Wearing Beecroft, Performance at its Peak....

Vanessa Beecroft and Gillian Wearing are both foreign born artists who utilize the public and in their artwork. Beecroft and Wearing have been featured in many galleries and exhibitions, and recognized by the Art-world for their talented, but sometimes controversial work.
Gillian Wearing was born in England in the early 1960’s. Her art is conceptual in nature, and has earned her the Turner Prize** in 1997. Upon my inquest into Wearing I had never even heard of the Turner Prize, but the Tate’s website provided this information…
”The Turner Prize is a contemporary art award that was set up in 1984 to celebrate new developments in contemporary art. The prize is awarded each year to 'a British artist under fifty for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding'.”
(More information about the Turner Prize and can be found at http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/abouttheturnerprize.shtm )

Wearing’s first major work was a series of photographs featuring members of the public that Wearing had stopped on the street and asked to write something on a sign. This series of photographs became known as “Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say”. It is interesting to me some of the things that Wearing photographed on peoples’ signs.

The man in the suit with a simple sign “I’m desperate” . There was also a photo of a police officer holding a sign that said “Help”. The title, although a bit of a mouthful, is perfect for the series because the signs say EXACTLY what the people want them to. According to Wearing “a great deal of my work is about questioning handed-down truths”. Although this series was photographed in 1992, it interesting that the signs the people are holding still resonate with me and my generation. Its true that many corporate employees typically labeled as “men in suits” are desperate these days, with the housing market, recession woes, and unethical corporate practices.

I was oddly reminded of an All American Rejects music video for their song “Dirty Little Secret”. This video features people, most likely actors and extras, hold signs and cards saying something they have kept secret or want to share. Maybe Wearing was their inspiration for the concept of their video (This video can be found on YouTube by following this link… All American Rejects "Dirty Little Secret") .

Wearing has also created many videos to present her artwork including “Dancing in Peckham”, “Sixty Minute Silence”, and “Drunk”. The titles are very descriptive of the work. I was most interested in her 2001 piece “Broad Street”, which I was able to read about and found pictures of but could not find a link to view. This piece followed a group of teenagers as they went out on Broad Street in Birmingham, England.

Still Picture from “Broad Street” by Gillian Wearing

Vanessa Beecroft was born in Italy during the late 1960’s. Her artwork is contemporary and often features female models in a performance piece. Often her work is controversial because of her use of the female models in a nude and thought provoking situations. It has been featured at many galleries and institutions worldwide (Link to More information about Beecroft ).

”The Body” – VB35

This performance was featured at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. It was hard to find pieces of her work to post on my blog because I prefer to keep it rated “G”. This piece like many of Beecroft’s is meant to make people consider sexuality as well as the human form. It is provocative to me because of the blatant nudity.
Beecroft’s other work often features women who are meant to be extremely similar, using wigs and costumes to make them appear alike. Her zeal for the use of nude models does turn me off a bit because that is not something that I find appealing in art, especially live performances.