The Female Prototype: Formal Analysis of Wangechi Mutu’s

The adult femalehoodish Prototype Formal Analysis of Wangechi Mutus critical tide rip fiber As you walk up the cold, concrete steps, it looms above you, intimidating and inviting all at the same time. A wall of windows gives you an intimate peep before entering, with reveal drapeing likewise much, heightening the anticipation. A pair of small, rotating doors, portal you into some other world. The M giveum of present-day(a) artworks interior is vast and simplistic, leaving a grit that the building it egotism is detached from the wonder it holds inwardly its walls.Winding up the stairs and with the showrooms, the pieces just about buzz off to life against the stark white walls. Moving through Seeing Is a Kind of Thinking A Jim Nutt Companion, each section displays a theme to a greater extent controversial, and complex whence the next. Wangechi Mutus piddling crash Character, is modest, dismantle fine, among the many grotesque interprets surrounding it. Dark, mi srepresented bodies, riddled with wakeual innuendo, sometimes subtle, more oftentimes blunt, line the walls. Although petty Split Character, portrays the same thing, it does so gracefully, as opposed to its counter commences.Tiny Split Character shows the kind of a charr, reprobate, in an awkward, yet seductive pose. pip to her left, a tiny figure of a char muliebrityhood, who is distorted as well, is suspended in mid air, power point bent back, leg extended. The face of the little woman has a masculine feel, with an eerily large grinning slapped across it. Her pose and facial expression gives the sense of freedom, an almost c befree demeanor. Armless, breasts exposed, and stiletto heels complete this misshapen authority of female sexuality. The large woman looks at the little one with big, beautiful, eyes almost yearnly.Perhaps the tiny woman is a representation of what, and who, the larger woman wants to be. by chance even who she drill to be, before she became a victim to the exploitation and misrepresentation of woman in society. blistering lips are the only other human attribute enhancing her face. The larger woman is contrived with more oddities then her ideological interpretation. Gears and mechanical parts comprise her shoulders and part of her chest, showing the machine she has break down, but also showing readiness, and her indestructible record.Flowers adorn her, softening her machinery and warped carcass while showing a soft, feminine side, without subjugating it. A tattered, purple garment is the only thing cover charge her lower half, purple being the color of royalty. Her torso is nearly completely covered in holes. mayhap her facade is fading, or maybe she is literally move apart, finally dissolving under the constant rack and scrutiny. Her trunk is composed of a sickening potassium color, mayhap representing the sickness at her core. A unsoundness that is consuming her and other women alike.Wangechi Mutu has sa id that, Females carry the marks, phrase and nuances of their culture more than the male. Anything that is desired or despise is always placed on the female dust, (Kerr par. 4). A red streak washes over her side, cascading from her waist, down her hip, and on to her thigh, idiomatic expressionuating her curves, and again playing up her sexuality. The finishing touch, manicured work force and stiletto heels. All this against a simple white land, night encroaching the top center and corners. Wangechi Mutu uses, magazine images of women and makes them almost monstrous.Her figures boast transplanted eyes that reckon besides large, too small, too far apart or too close to charterher to be human, (Croal par. 1). Tiny Split Character is an abstract piece of art, representing the female form. She selected indisputable aspects she saw and either exaggerated or highlighted them to get her message across. Politi examines how her creative process begins with accidental spattering tha t eventually build up layers of materials (par. 3). The artist chooses to use sheets of cut Mylar, a non-absorptive synthetic material (Roach par. ) on which she is able to manipulate ink and acrylic keys tactile property into splotches and colliding pools. Mutu sorts through mass-produced images of women and cuts them into fragments eyes, lips, manicured nails, and stiletto-clad feet (Roach par. 3) before she begins assembling her creations. Her cyborgs are finally able to come to life when she arranges them on the walls and floors of her studio. These painted forms usually depict the bodies, or body parts, of her abstract figures. After the bodies have been assembled Mutu accentuates this image with mixed elements such as jewels and lush paint alter (Macsweeney par. ). Mutus use of unlikely elements gives the women in the image the effect of a glamorous, yet barbaric centerfold. In fact, Mutus gruesome gods and goddesses are born out of her chaotic process (Politi par. 2). The b lack shading on the top of the picture almost gives the illusion of the women as a light source, as her grisly forms seem to be almost glowing against the darkness. This highlighting the stereotypes and upbraiding a woman must endure on a day to day basis. The artists inconsistent layering patterns further stress the conflicting factors of the questionable perfect body.The use of a collage allows Mutu to scheme the audience physically and conceptually by employ layered depth within her artwork. She attempts to trap her viewers with layers of visual metaphors that force them to question assumptions about race, gender, geography, chronicle and ravisher (Croal par. 1). As an artist, she strives to break down the barriers that are meant to smother the progress of women in society. Mutus obscure characters are composed of numerous elements that represent, overrule, and reconfigure each potential flunk that relate to the expected role of women (Murnik par. ). The artist decides t o depict women in this manner in hopes of integrating strength and revision into her pieces of art so that the previous sensing of women is no longer quintessential. Tiny Split Characters accent colors tie into the overall color scheme. Mutus visual elements which are mainly that of earth tones and complementary color colors, as she uses yellow, purple, red, and green at different intensities. At the same time it slew be considered some analagous as the colors range from red-orange, to orange, to yellow-orange.The same goes for her use ranging from green to purple. Her use of color gives the overall tone of a simple yet enchanting creature. Something that is twain innate and manmade. This idea is supported by her founding of gears and other machinery in the picture. It represents the contradiction and dualistic nature of women. On one hand thither is our natural self. On the other there is what society says we should be and what society says we should look like. Women are torn , between who they genuinely are, and who they are pressured to become.Perhaps there is a way that the woman portrayed in Tiny Split Character can sense of balance the two. What Mutu is trying to show is that there is a way, by expanding societies definition of beauty, so women can stay as pure and organic as they chose to be. In addition to color, Mutu uses texture through layering and collage in Tiny Split Character to ready visual interest and depth. Pattern can be seen as well with the repetitive holes engrossing the larger womans body. Mutu uses the principle of asymmetrical balance to dramatize the opposition between who the woman has become and who the woman use to be.However, despite the symmetry imbalance, they two seem to come together to make another separate whole. Insinuating a oneness between the two, that possibly the woman she was has never left, she has simply taken a back seat to the woman she is now. The blank background creates a lack of depth so that our fu rbish up focus is on the interpretation of the women in former of us. The hierarchal scale between the larger and smaller woman leads us to believe the smaller woman is a separate entity. One will course originally wonder who the smaller woman is in relation to the larger woman.Her size suggests that she is of less importance then the larger woman. Perhaps she is her conscience, maybe even the representation of her basic, animalistic, desires that are taunting her to do the premature thing. Upon further analysis of the picture, and taking account the title, Tiny Split Character, it is then that we realize that she is, in fact, a part of the larger woman. She is smaller because society has unceasingly belittled who she originally was, who she actually yearns to be. Media tells her that her former self is not as important as the reality image she is trying to maintain.Despite her downplay, without the smaller woman, the larger woman would not be whole. In conclusion, Wangechi Mutu s Tiny Split Character, is an homage to women everywhere. Its strikingly bizarre, and repelling design, destroys ideals and makes a mockery of female stereotypes. The Museum of Contemporary cunning has created a wonderful showcase with Seeing Is a Kind of Thinking, for it truly is. Mutu uses color, collage, balance, scale, texture, pattern, and depth that invokes wonder, amazement, and horror. Molds are broken, history and traditions evolve with Tiny Split Character.Mutus reorient image capitalizes on the contradictions of role expectations western media ideal, sex goddess, and natural woman. The images also allude to the repercussions of female exploitation. The longing to be who you truly are, along with the fact that women cannot mask their true selves forever are all elements of this beautiful masterpiece that so eloquently portrays a womans dilemma and strife. Bibliography Biography. Saatachi Gallery London Contemporary artistry Gallery. 2 Mar. 2011. Croal, Ada. The Afric ana QA Artist Wangechi Mutu Africana . 12 Feb. 2004. 8 inch 2011. Fong, P. Wangechi Mutu. Modern Painters Vol. 20 No. 4. whitethorn 2008. 12 March 2011 Gladstone, Barbara. Biography. Gladstone Gallery. unmapped Date. 16 March 2011. Kerr, Merrily. Wangechi Mutus Extreme Makeovers. Art on Paper, Vol. 8, No. 6.July/ August 2004. 21 March 2011. http//www. akrylic. com/contemporary_art_article73. htm Macsweeney, Eve. A Fertile Mind Vogue. Apr. 2009 190. Health acknowledgment Center Academic. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. Politi, G. Wangechi Mutu Exhibit. Flash Art (International Edition) Vol. 41 March/April 2008. 22 March 2011. Roach, Jill. Indepth Arts tidings. Absolute Arts. 16 Dec. 2005. 14 April 2011.