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| Marina Abramović - Manfred Werner Photo |
"Follow your intuition. Have courage. Do what you imagine. And always be completely present in the moment."
- Marina Abramović
I have never written, no, not one single blog post about Marina Abramović. She has been referred to as the grandmother of performance art. After seeing parts of this video in the past, but never this particular one below until today, I wondered why. When I first encountered her work, I wasn't sure what to think.
The performance art she created, nor her personality, never struck me as approachable, it was disturbing, and I thought was bordering on personal psycho therapy she was working through, in a very public way. Perhaps this is what most artists are attempting, in varying degrees anyway, whether they are aware of it or not.
Marina Abramović years later, now impresses me as a very wise, highly intelligent, and intense individual, with a powerful, strong personality. After seeing a few of her videos and hearing an extensive interview she gave, where she talked very openly and directly about her life, I began to get a very distinct impression of a complex, earnest, courageous woman, dedicated to art and creativity.
She'd been greatly effected by a troubled childhood, with an extremely controlling mother. This I believe, is what formed the foundation of her work as a performance artist. I have to say I am moved by her as a beautiful soulful woman, and I have great admiration for her intellect, strength and especially for her courage.
6 comments:
Ah, that video melted my heart! But I want to know what happened later, if they got together over coffee and talked about what they had been doing while apart.
As an artist, she sounds like she would agree with social activist Mary Jones: "My business is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
It did mine as well Bev! Very moving. There are conflicting statements about her speaking with him before or after. But but her and his reaction I would say she was unaware of him being there.
Mary Jones is the "Bad Girls" Mary Jones? Or the abstract Painter? Great statement! I have heard this before, but never knew who made it.
Thanks for your comments and for visiting Bev! Very much appreciated!
Cat
Jones was a social activist (1837-1930):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Harris_Jones
The radical magazine "Mother Jones" was named after her. :)
Oh that's real interesting! Thanks for that fact Bev and for the link!
I watched that today and found it very moving. For the first time, I am interested in learning more about this artist.
Thanks so much for stopping by Carla, and for you comment. She is a pretty remarkable person I think and I admire her courage. Ulay was diagnosed with cancer, and I think he may have been sick when he participated in this silent encounter. He also made this part of his art work, Project Cancer.
It is a real example of how we communicate deep emotion, non-verbally and is so powerful. There is a fair amount on line about Marina. Art 21 is a great resource to watch videos about so many artists. You might want to check this site out Carla. It is a wonderful site.
- Cat
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