Vanessa Beecroft Reading Notes

1. -Why so much flesh?
-Is it meant to be voyeuristic?
-What is the message she is trying to convey?

2. -Her work is considered installation, based on the picture I thought it might be performance art.
-I like her idea, but am not sure about her approach. I think it does get her point across though.
-I think it would be awkward to be one of the viewers at her show. It reminds me of some of the paintings from Survey II like Titian's The Venus of Urbino. I remember Professor Noble talking about how images like that were kind of voyeuristic and I get that feeling from the image of Beercroft's work in the text. I think this is intentional and she may be trying to conjure up those connections.
-This type of scrutinizing/objectification/not so realistic standards of women's bodies is unfortunately all too common within our society. Typically, it is not presented as blatantly, though definetely present. In my Secondary Methods class, we brought in examples of visual culture from magazines and there was definetely these types of concerns present.
-I think the issues she deals with in her artwork are definetely problems that exist within our society that should be addressed.
-Her choice of audience seems aide in the sucess of getting across her message. She chose the audience for her installation, and the text said many were people that maybe frequently go to museums and are in tune with the art world. I think these people would probably be more likely to make the historical connections to earlier artworks with similar themes and maybe even be familiar with the history of the portrayal of women's bodies in art.
-I like that her installation with the girls changed over time. What started off as a beauty ideal, began to change and reality started to show with the passage of time, something not typically seen in a magazine cover or commercial.

3. -Beercroft is trying to make connections to the history or nude women being portrayed in art, as well as to probably try and really show off/exaggerate this idea of beauty that alligns with mainstream society's ideal of what beauty is supposed to look like.
-I'm not sure that her intent is for it to be voyeuristic. She definetely wants the viewer to look at them, and not have them look back. She did seem to want to make art historical connections to the portrayal of the female nude, which that probably goes back to. I'm not sure that she intended their to be sexual undertones, but in the way she set the installation up, the women do become like an object for all these people to look at.
-Her installation that was pictured in the book was about women's beauty and the unrealistic standards of beauty that exist in regards to the female body, and exposing it as unrealistic and non-lasting.

4. -Could she have effectively portrayed her message so strongly using a different medium?
-How would the response to her work vary if she did not personally select who was viewing it?
-Would someone without any background in art history still be able to get her message?