Sculpture Studio Spring 2012

Project 4: Self Designed
ARTIST RESEARCH/Source to Self Comparisons

Ana Mendieta is a Cuban-born artist who uses the human form to express emotions and ideas. Her works consisted of sculptures and ritualistic performances involving her body or silhouettes. Some of her works are abstract in the information they provide to the viewer, while others are literal in the ideas they were made to convey. The abstract works included body-shaped forms carved from the earth, called “earth-body” sculpture, or burned into the ground with a gundpowder mixture created my Mendieta herself. In some of the works, a silhouette was wrapped in cloth and either placed on the ground’s surface, or placed within a silhouette shaped niche. Many were left to be erased by the elements of nature with only photographic images of the works remaining.

Just like Mendieta, I am creating a form, but mine is not as ‘full’ as hers. Whereas Mendieta creates a whole form where the entire form, meaning that the head and feet are present, mine will be just a section of a form, but there will be enough present to make the viewer aware of a full form. And like Mendieta, my sculpture is real-life scale.

Imagen de Yagul, 'Siluetas' Series, 1973

One of Mendieta’s body series, Siluetas, involves photographs of Mendieta herself, or her silhouette that she drew or carved into the earth using materials like mud, blood, or later, gunpowder. In Imagen de Yagul (1973), the first of the series, Mendieta is lying naked as bunches of white flowers obscure certain parts of her body. Even though Mendieta’s body is present, the flowers conceal the features of her face, making her body anonomous. In addition, her stiff posture and the flowers covering her body make one think of death and the ritual of respecting the dead. Throughout much of this series, Mendieta “discovered infinite ways to vivify the idea that nature is alive, reproductive, and eternal.”[1]

Similar to the Imagen de Yagul, my form will be partially concealed. But unlike flowers, I will use fabric, which Mendieta has also used in some works of her Siluetas series. That will be my cover of choice, but unlike the thick white cloth that covers Mendieta’s forms, the fabric I use will be thin enough that any details on the form will still be slightly visible.

In many of Mendieta’s works, such as Siluetas, some of the forms appear sexually ambivalent. Whether the form was covered with cloth or left bare, there is no indication of what gender the silhouette represents. Even though many sihoulettes were created by Mendieta using her own form, someone who is not aware of her process may not know the gender of her works. This is what I am embracing with my sculpture: no indication of male or female. I want to leave it open to the viewer for interpretation as to what the sex is of my form, or if there even needs to be a gender involved for the viewer to gain an understanding.

Untitled, 'Body Tracks' Series, 1973-74

In another series, Body Tracks (1973-74), Mendieta uses her arms and hands to create bloody silhouettes on sheets of usually white cloth or white walls as she dragged them down the surface, “tracing the general height and position of her body.”[1] These were highly ritualistic. Though all that is left of the ‘ritual’ are two long streaks of red, the viewer still retains the feeling of presence. In variations in this series, the color of the cloth is different. Sometimes it is red, other times close to purple. It is these variations that change and/or add emotions and ideas that differ from her works on a white surface.

Mendieta’s frequent use of red in her works, such as the use of blood (which was usually a mixture of tempura, but she did sometimes use actual blood for some of her works), pigments, flowers, textiles, and other materials. [4] To me this is remnant of violence. I am also embracing this feature in my sculpture, though it will not be as pronounced as it is in Mendieta’s Body Tracks, but the color alone will be eye-catching enough to be seen.

In the end, I want to affect the viewer in a similar fashion that Mendieta’s works must have, as something that remains with the viewer even long after they have left the artwork. I want them to experience the form as an individual and allow the sculpture to be viewed subjectively based on the individual viewer’s own experiences and emotions.

1. Viso, Olga M. Ana Mendieta: Earth Body: Sculpture and Performance 1972-1985. Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2004.
2. Mendieta, Ana. Body Tracks. Luzern, Kunstmuseum Luzern, 2002.
3. “Ana Mendieta.” Electronic Arts Intermix. Electronic Arts Intermix, n.d. Web. 9 April 2012
4. Camhi, Leslie. “Art; Her Body, Herself.” The New York Times. The New York Times. 20 June
2004. Web. 14 April 2012.
5. “Exiled Space, In-between Space: Exitential Spatiality in Ana Mendieta’s Siluetas Series.”
Academic Search Complete. Feb. 2004. Web. 14 April 2012.

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