Today's art addition includes a series of rather abstract art. It's a five piece series, and idea behind them is that in todays society we flip through magazines, look at other around us, compare, ext. We see what others have, how a dress on a model looks, a hair style or even a particular body part and we want it. That girl has such nice legs, I wish I had them. That dress looks so good on her, why can't it look that good on me? I want a big butt and boobs, but a skinny waist. I want strait hair or blonde hair. We can always find everything we think we want and that would make life that much better if we could have it all.
Well my friends.....You can't have it all. We all have different bodies, and no matter how we try to change out outer appearance, that dress or hair style will never look the way it does on someone else, so any efforts is a waste.
These next five pieces were made using a base model with either a dress I likes, a hairstyle I wish I could pull of, an airbrushed face that would be lovely if it was only possible. Starting with the base model, I used different legs, arms, hands, face, hair, shirt, dress, ext to make a rather strange looking person. That person signifies what I would look like, if I could have pieces of every look I liked put into one. Not really a pretty picture, and I was left feeling pleases with myself, for the body and characteristics I do have. These pieces were also somewhat inspired by one of my favorite artists and songs, "The Fear"-by Lily Allen.
For those that may not be familiar with the song, she talks about society and our values as they've come to be not about mothers, childhood, toys, but diamonds, looks and plastic. We've become materialist and started to care less about what will sustain us in the long term. Being programed from a young age to care less about personality and family. To base our worth on what we see in the mirror, on the amount of money we have, and materialistic things. Singing about being packed in plastic, as if we are just ordered out of a catalog and thus are able to pre-determine our looks. Now of course that is only a slight interpretation made on my part.
I image what I would look like if I could pick and choose the size and color of my body, hair, skin. In bathrooms across the country, it seems a common language that woman who have never met, all seem to know. The glance in the mirror, *sigh*, and comment about any given body part at the receiving end of the days criticism. A woman you've never met, turning and insults her legs, while turning and saying as if to make you feel better, "gosh, I wish I had your legs". It's a language that despite being on the east or west coast I have experienced in the same way.
In a way these pieces remind me of those cut out dolls that some of had as children. I know I did, as my mother strongly disliked Barbies and other mainstream children's toys. I guess I can't blame wanting to look like Barbie or some model, since I don't think I sat through a movie or watched TV till much later in life, and even then had no interest in it. I would cut out the different dressed and shoes and put them on the dolls, usually losing interest pretty fast, but you get the idea. Each of these pieces are a little different, if you are able to look closely, most of them have hands of two different models. I may have chosen one because I liked the jewelry on it, or simply the way the hand looked.
It amazes me just a little how much time I have spent trying to mold my body and life into what I thought was the perfect "body and life". Seeing someone else wearing an outfit, that I just need to have. Looking my darnedest to find similar pieces to pull of the look, and really just looking ridiculous in the end, because it simply just wasn't me.
And to make a full circle back to my original inspiration, the Lily Allen song. Towards the end she sings 'Forget about guns, and forget ammunition, cause I'm killing em all on my own little mission, now I'm not a saint and I'm not a sinner, and everythings cool as long as I'm getting thinner"
It was so true to my life, that I was on a mission, fighting a war against myself. It didn't involve guns or anything you'd find in a typical war, because this war was silently being fought inside me. I looked into the mirror and saw nothing I liked, but everything I didn't want to see...ME. I wanted thick hair(mine is very thin), I wasn't a non-existant waste line(mine was almost there, but I didn't see it that way), I wanted thin arms(mine were not, I have broad shoulders and have been an athlete my whole life). I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. These photos are meant to portray what it would look like if we could pick and choose what we had and didn't. It simply doesn't work that way. When we embrace what we do have, and love it for the way it is. You could be wearing a tutu, mitch match whatever, have your hair in a braid or messy bun on the top of your head, and your confidence will blow anyone away. They might even compliment you on your tutu, because your working it.
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