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Abramovic Performance Art

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Performance art is an artistic format that combines the visual with physical. The open-ended medium possesses endless variables and possibilities of immaterial means of connecting art to the body. In the feminist art movement, performance art provided a bridge that connected women to their bodies. When relating to the female form, performance art serves a command, rather than an invitation. Artists involved in this movement challenged their roles in the art world as well as in a society. While the idea of the female form has been a tradition found in classical art, the female nude continued to be defined and created by men. It wasn’t until the performance art movement that women began to fully emerge from their stereotypical submissive image …show more content…

In this work, Abramovic brushes her hair repeatedly while saying the title repetitively. By stating the standard of female beauty in art, the performance makes the audience aware of the discriminatory gender roles and creates a feeling of discomfort. While the beginning of the performance is striking, the continuous act of bushing hair changing from aggressive and violent to calm and poetic, makes the audience unsettled. However, as the performance continues and the actions continue to weave through different emotions, the piece becomes incredibly profound. The act of saying that the artist must be beautiful becomes hauntingly human. By repeating this line, Abramovic challenges conventional beauty standards and calls upon modern female desires to be physically beautiful. Not only does the performance extract from physical appearance, the piece questions whether art must be beautiful. In performance art, the actions often challenge the performer and bring it to the extreme by putting emotional and physical stress on the artist’s body and mind. Art must be Beautiful, Artist Must be Beautiful puts continuous stress upon the artist’s body by reclaiming the figure as the artists own and exposing the harsh realities of social expectations. Consequently, as an artist, Mariana Abramovic’s piece challenges physical beauty and changes the relationship between the artist and her

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