Transgressive Art

TRANSGRESSIVE ART: What does it require from the audience?

Marcus Harvey;

Marcus Harvey is an artist I would associate to transgression. He is a figurative painter, hitting the lime light in 1987 for his exhibition in the Royal Academy in London,  Harvey's  painting of convicted child murderer Myra Hindley was part of an exhibition Sensation. His work hit media attention nationally and internationally. Apart from creating the Hindley piece, he has created many other expressive pieces, including images of Thatcher and Churchill, also works rendering images of women taken from pornographic magazines. The application process that he used catching my attention, he applies the paint with his bare hands. I think this is very interesting, aesthetically, he applies this application process to the sexual explicit figures and places them in a background of schematic patterns which are printed or stencilled onto the canvas. To me this seems very systematic. Through this application, it would seem that this formulated process becomes somewhat prescribed and one could say  pornographic in itself.

Having come across this artist previously, I did not take time to really look at his work, or understand what the artist is trying to convey, I'm still not really sure. I appreciate his practice,  transgressive art and the rights that it imposes on the creator and the viewer and the responsibility for the moral shocks that these works fall upon. I see Transgressive Art as a in-your-face art practice. Transgression = Taboo!

'The whole point of the painting is the photograph. That photograph. The iconic power that has

 come to it as a result of years of obsessive media reproduction.” Marcus Harvey.

Damien Hirst is a typical artist that sparks responses from his audiences.Tracy Emin also! While both these artists require a subjective engagements, Emin deliberately demands  elicit emotional responses, with the audience required to confront the provocation made by the work. I  have never thought of them as a transgressive artists before.

When 'Myra' was  displayed in the Saatchiprotect the work and  it was then reinstalled into the gallery, much to the horror of the general public.I think this reaction is transgressive in itself, surely this makes the piece successful?   Mark Wallinger, writing in Art Monthly, wrote that the Academy’s agenda was one of cynical media manipulation and self promotion.

Harvey created this (portrait) painting using duplicated hand prints of a child. He recreated a huge mono chromatic face, reproducing this custodial profile photo we all know too well, the image repeatedly used by the media since her conviction. To create this image, Harvey took a cast from the hand his friend’s four year old daughter to summons the victims into the work, using black, white and grey hand prints to create this work described as a picture that horrifies in its implicit subordination of Hindley’s victims to their tormentor. On viewing the work, a reporter described this work as being ‘the most divisive in the Academy’s 229 year history.'

'Myra'- Marcus Harvey

Having looked at Harveys work from many aspects- morally, aesthetically and creatively. I think this is a true representation of Transgressive Art. To me this work requires a personal response. It sparks tough emotions, feelings and questions of morals and ethics. I think for Saatchi to say that they appreciated this work for its aesthetic value can be appreciated and even considered. In contemporary society evil and injustice are far more aesthetically pleasing then good and justice. This is also evident in film making, horror film especially, whereby we are confronted with the horror and the audience become the true participants of the transgression act.

Harvey himself has stated that this work should be considered an autonomous sign, 'irreducible to the photo itself' , but if this was the case then surely he would not have to pseudo produce such an image? I'm not sure i  see this work as autonomous, how could such an image hold an autonomous entity?

I claim to see this work as glorification but yet glorification is a strong term to be used. The viewer is the one that will regard this work as wrong or right as with any art piece. I appreciate what the artist is trying to achieve by displaying this piece back into the public domain to rehash memories and questions human behaviour. I think this work is successful merely for the response and public reactions it receives. It relates to complex bodies, modelled between morals and aesthetics. I do  think Harvey's Myra  is  a clever piece of art, provocative but aesthetically a hypnotic image.

Convicted Child Murderers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady-  Original image taken in 1965.

'Jordan', Katie Price- Kevin Sharkey

Irish artist Kevin Sharkey was inspired to create the image after Price, also known as Jordan, was voted the most hated woman in Britain. "When I think of 'hated' women, the first person who comes to mind is Myra Hindley," Sharkey says. "I think the macabre black and white police photograph of her from the 1960s is the epitome of evil. So I set about merging that iconic image with Katie's face, and I hope when people look at it they will immediately realise the two women are poles apart." He says he is not looking to defend Jordan, but he hopes he can make people think more seriously about the way they react to celebrities.

Model Kate Moss and Musician Pete Doherty 

Artist Russell Young superimposed the images of these two celebrities as a commentary of hedonism of celebrities.

Mulhall. The Mulhall sisters known as the Scissor Sisters, given the name as a result of the method they used to murder and dismember Kenyan immigrant Farah Swaleh Noor. A film is  now being created exploring the life and times of the Scissor Sisters. 

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/killer-nickname-told-us-we-made-it-scissor-sisters-2205863.html

When I think of Harvey's work, I think of Georges Bataille and his philosophy on eroticism.

Harvey known for his concise and representative of cultural icons: another interesting piece of Haryey's is his Margaret Thatcher piece; This piece  is composed of over 15,000 plaster-cast objects ranging from vegetables, sex toys to Tony Blair masks; these individual elements refer both directly and indirectly to aspects of the former Prime Minister’s perceived media profile, evident femininity and background as a grocer’s daughter from Grantham. 

‘Maggie’ can therefore be read both as the portrait of an individual and as a map of British history, identity and change, both prior to and during the height of Thatcher’s period in power. Harvey further remarks that ‘Thatcher’s image has a magnetic, dark, complicated sexual allure that’s hard for me to define – it’s not exactly feminine and it does come with a pungent whiff of testosterone’.

One cannot disagree that there is something with both works  Myra and Thatcher.

Margaret Thatcher- Marcus Harvey

Harvey has painted a series of  door panel paintings. These works depict domestic scenes, viewed through a distortion of a window door frame. These paintings are viewed through this distorted glass in  a photo realist manner.

-----------------------------------------