concept
I am curious to find out how people would react when presented with a human face as a canvas and having beauty tools and make-up as their art materials instead of the usual paint and paint brushes.
In addition, I would also like to see how the audience interact with the canvas and tools: will they erase anything on my face or continue on from the previous person’s work.
inspirations
Yayoi Kusama // Obliteration Room (2017)
Allowing audience interaction, Kusama’s work allowed for the audience to stick colourful stickers all over the furniture and walls of the white room. The white room acts as a canvas in which the audience are able to experience being an “artist” by placing their own “mark” onto the canvas.
As such, the free interaction from the audience was what I took from and implemented in my own work.
Marina Abramović // Rhythm 0 (1974)
Also allowing audience interaction, Abramović stands still while the audience was invited to do to her whatever they wished. They had the option of using one of 72 objects she had placed on a table. These included a rose, feather, perfume, honey, bread, grapes, wine, scissors, a scalpel, nails, a metal bar, and a gun loaded with one bullet.
Similar to Abramović, I will be laying out an abundance of materials for the audience to pick and play with on a table and will not allow myself to talk and let them experience the canvas freely.
pre-submission testing
In this experiment before the actual submission, I have allowed for multiple people to come at me and do my make-up as they please. I realised that with more people working on my face, they tend to ask each other if they are doing the right thing, which is something I didn’t want them to care about. However, I did get some interesting response on the canvas as people are more willing to be creative when there are many people doing at a go.
actual submission – the human canvas
Instructions:
Having the audience coming and working on the human canvas one at a time, it felt much more personal than previously where everyone ambushed at the same time. It also allowed me to interact and react to the audience more intimately in which they can take their time to scout the different tools before testing it out on me. In addition, it was also interesting to see how many of the audience chose to add on and not erase the previous person’s work as if they are afraid to ruin it.