Many modern artists take us into areas that challenge us. They look behind the scenes of our sanitised, packaged lives and face us with the bloody, dirty, smelly reality. For them, rubbish, sex, ageing flesh, slaughter, birth and death are art — reality is art.
Here are just a few artists that are at the cutting edge of modern art:
The Anatomists
Led by Professor Gunther von Hagens at the University of Heidelberg specialising in exhibitions – such as the controvserial The Body Worlds exhibition – displaying anatomical specimens preserved by plastination. This process makes it possible to lend rigidity to soft body parts – for example, individual muscles, organs such as the lungs, or a single nerve – and even specimens of the entire body can be stabilised and posed in such a way that they are capable of standing.
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Led by Professor Gunther von Hagens at the University of Heidelberg specialising in exhibitions – such as the controvserial The Body Worlds exhibition – displaying anatomical specimens preserved by plastination. This process makes it possible to lend rigidity to soft body parts – for example, individual muscles, organs such as the lungs, or a single nerve – and even specimens of the entire body can be stabilised and posed in such a way that they are capable of standing.
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Live Art
Live art – also known as performance art – tends to involve the unexpected. Other than that it's hard to define. It may have elements in common with performance arts such as experimental drama or dance, but it moves beyond the conventions and usual boundaries of these other genres. Leading exponents include Tom Geoghegan, JJ Xi and Cai Yuan, Michelle Griffith, Joshua Sofaer, Marisa Carnesky and Stelarc.
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Live art – also known as performance art – tends to involve the unexpected. Other than that it's hard to define. It may have elements in common with performance arts such as experimental drama or dance, but it moves beyond the conventions and usual boundaries of these other genres. Leading exponents include Tom Geoghegan, JJ Xi and Cai Yuan, Michelle Griffith, Joshua Sofaer, Marisa Carnesky and Stelarc.
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Hermann Nitsch
Nitsch is an Austrian performance artist who uses blood, intestines and ritual animal slaughter in his works of art, or 'actions'. His use of live animals, as well as extensive representation of crucifixion and other Christian symbols, makes his work extremely controversial.
Nitsch is an Austrian performance artist who uses blood, intestines and ritual animal slaughter in his works of art, or 'actions'. His use of live animals, as well as extensive representation of crucifixion and other Christian symbols, makes his work extremely controversial.
Tracey Emin
Emin's art is described as 'confessional'. Drawing on her own experiences, Emin examines the nature of sexuality and mortality. With her bed sculpture, simply an unmade bed, with dirty sheets, surrounded by empty bottles and other waste, Emin takes everyday dirt and garbage and displays it in an everyday sense, asking why we are still disgusted by it.
Emin's art is described as 'confessional'. Drawing on her own experiences, Emin examines the nature of sexuality and mortality. With her bed sculpture, simply an unmade bed, with dirty sheets, surrounded by empty bottles and other waste, Emin takes everyday dirt and garbage and displays it in an everyday sense, asking why we are still disgusted by it.
Damien Hirst
Hirst once said that wiping one's bottom was a kind of self portrait. His unusual take on life — and more importantly death — have made him one of the most famous young modern British artists. His trademark dead animal sculptures tackle head on the gulf between what we eat and where it comes from. But the works are also disturbing in that they reveal the fragile nature of animals', and our own, bodies.
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Hirst once said that wiping one's bottom was a kind of self portrait. His unusual take on life — and more importantly death — have made him one of the most famous young modern British artists. His trademark dead animal sculptures tackle head on the gulf between what we eat and where it comes from. But the works are also disturbing in that they reveal the fragile nature of animals', and our own, bodies.
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