Skins
"Skins", 2000-01
Cellophane and plastic tape Variable dimensions To learn more about The Big Giveaway of these works, click here. The process of making the Skins is very much like mummification. I cover a live model with cellophane and then begin wrapping that body with tape. Sometimes I use myself as a model and direct an assistant to wrap me. Shedding the skin suggests transcendence or rebirth. In contemporary culture, mummification has become a transgressive act, a bondage fetish with fashion overtones. In this context, the wrapping marks a state of supposed ecstasy, as well as the transformation of a person from an active participant into an inanimate object, quite literally. However, in classical terms, mummification is an act of preservation. The ancient Egyptians would mummify the body, but in the process, they also emptied the body of its vital organs, leaving a hollow shell. There many natural precedents where the shell becomes the only remnant that survives an animal's growth or death, including sea shells, snake skins and insect molting. The shell becomes a cast-off receptacle for the interior body or the spirit. The discarded outer layer marks the moment of the body's transformation from one state to another. The installation shots shown are from an exhibit at the Smack Mellon Gallery in DUMBO, Brooklyn. |
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