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| WHAT WE CENSOR, WHAT WE DON'T |
With numerous magazine spread out before me, I
searched the pages fruitlessly for the sentiment expressed in the words
of Edgar Allan Poe: “There is no exquisite beauty… without some
strangeness in the proportion.”
I
have searched through quite a few vintage magazines lately.
Seventy-seven years have yellowed the pages, but the ads have a message
that today still ring out loud and clear. As women so much of our worth
is
tied to our appearance. The ads confirm this, marketing one product or
another to make us thinner, younger, beautiful, and ultimately
happier. And over seven decades, nothing has changed.
While
I have no qualms with anyone trying to look their best, where does the
obsession for unattainable perfection become just that...an
obsession...splitting us into fragments of ourselves.
As
artists, we are visual beings. Do you find yourself contemplating the
message sent in these types of ads? Do they influence your work, or your
life? Is the search for
beauty and perfection tempered with self censorship?
The
substrate for my collage is a stretched canvas. It is covered in
metallic gold acrylic paint. I built the collage from a fashion photo
from the 1950's, vintage magazine ads, excerpts from a 1938 diary, and
handmade paper.
What do you censor...even to yourself?
