Figures in Flux, Variations of the Body Palette

This collection of work brought together in the exhibition of, Figures in Flux, Variations of the Body Palette, is an insight to how the human figure is used in video based media. Video performance artists use the body in a variety of ways to express their intentions. The body can be used as a tool, prop, or as a site. The body as subject matter can take on many different forms depending on the type of media being used. The body can be used as a sculptural form, as a canvas to be painted on, or any combination of media.

This collection brings works together by the artists Otto Muelh, Paul McCarthy, Yoko Ono, Cheryl Donegan and Bruce Nauman. These artists use the body as a site to produce works of art. They also use the body as an art object, or as a medium in itself. They use body the body like a Sculptor would mold a piece of clay, pinch, stretching, and jiggling the body into an innumerable amount of forms.

Although these videos are about the body, time is also an element used. These performances belong to the moment in which they were created and not a specific group or person. Video was incorporated initially as a way to document a performance, but eventually branched out into its own medium. Performance and video artist have always been concerned with the decomodification of the art object. They believe that art isn’t something to be bought or sold, but that it belongs only to the artist and in the memory of the people that have experience the work.

The artists in this exhibition are working during the post-modern period. This period is known for art concerned with the concept of a piece. The concept is just as or if not more important than the actual work created. This type of work made creating art more accessible to more people because all it requires is a good idea and a camera, where as previous to this period art was made by people whom had the means to acquire specialized training in the arts.