Conrad Botes work reminds one the work of Andy Warhol. Bright and colourful cartoon figures. In Forensic Theatre: Male Hysteria Botes uses just four images (two of males and two of females) but change them around with four to six variations. Browns, reds and oranges are the dominating colours of the artwork.
Hillary Toffoli makes the statement to say that this art piece has offended quite a few people. And on deeper inspection of the piece one tends to realise why this work of art can be considered offensive. In one image a masculine man is seen shirtless, red faced and grinding his teeth, clasping a female in each hand above his head. In one of these variations the male is in read and beads of paint are running of him reminding one of blood dripping of a murderer’s hands. Another image the male is a naked caveman with a whip. A skull and cross bones watermark is printed over the image – a sign of death.
On some of the female images we see woman being assaulted, molested and even rape is portrayed. In one image a female is represented ancient, crying, naked and holding her left breast. Again in one of the variations her breast is red and a bead of paint is running over her hand. And then, perhaps most shocking is one of the females on the right, in the centre looking down and a print of the ancient female is over her face, in red, legs spread wide apart.
One cannot help but have a deep emotional occurrence when looking at this artwork. Rage, anger, hurt, loss of self-control. These are the emotions either experienced or depicted in Forensic Theatre: Male Hysteria. Aptly named or not? With all these hysterical emotions, how other than appositely named?
No comments:
Post a Comment