Pipilotti Rist - from ambitious video technician to renowned masochist

A still of Open My Glade (Flatten), 2000, Video

Pipilotti Rist, a popular video artist, produces audio-visual installations that are remarkably immersive, ravishingly colorful, and deeply sensual. Her artworks mainly consist of two types: subversive feminist video art and indoor installation art portray group sex. Her exhibition reveals that she is a masochist and that her body and mind were voluntarily inflicted. The artist recently had a major solo exhibition that surveys three decades of practice at Tai Kwun, a former Central Police Station turned into a popular cultural destination in Hong Kong.

Topics Covered

• Beginning of the Tragedy
• The Artist’s Image in the Art World: Obliterated Video Technician
• Artworks: I’m Not a Girl Who Misses Much, Ever is Overall
• Prostitution: Mentally and Physically Abused Masochist
• Artworks: Physical Abuse, Mental Abuse, Group Sex

Beginning of the Tragedy

Rist grew up in an unstable family. Her parents divorced when she was sixteen, due to his father's debauchery of constantly dating a new mistress. Her father, a doctor who mainly treated Italian laborers, was more interested in his mistresses rather than in educating his children. Her father's negligent personality resulted in a matriarchal family, where her mother had to discipline her five children. Her mother was a generous and caring teacher of a one-room school for forty-five students. Growing up, the artist was fond of popular culture and admired legendary celebrities. She was especially impressed by the stories of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Physics being her favorite subject in High School, She studied theoretical physics at the University of Applied Arts, in Vienna for four years since 1982. University widened her perspective and opened her up to an entirely new realm of visual art. Intrigued by the unfamiliar realm, she additionally took philosophy, photography, and illustration. During her study at the university, she became familiar with experimental cinema. fascinated with the field, she decided to work in a related discipline.

After graduating, in 1986, she returned to Switzerland and enrolled at the School of Design at Basel to continue pursuing her passion for video. To pay for her studies, she took a video part-time job at Ciba-Geigy, a big Swiss chemical firm. The company had a well-equipped lab for producing promotional videos. Through the job, she was able to access current technologies and machines. At the lab, she worked for a filmmaker who supported her ambition and talent. He let her use the lab at night, so she could familiarize herself with operating the equipment and editing videos. Through the course of actions, she ultimately produced a seven-minute video that launched her career in visual art. It was called “I’m Not the Girl Who Misses Much.”

The Artist’s Identity in the Art World: Obliterated White Horse

Artwork 1: I’m Not a Girl Who Misses Much, 1986

In the glitchy seven-minute video, the artist jumps frantically with her breast spilling out from her dress. She sings “I’m Not a Girl Who Misses Much”, the first line of "Happiness is a Warm Gun" by the Beatles, repeatedly throughout the film in a child-like, high-pitched voice. It reflects the artist’s state of mind. The title of the song and the lyrics she sings in the video directly communicates her identity to the audience. She is a whore without a past. Instead of adhering to a long-term goal and valuing her past, she is used to physical pleasure gratified by an erected reproductive organ of a male. The glitchy filter and frantic jumping of the artist suggest she is not mentally stable. The artwork addresses the current, insane state of the artist, but doesn’t show the course of actions that led her to the state of insanity shown in the video.

Ironically, Rist originally had no intention of becoming an artist when she was studying at her first university. Articles and interviews merely list out her record without stating what happened to her during her enrollment at two schools. I suspect that a series of ordeals must have happened for her to create such a frightening film, but any clue is nowhere to be found. Professional art media remain elusive about what happened to her. The artist intentionally hides her painful past from the art world.

Artwork 2: Ever is Overall (1997)

The artwork is a video that established her reputation in the art world. In the eight-minute video, a woman in a light blue dress walks down a city street. She smashes car windows by wielding a large flower, while a policewoman nods and passes her approvingly. The woman wielding a flower is a persona of the artist that represents her character in the art world. She is a woman of potent sex appeal and is aware of her power. She wields it at her will regardless of the cost she has to pay afterward. The video doesn’t directly show her behavior of exercising her sexual power over the opposite sex. Instead, it shows the representation of the behavior. The woman wielding a flower represents the artist’s past self, who was unaware that she would become a whore used to happiness.

The two renowned videos of the artist demonstrate the cause, Ever is Overall, and its effect, I’m Not a Girl Who Misses Much. By showing the fatal consequence of wielding sexuality as a weapon, the identity of the artist communicates an unspoken and commonly accepted rule endorsed by modern society. She submitted both of her videos to renowned film festivals, Biennials, and art institutions. the submission granted her recognition and accolades from the authorities in the art world as a price of her humiliation. She also earned representations with mega-galleries: Luhring Augustine and Hauser & Wirth.

The implicit message embodied by the artist influences popular culture. In 2016, Beyonce paid homage to the artist by inserting a scene derived from “Ever Is Over All” in the music video of her newly released song "Hold Up". In the music video, the singer skips down a sidewalk in a flowing yellow dress and smashes car windows along the way with a baseball bat. Its target audience of Beyonce is prone to develop a similar tendency to the singer’s actions in the music video. Consequently, the homage begets the next generation of radical feminists, contributing to and justifying the vicious cycle of violence against the uninformed.

Prostitution: Mentally and Physically Abused Masochist

Her artworks mainly consist of two types: subversive feminist video art and indoor installation art featuring group sex. Description, analysis, and evaluation of the first type of her artwork are prevalent in professional art media, yet that of the second type is completely censored online. Online articles and interviews incorporate vague and broad expressions, such as intimate and sexual to describe her theme of the second type of artwork. Her story of group sex stays and is protected securely in her indoor exhibitions.

Accordingly, the identities of her sex partners are impossible to trace. Yet, a suspected group of people exists as acquaintances and collaborators of the artist working in visual arts and pop culture. In an interview with The New Yorker in 2020, the artist directly confirms she was once in three years of romantic relationship with a composer, Anders Guggisberg, who contributed to producing soundtracks of her reputed video artworks. The titles of the soundtracks in their collaboration album also suggest their relationship. However, whether he was involved in group sex is unknown.

The erotic content is specially catered for beau-monde, who seeks the joy of humiliating the unfortunate. In the exhibition, The artist invites the audience to interact with her installation by sitting or lying on the furniture. Through the interaction, the audience immerses themselves in the erotic ritual of group sex.

The artist recently had a major solo exhibition called "Behind Your Eyelid" at Tai Kwun, a former Central Police Station turned into a contemporary art museum in Hong Kong. I got to know her through the exhibition. I was so astonished by its content I had to write an in-depth review of the exhibition. The review contains the analysis of the rest of the artworks not listed in this post. Reading the review is recommended for interested readers.

Artwork: Physical Abuse

Enlighten My Space, 2008, Video installation
2022, Installation view, Tai Kwun

In a middle of a long shelf, an opened scientific magazine in German with objects on it is brightly lit up to gather the attention of the audience. Pages of the magazine contain one of the most disturbing stories of group sex. The pages show she had two times of abortions. An organ-shaped thin and transparent plastic floating above indicates the size of the fetus when she had the abortion surgery. the most horrifying part of the story is that the artist agreed to get pregnant and was passionate about committing such horrible deeds to herself. She knew her target audience and their demand. The more she was destroyed, the higher she became elevated financially and socially.

Artwork: Mental Abuse

Multicolored Ghost, 2020
2022, Installation view, Tai Kwun

The artwork shows the mental state of the artist. The image in the picture frame shows that her mind was penetrated and modified by her sex partners. In a small glass display case, eight bird head bones are arranged as a cue that the artist had dissociative identity disorder. She had eight characters within herself and her character changed according to the partner she faced. Two likely causes of DID in her case are loss of memory due to damaged brain functioning and psychological violence from her partners.

Group Sex
Artwork 1: Enlightened Hips

Enlightened Hips, 2011, Video installation
2022, Installation view, Tai Kwun

The installation consists of two parts. The first part is a beautiful rock with a video projection in the center and multiple pieces of furniture surrounding it. The choice of furniture reflects the refined taste of the artist. A circle-shaped reddish-purple rug lies under the installation.

A notable characteristic of the artwork is video projection. The projection technique is a genius and original invention devised by the artist. The projection turns a mundane object into a fascinating artwork conveying the artist’s story of group sex. Though she is not a skilled craftsman, she is capable of staging a visually fascinating experience.

The rock in the center represents the body of the artist. The rock show the physical and mental aspects of the human body. The plain rock represents the physical body and the projected video represents the mental images that sculpted the physical body of the artist. The mass media planted those images in her brain, which controls the formation of her body.

Enlightened Hips, 2011, Video installation
2022, Installation view, Tai Kwun

The second part is detached away from the first part. Yet, it is intended to be viewed together with the first part. An amputated mannequin shows the mental state of the artist during sex. The two installations conjure up the mental image of the artist having sex with her partner. Her partners take turns to be physically intimate with her, while the rest of the partners watch the erotic spectacle of her and her partners moving, and reaching “enlightenment”, the highest state of physical pleasure. Meanwhile, her body, as exquisite as a masterpiece, is immobile like a doll. Ration and the ability to imagine are absent. Her body is overwhelmed and enthralled by instinct and sensational pleasure. Her movement is entirely determined by her partners. Through the artwork, the artist delivers the fantasy of gazing body and mind of the artist while she had sex with her partners.  

Artwork 2: Caressing Dinner Circle, Do Not Abandon Me Again

Caressing Dinner Circle, 2022. Installation view, Tai Kwun

 Caressing Dinner Circle, 2020. Installation view, Luhring Augustine

Do Not Abandon Me Again, 2022. Installation view, Tai Kwun

Do Not Abandon Me Again, 2015. Installation view, Kunsthaus Zürich

Two artworks of the same title are from different exhibitions. The artist displays similar works in every exhibition, without much iteration or enhancement. Both of the artworks graphically demonstrate the nature of group sex. Dinner and a large bed are shared by several people. Projected images on Caressing Dinner Circle featured kaleidoscopic geometry and Do Not Abandon Me Again showed a female and a male figures dancing on top of sprinkling, liquid-like particles. Projected images are psychedelic representations of physical intimacy between the artist and her sex partners. 

Caressing Dinner Circle is a spatially expanded form of artwork denoting group sex. The position of female artists in the art world has gradually expanded since the 1930s, when the first female Surrealist, Meret Oppenheim, exhibited “Object” and “My Nurse”. Back then, the artwork of the female artist was able to occupy as small space as the size of a plate. In other words, she couldn’t stage the complete scene of the artwork, the whole table setting. Female artists’ occupation of space has significantly expanded from a size of a plate to a whole interior, as their position in the art world expanded.

Meret Oppenheim - the “Nurse” of Avant-garde Artists

Entitled Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition, a retrospective of Meret Oppenheim’s lifelong career is on display at The Museum of Modern Art, New York until March 4th, 2023. Thus, I figured that this is the right time to discuss her artistic career in terms of prostitution. Reputed as the only female artist among the influential Surrealists, she gained fame for being the “nurse” of avant-garde artists. Harnessing the power of female sexuality, she created erotic assemblages that explored the theme of fantasies about dominance and submission. 

Installation view of Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition,
on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York
October 30, 2022 – March 4, 2023.

 One of artworks on display: 
X-Ray of M.O.’s Skull, 

1964/1981, Gelatin silver print

Topics Covered

• Surrealists, Avant-garde Artists, and Oppenheim
• Prostitution: Relationship Demands an Exchange
• Artworks: Object - a Luncheon in Fur, My Nurse

Surrealists, Avant-garde Artists, and Oppenheim

Originally from Switzerland, Oppenheim grew up in a progressive and intellectual family. Her father, a psychoanalyst and a friend of Carl Jung, and her grandmother, an illustrator, and author encouraged her to pursue art as a career. Oppenheim moved to Paris and enrolled at Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1932. Her artistic career began when she befriended later-renowned artists at the capital of European avant-garde. In her school, she befriended Cubist painter Picasso, Existentialist sculptor Giacometti and abstract sculptor Hans Arp, who was twice her age. They introduced her to a group of influential Surrealists: André Breton the theorist, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, and Max Ernst.

Surrealists focused on portraying the unconscious with erotically charged images. One of the theories that form the basis of surrealist ideology is psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud, the influential founder of psychoanalysis, claimed that libido, sexual instinct, and directing it to productive activity are crucial to the advancement of individuals and civilization. Following his idea, Surrealists set libido as one of the main themes of their works and directed their sexual energy to create artwork. Despite its magnificence, surrealist artworks overtly displayed sexual desire, regarded as a shame in a civilized society. Thus, Surrealists had to bear derision from the public. As a remedy, they needed a female surrealist to “heal” their wounded mind and create artworks of the “healing” experience for public consumption.

Salvador Dali, 
Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, 1944

Max Ernst, The Robing of the Bride, 1940

Rene Magritte, Philosopher's Lamp, 1936

Prostitution: Relationship Demands an Exchange

Charged with ambition, Oppenheim was an ideal woman to take up the role of the female surrealist. Surrealists admired her beauty, youth, and rebellious attitude and welcomed her to join their group to take advantage of her sexually. She was aware of their intention and agreed. Surrealists regarded her as a quintessential embodiment of the movement. As a muse of the movement, she inspired and entertained Surrealists by dearly caressing them and served as a model for their artworks.

Man Ray, Erotique Voilée, 1933, Vintage contact silver print

Avant-garde photographer Man Ray was particularly impressed by the artist. Mesmerized by her magnetic charisma, he studied her by documenting her youthful beauty in his photos. "Erotique Voilée" was one of a series of photographs featuring her. In the series, the naked female surrealist poses elegantly with a printing press. a printing press, which records history, represents a trap that the female artist and the rest of the avant-garde artists were caught in.

During her active period, women’s roles in the art world were limited to muses and lovers. Unlike the rest of the women, she won the title of a surrealist artist by creating proofs of physical intimacy with avant-garde artists. Those proofs were surrealist objects, modified domestic objects as physical manifestations of internal desire and aspiration. Surrealist objects assembled by the artist were included in the Surrealist exhibition in 1933 and 1936.

Artwork 1: Object – a Luncheon in Fur

Avant-garde artists who had sex with her are impossible to trace, but a clue that she had quite a lot of partners exists. In the Surrealist object exhibition at Charles Ratton Gallery in 1936, Object, a fetishistic assemblage, debuted adjacent to Marcel Duchamp’s Bottle Rack, a tiered metal structure with sprockets meant to hold drying glass bottles. The female surrealist achieved widespread acclaim through the exhibition.

Object, 1936, Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon

 Marcel Duchamp, Bottle Rack, 1914, Bare bottle rack

Object features a teacup with a saucer covered in the fur of Chinese gazelle. A teacup implies tea time, where a teapot pours tea into tea cups. Tea time suggests group sex, where one female, a teapot, pours warmth and pleasure to several males, tea cups. Yet, the audience might not understand its meaning when it is displayed without any cues. The placement of the Bottle Rack next to the teacup sets the conclusion that the artwork is portraying group sex, as sprockets resemble and therefore represent erected reproductive organs of males. The rack is dark in color, as they are aroused and motivated by dark intentions: power, indulgence, and pleasure. The structure of the rack implies the female surrealist had more than one group of artists who engaged in the lascivious ritual. Bottle Rack is ready-made by Marcel Duchamp, a pioneer of Dada. Duchamp, as a representative of avant-garde artists who engaged in the erotic ritual with the female surrealist, turned a bottle rack into a ready-made object that reflected their sexual desire for feminine beauty. Thus, the Object represents the sex partners of Oppenheim among male avant-garde artists. The teacup is covered in fur, as an implication of the social standing of the artists.

Artwork 2: My Nurse

My Nurse, 1936, A pair of bound high heels, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

My Nurse was one of the surrealist objects that represented the body of the artist, an emblem of surrealism. The object features a pair of bound high heels decorated with paper frills like a trussed chicken, presented on a silver tray. The object full of latent eroticism resembles two things. To begin with, It looks like a whole chicken ready to be shared. A whole chicken implies group sex, where the food is shared by several partners. Secondly, the rounded heels look like buttocks, evoking the image of a bound woman on her back, with her legs spread apart. The binding, graphically showing the relationship of dominance and submission, conjures up a scene of the group sex between the female surrealist and avant-garde artists. The movement of the artist is passively reduced by her partners. In contrast, her partners, infatuated by her beauty, avidly indulge in her sexual charms. The filthy sole of the high heels suggests she became well-acquainted with the touch of her partners’ hands.

Tai Kwun: Pipilotti Rist – Behind Your Eyelid, Part 2

Topics Covered in Part 1

• 3/F: Pixel Forest, Sip My Ocean
• 2/F: Soul Lights, Selfless in Bath of Lava

Topics Covered in Part 2

• 1/F: The Apartment, Big Skin

1/F

The Apartment

Behind Your Eyelid – Pipilotti Rist: Setting of the exhibition venue

Mercy Garden Retour, 2014, Audio video installation, Sound: Heinz Rohrer - one of three videos playing on the installed screen

Similar to installations on 3/F, The Apartment takes place in a spacious hall where the sunlight is completely blocked. “Reverse Eyelid”, a wall paper of distorted images, surrounds the wall like a membrane. Consisting of 14 distinctive artworks, the Apartment contains the core of the group sex narrative. Through object placement, Pipilotti Rist conjures up an entire realm of imagination behind the eyelid of the audience. The following paragraphs discusses the three most sensual, provocative and controversial works in the Apartment.

Group Sex

Enlighten My Space

Enlighten My Space, 2008, Video installation

Enlighten My Space, 2008, Video installation

In the middle of a long shelf, an opened scientific magazine in German with objects on, is brightly lit up to gather the attention of the audience. Pages of the magazine contain one of the most disturbing stories of group sex. The installation reveals she had abortions for two times. An organ-shaped thin and transparent plastic floating above indicates the size of the fetus when she had the abortion surgery. the most horrifying part of the story is that the artist agreed to get pregnant and was passionate about committing such horrible deeds to herself. The more she was destroyed, the higher she was elevated financially and socially by her sponsors.

Sentimental Sideboard

Sentimental Sideboard, 2021, Video installation

Sentimental Sideboard, 2021, Video installation

The strange red lighting of the sideboard incites the curiosity of the audience. Each section portrays the sex the artist had with her partners through assorted red plastic objects. One of the most provocative stories is that she had sex with a female partner while other partners enjoyed the erotic view. Contrasting to the cheap and artificial objects, a Scholarly Rock sits in the middle, as a representation of the body of the artist. She projected moving images on the rock, so the audience would perceive it as a focal point of the artwork. The contrast in material between plastic objects and the rock indicates how her partners treated her body when having intercourse. Yet, the color of the lighting shows both sides were passionate about having sex.

Enlightened Hips

Enlightened Hips, 2011, Video installation

The most eye-catching installation in The Apartment, Enlightened Hips consists of two parts. The first part is a beautiful rock with a video projection in the center and multiple pieces of furniture surrounding it. A circle-shaped reddish-purple rug lies under the installation. The choice of furniture reflects the refined taste of the artist. Similar to the Scholar’s Rock in Sentimental Sideboard, the rock represents the physical body of the artist. Video projected on the rock is the mental image that governs the body of the artist. She welcomes the audience to become a part of the experience by letting them sit on sofas or a chair to watch the projected video dance on the surface of the rock. The artist delivers the fantasy of gazing body and mind of the artist while she had sex with her partners.

Enlightened Hips, 2011, Video installation

The second part is detached away from the first part. Yet, it is intended to be viewed together with the first part. An amputated mannequin shows the artist’s state of mind during sex. The two installations conjure up the mental image of the artist having sex with her partners. Her partners take turns to be physically intimate with her, while the rest of the partners watch the erotic spectacle of her and her partners moving, and reaching “enlightenment”, the highest state of physical pleasure. Meanwhile, her body, as beautiful as a masterpiece, is immobile like a doll. Ration and the ability to imagine are absent. Her body is overwhelmed and captivated by instinct and sensational pleasure. Her movement is entirely determined by her partners.

Big Skin

Big Skin, 2022, Audio video installation

Big Skin, 2022, Audio video installation

Specially commissioned by Tai Kwun, the installation is revealed to the audience for the first time. In a dark and spacious hall, glossy plastic panels with wavy surfaces and a chandelier made out of underwear float in the air. Colorful videos shot in nature are precisely projected onto each panel. Panels look studded with gleaming diamonds, due to their glossy surface. Combined with dreamy instrumental, the entire hall is ambient with a meditative and ethereal atmosphere.

Big Skin, 2022, Audio video installation

Each panel resembling the surface of the water is another representation of the body of the artist. The panels show the physical and mental aspects of the human body. Plain panels represent the physical body and projected video represents the mental image that sculpted the physical body of the artist. As the artist wander around the “pixel forest” of internet sites, those images were planted in her brain.
Floating panels of the Big Skin, the amputated mannequin, and the rock in the center of Enlightened Hips, and Scholar’s Rock of Sentimental Sideboard share the same concept: the body of the artist during sex. These three representations have a distinctive trait in common: lack of action. Similar to the rest of the immobile medium, the motionless panels hang in the air like statues. Speculating from the hanging height of the panels, the sex partners of the artist caressed her carefully.

Tai Kwun: Pipilotti Rist – Behind Your Eyelid, Part 1

Tai Kwun: Pipilotti Rist – Behind Your Eyelid, Part 1

Visual artist Pipilotti Rist reveals her story of group sex through deeply sensual and immersive multimedia installation art. The artist conjures up an entire realm of erotic spectacle through video art and object placement. She recently had a multimedia exhibition at Tai Kwun, entitled Behind Your Eyelid. The theme of the exhibition is a story of a trampled whore jumping in hell fire.
Explanation on the website stated the genre and characteristics of her art evidently but remained elusive about the theme. Viewers can only find out the theme by observing artworks on site. The exhibition was meticulously curated. According to the curator, curating the exhibition took two years.

JC Contemporary, the building that the exhibition took place, consists of four floors: G/F to 3/F. Strangely, the order of viewing artworks is upside down. The audience is advised to view artworks from 3/F to 1/F. The video below shows the overall setting of the venue.

Topics Covered in Part 1

• 3/F: Pixel Forest, Sip My Ocean
• 2/F: Soul Lights, Selfless in Bath of Lava

Topics Covered in Part 2

• 1/F: The Apartment, Big Skin

3/F
Pixel Forest

Pixel Forest, 2016-2022, Hanging LED light installation

Pixel Forest, 2016-2022, Hanging LED light installation

Pixel Forest, 2016-2022, Hanging LED light installation

In a dark and spacious hall, Hundreds of strings attached with glass lights resemble vulvae hang on the ceiling of the room. Vulva lights are attached evenly from top to bottom on a string. A moderate amount of distance between hanged strings gives the audience enough space to wander inside the installation. Rainbow colors sweep glass vulva lights like ocean waves. Examined closely, some vulva lights have various lengths of icicles attached to them. Eerie yet soothing music plays in the background. Sometimes, the witchy voice of the artist echoes: “you see me, I see you, I want to see how you see.”
The artwork represents a screen of pixels on porno sites. The artwork induces the audience to imagine the artist lost in indulging in decadent videos, images, and texts that taint her mind. When entering a forest, explorers might get lost and can’t guarantee that they can find a way out. Rist’s story of prostitution unfolds from the dirty habit of the artist before she was involved in prostitution.

Sip My Ocean

Sip My Ocean, 1996, Two-channel video projection

A symmetrical video plays on two-channel screens in a similar setting as the previous room. While watching the video, the audience can either sit on a cushion or stand outside of the rug area. According to the exhibition pamphlet, the video is shot under the Red Sea. Video are shot at an intentional angle that the whole setting is hard to see. A seductive ballad plays along the video. The song is “Wicked Games” by Chris Issac. The background music is a reinterpretation of the original song.
The visual quality of video is not meeting expectation of the ticket price. The quality of the composition is disappointing. It is sentimental and lacks any narrative or purpose. The quality of music surpasses that of video. The mellifluous melody of the acoustic guitar in the reinterpretation is more sentimental than that of the original version. The melody is evocative of the push and pulls of the flowing Red Sea wave. The lyrics of the song are the most powerful component of the artwork. The lyrics are especially pronounced, so the audience can clearly understand their meaning. Lyrics represent the artist’s perspective on group sex and prostitution. She attempts to establish an emotional connection with the audience by addressing her thoughts through the lyrics.

2/F

Installations of 2/F are slightly misleading and pinpointing artworks on display was a bit challenging. The site-specific installation art easily deceives the audience into thinking that it is a trendy library. Technically, the whole 2/F is an installation art itself, but there are two specific parts that require the attention of the audience.

Soul Lights

Soul Lights, 2022, Installation with colored windows

Soul Lights, 2022, Installation with colored windows

Soul Lights, 2022, Installation with colored windows

The first is Soul Lights. The installation features colored filters attached on windows of 2/F. Refined shades of red, magenta, yellow, green, and blue tinted ample sunlight coming through the glass. Colored glass filters in Soul Lights indicate that the artist was mind-controlled. When looking outside through a glass window without any colored filters, the outside world is normal. However, when looking outside through a glass window with a yellow-colored filter, the outside world looks saturated with yellow. Mind-controlled person views the world through a colored filter, a distorted perception of reality.

 

Selfless in Bath of Lava

Selfless in Bath of Lava, 1994, Audio video installation

The second is Selfless in Bath of Lava. The size of the artwork is so small that finding the artwork would have been impossible without the help of a guard on 2/F. The artwork is installed in a tiny hole in the rug on the floor. In a tiny LCD monitor as small as a thumb, the naked artist is engulfed by burning lava and raises both of her hands to reach for salvation from above. She screams out loud: “I’m a worm and you are a flower, so please help me.” The artist scaled the artwork down, so not all of the audience would be able to see her being tortured in burning lava. The video represents the artist’s state of mind while engaging in prostitution. 

Tai Kwun: Pipilotti Rist – Behind Your Eyelid, Part 2

HKMoA: Baroque Art Masterpieces from Capodimonte Museum, Part 2

Topics Covered in Part 1

• Background Information
• Renaissance paintings of Farnese Collection

Topics Covered in Part 2

• Baroque paintings of the Bourbon Collection
• Conclusion: Opinions and Lessons

Baroque Paintings of the Bourbon Collection

To understand the origin of the Bourbon Collection, knowing the history of Naples is a must. In the 17th Century, Naples was a bustling port city in Spain and was regarded as the second-largest metropolis in Europe. Since the establishment of the Kingdom of Naples in 1734, governing Spanish sovereign funded the building of grand churches and palaces, and patronized masterpieces by artists from the city and beyond. As a result, the whole city was adorned with magnificent artwork. However, after Napoleon rose to power, artistic treasures were removed by his administration in 1806. Later, after the Congress of Vienna restored Ancien Regime in 1815, King Ferdinand and his heirs acquired dispersed Neapolitan paintings. They categorized acquisitions as Bourbon Collection. Its name was derived from the palace that housed the restored throne.

The paintings of the Bourbon Collection are categorized according to their subjects. When observing artwork, pay attention to literary references of depicted subjects, morals behind each story, and visual traits of paintings: chiaroscuro(dramatic contrast), realistic depiction, capturing narrative, theatrical gestures, sensual richness, strong emotions, and sumptuous color scheme.

Biblical Scenes

In hopes of encouraging piety from believers and divine protection from natural and man-made challenges, clergy from churches in Naples commissioned artists to paint monumental altarpieces that featured biblical scenes and patron saints of the city.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant Abra with the Head of Holofernes, 1645-1650, Oil on canvas, Bourbon Collection

Link to in-depth analysis

Lionello Spada, Cain and Abel, ca. 1612-1614, Oli on Canvas, 

Bourbon Collection 

Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve. Cain worked in the field and Abel took care of flocks. Cain became jealous of Abel, as the Lord was more fond of Abel’s offering. Out of malicious intention of monopolizing the affection of the Lord, Cain killed his younger brother. After discovering his irreversible sin of Cain, the Lord told Cain that he would be no longer able to yield crops from any field.

The painting depicts the most abject moment of the story. Flushed with jealousy, Cain is raising a wooden bat menacingly to cause a lethal blow to his brother. The concept of painting is a reminder of the consequence of violating basic moral principles. The work of the sinner will be taken away, as his character is not eligible to work and contribute to his community.

Matthias Stomer, Supper at Emmaus, ca. 1632-1635, Oli on Canvas, Bourbon Collection

Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus, 1601, oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London

The both of the paintings show Jesus and his disciples having dinner at an inn in Emmaus after the Resurrection of Jesus.

Carracci and Caravaggio, Masters of Baroque Art, greatly influenced artists of the new generation in the 17th century. Firstly, the new generation of artists studied the composition of Caravaggio’s paintings. Compare Stomer’s version of the Supper at Emmaus with that of Caravaggio. Stomer’s version is a perfect example that demonstrates Caravaggio’s far-reaching influence. The close-knit composition of characters sitting around a candlelight is derived from Caravaggio’s painting of the same subject. Secondly, the new generation agreed that subject should be based on real-life observation. Instead of depicting idealized beauty, artists incorporated people, objects, and textures from daily lives into their paintings. Real-life observation by Stomer is evident in his portrayal of deeply lined faces, messy hair, and tattered clothing.

Classical Myth

Contrasting to paintings of biblical tales commissioned by clergy, paintings of secular and even profane subjects were on demand by self-initiated patrons. Wealthy and well-educated merchants, bankers, aristocrats, and politicians commissioned artists to paint scenes from classical mythology.

Jusepe de Ribera, Apollo and Marsyas, 1637, Oli on Canvas, Bourbon Collection

In the painting, Apollo tortures satyr Marsyas brutally after winning a musical contest proposed by the loser. Marsyas screams in pain while Apollo flaying him. The audience in the background shudders in fear reminded of the consequence of challenging authority.

Ribera captured intense psychological drama through the delineation of facial expressions, and dramatic composition. Expert in capturing the psychology of characters in his painting, The artist was regarded as one of the most important painters of Baroque Art.

Still Life

Neapolitan artists started painting still lives after seeing still life paintings by Caravaggio.

The demand for still-life paintings reached its peak in the 17th century. Artists focused on capturing the captivating realism of diverse objects and addressing morals through the placement of objects.

Christian Berentz, Carlo Maratta, Flowers and Fruit with a Woman Picking Grapes,
1696, Oli on Canvas, Bourbon Collection

Giovan Battista Recco, Still Life with Head of a Goat, ca.1650, Oli on Canvas, Bourbon Collection

Giuseppe Recco, Still Life with Fish, 1665-1670, Oli on Canvas, Bourbon Collection 

Conclusion

Opinion

• omitted information on artwork description: omitted concept, the moral lesson behind the portrayed story, of each painting, only addressing depicted narrative and techniques.
• Baroque art emphasizes materialistic pleasure: technical virtuosity is a hallmark of Baroque Art
• importance of craftsmanship: I was amazed by masters. I do acknowledge that concept is as important, but concept can’t be expressed without skill. Hence I concluded that having the ability to render a subject realistically is power, as it is leverage to represent an idea.
• transformation of image over time: In modern society, large LCD screens have a similar function to monumental Baroque paintings of the 16th to 18th centuries. As time passed, technology advanced. Consequently, new equipment, hardware, software, and skills were invented. I’m truly blessed that I’m equipped with advanced tools and skills to realize my ideas in a virtual, 3D world.

Lessons

• single movement, distinctive techniques: close observation and reading artwork description is required to detect subtle distinctions in techniques by different artists
• the lasting influence of pioneer artist: Caravaggio left lasting legacy to Baroque artists.
• images contain morals endorsed by the social system: no matter how visually flattering an artwork is, the moral lesson behind images is more important than the depicted subject itself.