SEXUALITY VIA MALE ON MALE GAZE - PORTRAITS

Trying to rack the inner workings of my cerebral matter for iconic homosexual male artists left me at a bit of a dead end. The only artists that came to mind were Gilbert & George, Michelangelo and possibly Bruce Nauman. Disappointed with the lack of household names I think this is definitely an area to venture. I want the feelings of my work to be slightly more romantic than crude so G&G are definitely out of the question, Nauman too.

MICHELANGELO'S GAZE

"However one approaches this rough-hewn titan, it is a story of power... It was an age that demanded giants... It was an Age of Magnificence: Lorenzo the Magnificent died drinking a medicine of powdered pearls, and Pope Julius II died drinking molten gold. It was an Age of Grandeur: in 1501 fifty courtesans danced naked in the Vatican in honour of Lucrezia Borgia."

Michelangelo really did achieve everything I could possibly wish to do. He brought immense power into his statues reminiscent of Ancient Greece, he captured the grandness in high renaissance religious imagery and subtly did this all with a quiet love for naked men.

Buonarroti, M. (1499). Pietà.

Buonarroti, M. (1504). David.

The nudity is unapologetic and what the subjects lack in positioning is more than accounted for. The bodies speak for themselves and whilst both men are in a relaxed state they are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. David is embodied in a massive oversized toned body that we instinctively both fear and lust after. However, the body of Jesus is of a similar ilk to what Marina Abramović aims to achieve through performance. Abramović aims to push her body to the absolute limit in order to reach a kind of meditative state. Her work with ex husband, Uley, has strong themes of sexual energy and the tensions between male and female physicality, but her other main theme is of 'positive nothing' or a positive void. Ambramović is well travelled and has been deeply influenced by Eastern ideas of knowing, being and enlightenment. Taking great interest in Tibetan Buddhism and Shamanic wisdom she explored rituals by means of repetition to reach a state of 'void'. The Tibetan's refer to this lacking as 'full emptiness' and Abramović reached this altered consciousness by emptying herself physically and mentally in pieces such as; (1976). Freeing the... Series.

Norton, R. (2008). The Passions of Michelangelo. [online] Rictornorton.co.uk. Available at: http://rictornorton.co.uk/michela.htm [Accessed 28 Oct. 2017].

Abramović, M. and O’Brien, Sophie. (2014). Marina Abramovic - 512 hours. London: Koenig Books. p.28-39.

Abramović, M. and Ulay. (1977 & 1978). Breathing in, Breathing out.

Abramović, M. and Ulay. (1977). Relation in Time.

Abramović, M. (1976). Freeing the... Series.

Rammatikopoulou, Chritsina. (2014). Marina Abramović: Rituals of Breath, Voice and Void. Available: http://interartive.org/2012/01/abramovic-breath-voice-void/. [Accessed 28 Oct. 2017].