Reading 1

Bodies of Knowledge - Anatomy and Transparency in Contemporary Art emphasizes on the importance of knowledge of the inner body. In the introduction, James Elkin, the author of Pictures of the Body: Pain and Metamorphosis claims that the inside must be protected and hidden. Laura Ferguson, an artist from New York uses her own skeleton as the subject matter in her work. She explains that her body has always been available to her and how women with imperfect bodies are never depicted in art. She shows a different kind of nude than all the male painters of the past. I found it interesting that the article mentions that Frida Kahlo is not one of her inspirations. I am curious about this since they both depict their own wounded bodies as the focal point of their art. The article does explain that these two artists have a different way in showing their pain. Ferguson strives for “anatomical wisdom” while Kahlo did not focus on having a perfect form in the depiction of her body since she did not have a perfect body. Annie Cattrell, a Scottish artist, uses medical images to represent her body. She is a good example of a mixture of art and science. She has a sculpture of the nervous system made out of crystals, having something from nature to be in place of the body. This reading is relevant to me since I am currently taking the 384 art and science course and it helps reenforce that these two subjects are more connected than people think.