity of context in which the works were produced. Billingham’s photography a social comment on his own British working class upbringing where Hanson uses Black American stereotype.

Richard Billingham’s Untitled is part of a series often described as “studies” of his own Mother, Father, Brother and Pets in their Sunderland estate flat. His photos were originally meant as source material for paintings but Billingham soon realised the power of reality in its most basic form. He confronts the viewer with an uncomfortable domesticity that “has been hailed as a mass of contradictions”1 Both grotesque and alien to the majority of viewers, what shines through and perhaps surpasses this initial revolt is the sense of unadulterated humanity and honesty at the core.

The voyeuristic style is key to Billingham’s concept and his relationship to the subjects, his familiarity with his parents mean they seem to ignore his presence as a photographer, a true “kitchen sink” approach . However it could be said that the way in which Billingham captures his home detaches him from his role as son and brother. Unlike traditional family photography Billingham’s family are not posed or intent on creating an illusion of harmony or happiness, you get the feeling of nonchalance towards the camera, which leads the viewer in many ways to question the relationship between family and artist.

However Billingham’s use of very basic photography in the style of amateur family photographs it could be argued to be fundamental to the success of this work. It was created not for exhibition but for personal (albeit eventually artistic) use.

Billingham certainly recognises this, commenting; “And as soon I started showing the family photographs, I stopped taking them, because it was sort of over. If I was to start taking them with a view to exhibiting them, then that wouldn't be a good motive because I wouldn't be doing it out of curiosity any more.”2.

It is this familiarity of style that perhaps appeals to a naturally curious viewer, the idea that there is an element of “us” in every object of which we are familiar or could create ourselves. Whether it be an element of the subject or the material (the basic photo (in some cases disposable)) with which it was created. Consequently, the naivety in outcome that some have criticised is perhaps a necessary element in relaying the capture and context of the scene.

Billingham appears to use his own identity as a vehicle to expose the voices of others to a supposedly culturally enlightened middle class (in the form of the stereotype gallery viewer). The juxtaposition of these Untitled Outcomes and work such as Hanson’s Queenie II against a gallery back drop do however raise the question of working class and minorities relationship with fine art and in particular the gallery experience.

Is it that Billingham’s family are so far from the high flying art world that their faces on the wall of any gallery does not phase them? It is not something they relate to or can see the point of. Perhaps it is ironic, that in some cases I suppose the viewer and the subject have a similar view of each other; an indifference towards an element of society that is far enough away from their own reality to ignore, other than when directly faced with it.

Hanson’s Queenie II is perhaps more upfront about working class relations with the elitism of fine art. Hanson employs a technique of subverting reality with Queenie as a lifesize installation. Hanson recognises that the physical presence of a figure leads to an inescapable confrontation most viewers will have with their preformed view of an African American woman working on the fringes of society: “A downtrodden member of the American working class, overburdened, fatigued and trapped by circumstance.” 3 The poignancy of Queenie II is increased by the history of stuggle for racial equality that is still present in modern America today. Our familiarity with the image is integral to its provocative nature, Hanson comments of his work:

“" I tried not to pick people that are very interesting - like an interesting face or a strange expression. I tried to stay away from that, to confront people with something from their daily experience."4

Unlike the work of Billingham, Hanson does not address his own identity but creates shallow caricatures of the nation to which he belongs, a satire on the stereotypes that have come to define all that is wrong with America today.

However, Hanson’s treatment of Queenie as a caricature perhaps generates more empathy than Billingham’s photograph. Queenie II has the dignity of a job, and whilst it has been said Hanson evokes a “bored and idle America”5, I happen to believe in the case of Queenie II the viewer sympathizes with a frustration within the caricature for the monotony of everyday life and work on the fringes of society.

What is evident is that identity in art can be a tool to provoke and challenge an often ignored reality, which both Billingham and Hanson have utilized successfully. Whether it be through exploring personal identity as a way of examining the contradictions of poverty in the British working classes or employing a stereotype to satirize and highlight the nature of class and race in American society, examining identity in society will always be a successful way in which artists can bring to the forefront of our minds the reality it is often easier to forget.

1 Bussel Sensation, Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, Thames and Hudson in association with Royal Acadamy of Arts, 1997 p193
2 Barber, Lynn Quote from ‘Candid Camera’, The Observer, Sunday 29th May 2000.
3 ,5 The 20th Century Art Book, Phaidon Press Limited, London. 1996.
4 LS ‘DUANE HANSON: BODY-BUILDER EXTRAORDINAIRE’, The Independent, Saturday 12th April 1997.

Contextual Studies II, Conceptualising your own work

The directness and validity of Barbara Kruger’s social comment in her work are traits I aspire to; she understands the need to engage the viewer immediately through popular image. Her success in doing this adds gravitas to the messages she is conveying, concerning the veneration of popular culture, idealised lifestyles and the way women are in many cases led to emulate the hollow stereotype they are continually exposed to.
Kruger’s own experience within commercial art and magazine publishing mean she is able to employ the strategies of the mass media within her style of working; using a limited palette, simple photography and text her art resembles a satirical magazine or poster. Consequently Kruger’s work is saturated with black humour and irony, the realisation on her part that glamour and simplicity in message are the tools that have lead us to our worship of all things material, perhaps dissuade her from more ambiguous conceptual art that would limit her appeal. My own print uses a similarly limited palette and reflects commercial art in the form of the poster or advertisement. However, I have added my own illustrations and comment around the print, the halo surrounding the head designed to highlight the veneration of women that has taken place throughout history with especial reference to the Virgin Mary as an icon of purity and service to God (could this in reference to all women be service to men in general?).
Feminism is the underlying theme, “Who’s the fairest of them all” is a prime example of Kruger exposing the negative connotations of vanity and competition between women that coincide with traditional “fairytale” narratives. The identity of the woman who stares at her reflection is being decided (in the case of who’s the fairest) by an object (the mirror) does this suggest that even objects in the scenario of a fairytale take on more control over the outcome of a woman’s life than herself? and that this playing out of scenes is overall for the benefit of the man (handsome prince).
Kruger, therefore manages to reference shallow pop culture whilst exploring emotional depths. I have attempted to emulate this through my own prints. The appeal of photography and fashion photography in particular seem to be a starting point for Kruger, and I in reference to this started off in a similar way using imagery from a 1940s magazine. Like Kruger I wanted to suggest the pressure of glamour and idealised female identity and the changing roles of women through the 20th and beginning of the 21st century. Whilst the media portray the relative success of feminism, I feel that women’s identity is now a complex and confused one; that means thinking women want to uphold the ideologies of feminism whilst retaining the aesthetic glamour of a more traditional female image. My print seems to question how this dichotomy works when it comes to the individual.

Alex Talbott
Andrew Vass

Contextual Studies

Alex Talbott
Andrew Vass
Contextual Studies, Assessment Task 1
Visual Analysis

Pair 1 Hans Bellmer and Cindy Sherman.
Both Hans Bellmer’s La Poupe and Cindy Sherman’s untitled film still infer the changing and somewhat disturbing view of women’s sexuality and sexual objectification in the first half and late 20th century, the ways in which they approach and portray this contain both similarities and discrepancies as societies influence changes and the experiences of the artists as individuals differ.

Bellmer’s La Poupe on first glance looks like a still from a horror film; the forest setting, shadowed anonymous figure and distorted body. Bellmer’s use of photography is successful in making the viewer question the reality of the image, it may have affected viewers of the time psychologically blending the real with the fictional and perhaps questioning this relationship.
Bellmer seems to be foremost portraying the vulnerability of women’s sexuality and the corruption of innocence. Most basically we witness this through the nudity of the distorted female torso; open to scrutiny and seemingly helpless through the lack of identity compared to the clothed, what we assume to be male presence behind the tree trunk. Without a head the distorted doll is perhaps indicative of the simplicity of male carnal desire; even with no identity the female will always attract male attention.

Looking deeper into the image, Bellmer is exploring taboo sexual desires, seemingly influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud. The childlike shoes on the figure and the use of doll imagery are indicative of paedophilia, consequently the image portrays an innocent victim of rape and an unidentifiable attacker. Looking more widely at the image is Bellmer above all questioning the fine line between civilisation and chaos? The distortion of the figure suggestive of the atrocities we as humans are capable of inflicting for our own pleasure or purpose, this viewpoint perhaps a poignant yet harrowing outcome of the reality of the First World War.

Finally, it is perhaps necessary to look into Bellmer’s use of the woods as the setting for this image. It could be interpreted that Bellmer is juxtaposing the natural setting against the distorted somewhat alien figure, posing the question how far have we as humans abandoned the simplicity and innocence of nature? Metaphorically Bellmer could be employing the concept of sexual discovery and understanding; “into the woods” the woods a metaphor for the complexity of understanding humans psychologically and that by science at the time attempting to rationalise this area “woods”, as the unknown represents what is still to discover.

Cindy Sherman’s Untitled film Still similarly to La Poupe seems to question the nature of female sexual identity, the use of the doll again seems to indicate the objectification of women and perhaps question the idea of the manmade ideal woman. Whilst Sherman’s doll takes a more traditional female form the impacts of women attempting to fit an “ideal” are evident through the heavily applied make up and the female head that seems to be trying to escape through the torso. Is Sherman indicating women’s struggle for a voice in trying to overcome being viewed as a sexual object even after the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the continuing success of the women’s rights movement? It is interesting that Sherman uses a black sheet over the lower half of the torso, perhaps in an attempt to desexualise the doll in contrast to Bellmer whose manipulation of the figure heightens this link. Contrastingly Sherman may have employed the use of the black sheet to leave the sex of the doll ambiguous, Sherman is playing with the idea of the transvestite and gender stereotyping, is the woman inside trapped in a man’s body? The complexity of sexual identity as a taboo subject is visually explored.

When looking at the two images it is necessary to note how our perception of the doll has changed with the sexual revolution and the liberalisation of sex in society, Sherman’s doll has little hint of innocence and is perhaps challenging the viewer to question what distinguishes her art from a doll as an object of male desire? A stark contrast to Bellmer’s use of the doll to portray female vulnerability and the taboo of paedophilia.

Consequently, both Bellmer and Sherman use dolls to highlight the complexity of sexuality in an environment where our psychological understanding of desire and gender identity is constantly being challenged and reassessed, Bellmer depicting the threat of male desire and a distorted view of the female form, and Sherman exploring the relationship between gender, sexuality and an idealised depiction of women as sexual objects.