Fear & Loathing

Fear & Loathing

Las Vegas, NV

Andrea Braham

Paintings & Photographs

Too Weird to Live; Too Rare to Die

Featured artists: Frida Kahlo, Dimitri Tsykalov, Sylvia Ji, Salvador Dali, Audrey Kawasaki, Diego Rivera, 

Damien Hirst, Edvard Munch Harmen Steenwyc, & Pieter Brugel the Elder

About the exhibition: The show is about pieces of art that are out of the ordinary. I choose works that would be considered strange to the average person and would cause a big intrigue to the audience. I want people to see the exhibition and say what is the meaning behind this piece and how could someone sane create this. I wanted to focus on works of art that were macabre inspired. Macabre means “gruesome and horrifying; ghastly; horrible”(www.dictionary.com). I wanted to focus on art that was shocking and grim. I think that really sparked my inspiration was The movie/novel “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas” and the music of Avenged Sevenfold. Fear & Loathing is such an off the wall movie/book and I think that it takes a certain type of person to fully enjoy it but I was intrigued but how strange it was which is a theme I tried to incorporate into my exhibit. With the music of Avenged they tend to have very macabre songs such as “A Little Piece of Heaven” and this was something I wanted to add as a theme because I feel as though people start to get strange when they speak of death or anything grim and that’s those are the type of art pieces I wanted to represent, strange and grim. 

Frida Kahlo

Mini Bio: She was born and raised in a Mexico City outskirt July 6, 1907. She contracted polio at the age of 6 which caused one of her legs to be permanently thinner than the other. She was in a traffic accident that caused her lifelong health issues. After the accident, she was immobile for 3 months. During this time, she was productive and began painting. Her ailments and suffering were represented in her works of art. Another aspect of her life that she painted was her emotional marriage to artist Diego Rivera. There was about a 20 years age gap between the two of them and they got divorced then married once more. Her health problems finally caught up to her and she passed away July 13, 1954. Upon her death she wrote, “I hope the exit is joyful-and I hope to never return”.

The Suicide of Dorothy Hale

1938

Oil on masonite

60.4 x 48.6 cm

Background information: Dorothy Hale was an actress and show girl. When her husband was killed in an accident she couldn’t bear to live anymore and decided to take her own life. She threw herself out of a skyscraper window. This was a “retablo” that was to be painted by Kahlo. The painting itself is very gruesome. Frida paints 3 freeze frame snapshots of Hale’s suicide; initial jump, the fall and final bloody moment.

Commentary on work: “I could not have requested such a gory picture of my worst enemy, much less of my unfortunate friend…”

Relation to exhibition:The main focus of this painting is death and suffering. Kahlo seems to glamorize Hale’s suicide by making her look so flawless even when she is bloodied up. It is a strange way to pay respects to someone who has just committed suicide. I feel as though Kahlo created the piece as though Hale’s suicide was captured on film. Even in her lifeless face you can still see the pain and suffering in her eyes. 

Dimitri Tsykalov

Mini Biography: Tsykalov was born in Moscow in 1963. He received his education from Polygraphic Institute of Moscow. He currently lives and works in Paris. He is an artist who likes to experiment and shock his audience. “I enjoy working with my hands and prefer using meat, vegetables, and fruits instead of marble, clay and wood”.

Colt 45

Lambda Print

120cm x 160cm

2007

Commentary on work:“Guns contrasted out of raw, bloody meat. Whoa. Demonstrates the brutality and the simplicity of the gun”.

Background information: Tsykalov uses edible food to make a statement about world hunger and animal brutality. "In these pictures I recognize the murderess within me, I recognize love and death within me; in these pictures I recognize my flesh as the cannon fodder it is and will be for the rest of my life. In contrast the secondary meat in these shots - the one that rots and that kills, the animal meat that is used to create the fleshy weapons - seems unscathed, sanguine and elegiac. It is incredibly alive, it is cannon flesh and we are already mortal."

Relation to Exhibition: Many people find raw meat to be gross and the fact that Tsykalov uses it as art is just plain outlandish. You can see the blood dripping from the gun which represents the death it has caused throughout the world. Just as the meat, violence is raw and this gets people to think about how much blood we spill on a daily basis and not just human vs human but our brutality towards animals as well. As much as we say we don’t like death, we tend to cause it a lot. 

Sylvia Ji

Mini Biography: Ji was born in 1082 in San Francisco, California. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University in 2005. She then relocated in Los Angeles where she still currently works and resides. “Ji’s work encapsulates an alluring beauty that is both cutting edge and a nod to time honored technique”.

La Catrina

Acrylic/Mixed on wood

2007

24” x 24” in

Commentary on work: “The iconic image of ‘La Catrina’ created by Jose Posada has been around for nearly a century. Through research I was introduced again to that image and was instantly drawn into the idea of death as a woman and how beauty and life is fleeting”.

Background information: “A master of capturing the dark side of the beautiful and the sublime.Macabre ‘Day of the Dead’ catrinas intermingle with exotic empresses, with a regal elegance. Ji’s imagery is a visual elixir of life and death, combining sacred symbolism with mystical glamour and opulence. Influenced by historical costumery, Ji incorporates baroque detailing such as luxurious tapestries, ornamental feathers, and gold leafing into her work for a more elaborate and decorative effect.”

Relation to exhibition: The day of the dead is a celebration of those who have passed. Ji captures the fascination that we have with the dead. This holiday is not celebrated by everyone and may even seem strange. Those who do celebrate it do so by acting as though they deceased is still there by bringing them food and presents. I think that this may seem a bit cryptic to some but Ji captures the essence just right. 

Salvador Dali

Mini Biography: Salvador Dali was born May 11, 1904 in Figueres, Spain. Dali was a prominent Spanish surrealist artist. He was known for his crazy antics outside of his art. He thought very highly of himself and believed that he was overqualified for formal education. Gala, a Russian immigrant, was an important influence in his life. She was the rock and muse of his life. In 1940 Dali moved to the United States. Here he became the the darling of the American High Society. Though he had a great amount of success and wanted to continue it, he had palsy, a motor disease, which caused him to go into retirement in 1980. Dali has 2 museums dedicated to his works through his lifetime.

Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening 

1944

Oil on Wood

20 1/8 in x 16 1/8 in

Commentary on the work: "To express for the first time in images Freud's discovery of the typical dream with a lengthy narrative, the consequence of the instantaneousness of a chance event which causes the sleeper to wake up. Thus, as a bar might fall on the neck of a sleeping person, causing them to wake up and for a long dream to end with the guillotine blade falling on them, the noise of the bee here provokes the sensation of the sting which will awaken Gala."

Background information: Since Dali was a surrealist, he was very interested in psychology and the unconscious mind. His fascination with the occurrences during the dream-state was the inspiration behind the painting. He also took into account the theories of Sigmund Frued when creating this piece.

Relation to the exhibition: The dream world is an untapped knowledge. It is a strange world that we as the dream creators really don’t know anything about. We are unable to control what comes out in our dreams. They can reveal our innermost thoughts or just be plain bizarre. I think that this fits the theme of macabre because of how shocking he depicts dreams and how eccentric they can be. 

Audrey Kawasaki

Mini Biography: Audrey was born March 31, 1982 in Los Angeles. She studied at Pratt Institute for 2 years but did not complete her degree. Her artwork is a mix of Japanese Magna and art nouveau. She focuses on painting young women who are portrayed as very erotic.  She has a muse that she has created to help her flow her artwork on to her wood panels.

Charlotte

24” x 24”

Graphite and Oil on wood panel

2011

Commentary on the work: “…Youth and innocence with death-elements of decay, bones and natures. It’s a reminder that all things are temporary, that life is sleeting”.

Background information: Kawasaki has always been intrigued by macabre beauty. This piece was a part of a series that heavily reflected her personal life. At the time she was feeling very distant and empty which is why she painted in such monotone colors.  She began to lose focus and became an unfamiliar person to herself. Despite these setbacks she was still able to create a beautiful masterpiece.

Relation to the exhibition: This piece goes into a grim fantasy world. The girl looks so innocent and vulnerable. She is surrounded by decaying bones which shows that she is comfortable with the idea of death. I think that this is also a dream-like state of mind but a gloomy one.