Carolee Schneeman -David Walker

Carolee Shneemann, was born in 1939 and did most of her performance art throughout the sixties and into the seventies. Since she was born she has been said to have had an interest with the body. Some say that her father, a physician, supported her interest which plays a enormous role throughout her art. Shneemann started out as a painter, making paintings that were very close to those of the neo-dada movement and showed great influence from post-impressionists. However it wasn't until the sixties that she began to work on the art she is most known for.
Her performance pieces focused mainly on the body of an individual and how it relates to other social bodies and has been said to be influenced by the "happenings" of Allan Kaprow. In 1963 she started her work "Eye Body" where she herself tried to become part of the art. In 1964 she began her work "Meat Joy" which incorporated several partially nude characters interacting along with materials such as raw fish and wet paint. In 1967 Schneemann attempted to see if a female's depiction of her own sexual acts would be different from pornography in her film "Fuses" which is a film of her and James Tenney having sex. She did draw on the celluloid, imposes images of nature, and edit the speed of certain clips, but overall the film was viewed as pornographic.
At first Schneemann's work made me feel very uncomfortable. I was intimidated by her comfort with her own and other's sexuality. However after learning more and more about her I really think her work is amazing. Its power lies in the fact that yes it does make people uncomfortable because it brings up things that are taboo in our society. But that is not enough of a reason to not like her work, instead it is an invitation to look deeper into ourselves and try to understand why this makes us uncomfortable, and to decide if subjects such as our bodies or sexual acts have any real reason to be taboo.Add Image