Since the dawn of time, the human body has been a subject of artistic inspiration, and most predominantly, the female form has been the focus of many traditional, classical and 'master' painters. Within recent decades, the relevance of the male gaze within painting and broader society, has encouraged female viewership and creation which tackles and attempts to reverse the male gaze. As I discuss in my post on the (fe)male gaze, Laura Mulvey's identification of the universally ingrained gaze structure has led to a mass movement by female artists to try and approach and reposition said gaze. In my international women's day post, I identified some on my favourite contemporary female artists, some of whom directly explore and challenge the male gaze within their work. But how does this actually work? How can painting challenge a socially ingrained network of patriarchy? Artists like Venetia Berry and Elly Smallwood would argue that by positioning the female body outside of traditional narratives - the reclining nude or the coy hand maiden - and re-approaching the female form as abstract line, or active sexual being (Berry and Smallwood respectively), the female subject is no longer an object for visual pleasure, but rather a subject of an image. She is important. Rather than just her body. In both of these brilliant artists' work, the male gaze is definitely scrutinised and challenged and as Smallwood discusses in her article for Playboy earlier this year:
“The female form has been a battlefield in art history… Male painters painted it for their own pleasure; female painters painted it to reclaim it and give it agency… And yet still, it somehow remains a subject that provokes strong and visceral reactions from people. That’s something I’m always aware of, because it’s impossible not to be.”
As Smallwood explains, it is impossible not to be aware of the relevance of male gaze within nude painting, particularly when painting female bodies, and especially when inhabiting one as the artist. Despite this awareness though, she is not only concerned with painting women as sexual being, she merely wishes to encapsulate that which she finds “beautiful, fascinating and exciting”. Which is surely what all artists are attempting to do, even in a patriarchal society where all female artists have their practice called into question through a subject of gender, male gaze, feminism and objectification, even if these areas are nothing to do with, or just a tiny part of their practice.
My work is undeniably concerned with the male gaze, as well as female empowerment, body positivity and situation, however, in discussing the male gaze and attempting to reverse it, I wonder if we are instead simply reiterating it.
The advertising and music industries are still rife with sexualisation and objectification of women for commercial reasons. And in the capitalist society we reside in, it is almost justifiable as to why: simply because (white, heterosexual) male visual pleasure is rooted into our definition of beauty and desirability. Hence, I am beginning to re-evaluate many concepts that have - and do - influence my work.
Throughout the last few months, I have engaged my practice with subject material from numerous sources and various provenances. As such, I am beginning to associate my work, quite simply, as being about the body. Predominantly the nude body, or at least the body and it's reference to objectification through type or lack of clothes. In doing so, the intended audience of the source image is only known to me, and when presented to an audience, can cause discomfort or awkwardness in their reaction to the work. For example, without knowing the origin of a nude image - porn, art, media, film etc. - a viewer is unable to situate their public reaction and how their relationship to the source may be read, as if it is a pornographic image, should they be allowed to view it and will they be judged if they are seen to enjoy the image? I do now believe that it may be this awkwardness and unknowingness that I want to evoke.
It was during a discussion with the brilliant painter and visual artist, Gary Colclough, that I began to identify how the relationship between viewer and subject, painter and subject, and painter and viewer, is a tool that I can utilise to encourage discussion surrounding the perception of the body in contemporary paintings, without just focusing on overwhelming subjects of fe/male gaze, objectification and feminism. Of course, we must note here that I, like Berry and Smallwood, am a female artist who paints predominantly the female body, and therefore my relationship or association with the female body will of course influence my exploration.
However, I believe this is precisely the way in which female artists painting female body is interesting; we have an insight into a subject area that can only be understood by those who identify as female, one that the ‘traditional masters’ could never encapsulate due to their engrained male gaze and the patriarchy they – and we – exist in.