Seduction and Deception

These works are by Miss Yun Bai

Yun Bai is a contemporary artist born in Beijing, China. When she was six, she moved to Tallahassee, Florida. This fusion of culture has led Bai to call herself a "Southern Asian." She grew up in a traditional Chinese setting, and has experienced both Asian and American adolescent cultures. This is definitely something I can identify with. Furthermore, Bai's work, albeit this work is from 2005, is similar to large portion of my recent work. The work leading up to my thesis portfolio dealt with my sexual identity.



Click here to here see my Blow-doll series, or visit my website.

In these collages, Yun Bai takes from pornographic magazines - cropping genitalia, faces, mouths, and limbs - and illustrates a whimsical flower or delicate foliage. Her connection between flowers and females is not a new idea. But her approach - the attempt (and I think, her success) at creating a beautiful, non-threatening image of these severed pieces of women is very fresh and creative. After the initial "I Spy" moment one has when first viewing these pieces, the soon to follow moment always becomes why?




I think what Bai is trying to turn something "ugly" back into something beautiful. Pornography has removed the humanness from the woman - lifeless, grotesque, dismembered body parts used for gawk and pleasure. By re-purposing these images into a pleasing composition, she gives them life again - and they are still coveted, desired, and loved. Or maybe she is trying to support the idea of decoration. The body parts are "decorated" with trendy feminine palettes and graphic, arabesque line quality. By repositioning the body parts, the actual figure is demolished. There is no true recognition existing, but rather the parts become building blocks to a flower-like shape. Paintings of flowers recalls women artists all throughout history , i.e. Georgia O'Keefe.

What do you think?

reckless talent.

Juan Francisco Casas is ridiculous.

This Spanish artist works in primarily blue Bic Ballpoint Pen. His hyperrealistic drawings are very large scale (as you can see in the photograph above) and are usually of the human figure. These figures depicted are both candid and posed - as if the viewer is going through his/her digital camera trying to remember the night before. Casas draws a lot of women - in bed, in the shower, posing in a flirtatious manner - and some reoccur in several of his drawings. Some see this as a way for the artist to highlight their beauty, charisma, and free spirits. And others see this as a way to prey on their vulnerability. What do you think?


Here are some of his pieces:




Why can't it be both? I see all of those things - beauty, vulnerability, free spirits. What I get out of these pieces is a glorification of the present. The "right now". All of these romanticize the feeling of spontaneity. And because the craft and likeness are so tight, the images teeter between fact and illusion. This style of drawing juxtaposed with such a simple medium, ballpoint pen (a tool for doodling), supports this idea of ordinary - or maybe equality - it's no better or worse than anything else. It's human.