Art 21: Art in the 21st Century: Transformation (2014)
0h 55min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Costumes and masks, makeup and style, dolls and mannequins, stage and cinema. What strategies do we use to re-fashion identity? Do we seek out excess and extremes in order to see ourselves more clearly? Transformation features the artists Yinka Shonibare MBE, Cindy Sherman, and Paul McCarthy. Yinka Shonibare was born in London but grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and is known for using batik in his costumed dioramas that explore race and colonialism. He also uses painting, sculpture, photography and film in his work that play with the ambiguities and contradictions of his attitude towards the Establishment and its legacies of colonialism and class. In self-reflexive photographs and films, the New Jersey artist Cindy Sherman invents myriad guises, metamorphosing from Hollywood starlet to clown to society matron. Always leaving her works untitled, Sherman refuses to impose descriptive language on her images, relying instead on the viewer's ability to develop narratives, and this is an essential component of appreciating the work. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Paul McCarthy's video-taped performances and provocative multimedia installations lampoon police society, ridicule authority, and bombard the viewer with a sensory overload of often sexually-tinged, violent imagery. McCarthy often takes aim at cherished American myths and icons - Walt Disney, the Western and even the Modern Artist - adding a touch of malice to subjects that have been traditionally revered for their innocence or purity. - Studio:
- Arthaus Musik
- Genres:
- Special Interest, British TV, TV Documentaries