Ika Ude and Ghada Amer

In the lecture given on Monday 22nd November by Jagjit Chuhan, I instantly became inspired by the works of 'Ghada Amer and 'Ika Ude'. Who's works represent 'The Body' in a similar context, and link in nicely with the 'touched' theme of the previous works seen.
Its not what these works represent that caught my attention, its these two pieces themselves and how the artists have expressed there ideas using similar ways of working in which I have in my own.

Ghada Amer is a multimedia artist whose entire body of work is infused with the same ideological and aesthetic concerns. Her work deals with issues of gender and sexuality, particularly the representation of female nudes in art history as ideal objects rather than human beings with a sexuality and eroticism of their own.

In this particular piece 'Barbie Loves Ken, Ken Loves Barbie' (1995/2002)
Ghada Amer questions the role of steriotypes, which she refers to as "the idea of the model" and the various ways they can be interperated.
Embroidered across the cotton jumpsuits are the words 'Barbie Loves Ken, Ken Loves Barbie'. This famous couple may evoke childhood memories of a powerful role playing game.
Despite the title of the work, the absense of a female in Barbie's suit or a male in Kens leaves open the possibilities that either gender could choose which one to wear. Amer characteristically resists the rigid gender fixity that these childhood toys rely on.

"The idea of the model to followed is what interests me in steriotypes, and we are controled by this in our lives". Ghada Amer.

I found this piece exceptionally interesting alone before even reading up on the artist and the reasoning behind the work, which inspired me further. I love the incorporation of the repetition of the text on the objects themselves and especially how the piece has been presented; and I immediately saw a comparison between this and one of my own works 'Body Manakin and text' (shown previously in this blog) which shows a similar outcome with text covering a female form.

Ika Uda began using photography to explore and deconstruct issues of representation and identity. His work reflects a range of issues that include identity, fashion, communication, celebrity, humour and performance.

This particular piece 'Untitled #16' (2003) Is a photograph mounted on alluminium. In this work he creates compelling, lyrical images that capture the ellagance of high fashion and the anonymity of the inscribed and disembodied self. The works acknowledge the artists Igbo heriage by recalling the body and wall motifs of Uli, a womans art form in Nigeria. While the designs he uses are reminisent of home.

Again, this piece reminded me of my own work. But made me think more so about the media that could be used further in my development and how I could maybe present my ideas later on in the project. I really like the simplicity of this study; the shape and monocrome colour usage and how the simple markings create a strong contrast with the bodies in the photograph.