Hello Sculptors. take a look at this artwork, Lick and Lather, by Janine Antoni
Click her name to read more about Janine Antoni, and respond to this question: What are some of the reasons this artist makes self-portraits, and what are some reasons why you might also make a self-portrait ?
This artist makes self portraits to experiment with different textures, ideas, modes of communication,and also different possibilities that come with each self-portrait and medium of self portrait. In Lick and Lather, she didn't enter the project with a set argument, only with the fact that it was making an argument about how self portraits should be taken we we are most ourselves, not when we are only showing off the parts of ourselves that we are more comfortable with. She did not know that the soap and lathering it would bring on the idea that the more pure and cleaner you are, the less yourself you are. That idea occurred to her during the project. It was a realization. I would make a self portrait to expose an insecurity that I wouldn't feel comfortable talking about in person. Explicating something like that through a self portrait would both be an accurate self portrait that would carry ample meaning and emotion, and also make me more comfortable with myself and image.
The artist Janine Antoni chooses to make self-portraits because she feels they share an intimacy with the viewer. She also feels that they immortalize her. Depending on the material used, self portraits can last forever, at least considerably longer than a lifetime. I myself like self-portraits because I think they best show the viewer how I see myself, and that's not always physically accurate. I might focus on my nose or my hair, when someone else doesn't notice them. By creating a self-portrait, I can highlight the aspects I like about myself, and blur others.
Janine Antoni makes self-portraits to show two sides of self-portraits: a realistic piece and the more traditional self-portrait. The piece she made in chocolate shows every single detail of her being, every single strand hair and every curve in her face. The soap stone piece shows the general structure of her head, something which could resemble anyone. Ultimately Antoni is striving to expose the two sides of appearance. The one in chocolate, a not so "desirable" medium in terms of its symbolism in appearance, is the reality of how we look. The piece in soapstone shows what we want in our appearance, perfection, no flaws. I personally think self-portraits should be made to expose one or more sides to our personality. It should have a "signature" which makes it different from every other self-portrait in the world, that signature being "the real you".
Janine Antoni enjoys making self-portraits because it allows her to explore the love hate relationship that she has with her physical appearance. I think that everyone is able to understand what she means by being uncomfortable with just your outer surface representing who you are. Many people would like the opportunity to wash parts of themselves away and I'm sure the intimate process strengthened her self confidence and provided her a new outlook on her physical appearance. "That's what a portrait is; a way of getting close to the person that it's depicting." This quote is true for the viewer as well as the artist, the process of creating a self portrait is a time of introspection. I would make a self portrait to explore not only my outside but my inside. It would give me a better understanding of how I see myself physically and emotionally as well as how my image of myself differs from that of viewers.
Janine Antoni makes self-portraits for many reasons. She makes them because in a way she wants to immortalize herself. More importantly, she makes self-portraits because it helps her deal with and accept who she is physically. Antoni said that when she thinks of herself she often imagines herself as a little girl or in some other way that is not how she looks currently. By her making self-sculptures she is able to realize, accept, and cope with who she is from the outside. She also makes self-portraits in order to get close to herself. Through licking herself and bathing with herself, she feels a sort of intimacy and she can view herself in a sort of fetal state. I might make myself for similar reasons to Janine Antoni. I would want to make a self-portrait of myself to immortalize myself and focus on details of myself I may not catch by looking in the mirror or in photos. I would also want to get to understand myself better through and intimate process like creating a self-sculpture, totally focusing on myself.
Janine Antoni makes self portraits as a form of expressing herself, but more importantly wants to bring to light her insecurities and well as her highlights by virtually immortalizing herself within these sculptures. We sculptures are often reflective and bring to light many of what she considers to be her flaws. By immortalizing herself through different art mediums, at different times in her life, they are reflective of her personal growth. By experimenting with different mediums, she creates different levels of intimacy with the viewer of her pieces by providing common materials that people can relate to. I think it would be very interesting to make a self portrait and get feedback from others. I am interested to see the contrast between what I think of myself (how i constructed the piece as well as what I wished to encompass within the piece) and what others see or receive by looking at the piece. It always intrigues me to see if my point comes across through my artwork and I think a self portrait would yield interesting results.
Janine Antoni has come up with many reasons for artists to make self-portraits through the making of her own. One being that artists want to immortalize themselves by using material that would withstand harsh conditions like stone. Yet through the process of her self-portrait and exploring stone sculptures around the city of Venice she realized that even those made of stone where still vulnerable to the elements. Her other reason was to explore the idea of the self and how we present ourselves to others. Her design to use chocolate and soap brought about intimacy that she hopes the viewer can see. To modify the busts she had to lick (chocolate) and lather (soap) which brought about different changes, with the soap the lathering made details disappear. If I made a self-portrait I would want it to portray how I see myself not necessarily how other see me. Not to make myself immortal but understood, there are more sides to a person and I would want a way to expose those hidden or unknown sides.
Self portraits are a way for artist to immortalize themselves, a way to feel like they have left their mark on the world. Antoni made these portraits for the purpose of self assuring herself. She tried to accurately represent herself with everyday activities such as eating and showering (where the materials of chocolate and soap came from. I would like to make a self portrait to poke fun at my flaws. Everyone has flaws and a self portrait should represent who we truly are rather than how we want the world to see us. A self portrait should describe us, not a perfect being.
This artist mentioned that she makes these sculptures to give an image of yourself to the public. She also mentioned that it's a way to immortalize yourself. I would make a sculpture like this to show who I am. Sometimes it's hard for people to know you for who you truly are. I don't feel all to comfortable around people and it would be me showing who I am to the public.
Based on what I read I think I can safely say that Janine Antoni chooses to make self portraits because the way you look at your self and the way you present yourself in the public eye are very different. Janine believed that by using conventional everyday activities like eating and bathing to construct herself made it more personal. Janine Antoni mentions the fact that generally people create portraits to immortalize themselves but she wanted to do just the opposite by using materials that are easily dissolved. I might make a self portrait because it would be the best way to observe how I see myself. The only reason I believe self portraits aren't effective is because most times you are bias to yourself and maybe downplay a strong feature just because it may be the very same feature your insecure about.
Janine Antoni creates self portraits to answer questions about self identity and how we are perceived in the world. By using soap and chocolate, simple, everyday items, she can play around with how the world would see her. She gets to decide what parts of her she wants to emphasize, and what parts she wants undermined. Making these self portraits required creating a bond with herself, which got her to really evaluate herself as an artist. I would like to create a self portrait that exaggerates some of my facial features and creates juxtaposition between who I am as a person and parts of my appearance.
Janine Antoni makes self portraits to explore her perception of herself and her relationship with her physical appearance. She also makes these self portraits to show our mortality by making them out of soap and chocolate which degrade quicker than stone. She also mentioned that most classic busts are of men, important men and her busts of a women provides a deviation from that. I feel making a self portrait is a highly intimate process because it reveals how you perceive yourself. Keeping this in mind, I feel by making a self portrait I would achieve a greater understanding of how I perceive myself. This would be about self discovery and enlightenment.
Janine Antoni creates self portraits to explore the relationship between a person's physical manifestation and their view of themselves. Her work is a statement on the physically insubstantial characteristics that define who we are, as well as the complex and intense interactions between a person and their reflection. Making self portraits is a way for Antoni to express whatever she would like about herself- to preserve her self awareness in a person's view instead of their perception of her physical characteristics. Her materials and process go against the traditional form of self portraiture and bust making, which is another statement on the fluid nature of self portraits. The fact that she is able to change her portraits so intimately and drastically shows the one-dimensional nature of a person's physical manifestation. I would make a self portrait to convey an internal truth about myself that does not display itself physically in my features. I would use a material with a short life span, like Antoni, so communicate the fleeting and fluid nature of identity. I would also try and communicate an emotion or belief in a self portrait because many people, including myself, have a hard time communicating personal sentiments physically. -Mara
Janine Antoni makes self portraits in order to better understand herself. It seems that when she starts she doesn't necessarily have a specific goal or idea in mind, but then she later discovers more about herself when she's finished, such as her own self-consciousness or other emotions she hadn't fully been aware of. Personally, I might make a self portrait in order to express my deepest, rawest emotions and to convey these same emotions in the audience.
Janine Antoni makes self-portraits to create a public image of herself. Self-portraits allow her to express how she wishes to be seen in the world. Antoni also attempts to work against artistic norm regarding the seriousness self-portraits, bringing out the humorous qualities instead. Through these differences, she tries to immortalize herself. The piece made of chocolate is extremely detailed, while the piece made of soap stone is a more general structure (which could resemble anyone). Ultimately, Antoni is striving to portray two images of herself. For similar reasons, I would make a self-portrait to highlight the traits that I would want a public audience to recognize, also reflecting my inner ideas of what makes me different from others.
Artist Janine Antoni chooses to create sculptures because she feels they are an effective medium to parlay both her thoughts/ emotions about herself and about society. She takes her own issue and translates them into art that the world can relate to. One reason she created the art was to immortalize herself and create a self-image to the world. Self-image is a very important social topic that many people struggle with. She discusses that the way she licks the chocolate and wears away the soap sculpture is a reflection of the love hate-relationship many people have with themselves. One effect this sculpture has is to help people identity with their feeling about themselves and really aid in self-identification. Another reason Antoni creates art is because it is ritualistic. It is important to have a routine in life and often having one can help bring order. When Antoni transforms the art she is also transforming herself. This is likely the reason I would make a self portrait- for the ritualistic purpose, to help bring our self-identification and for the routine aspect.
Janine Antoni creates her piece, Lick and Lather, to accurately present herself to the public. Its not merely the image that shows the viewers who she is, but the materials as well. The chocolate and soap show that Antoni, underneath it all, is simply a person that indulges in the sweetness of chocolate it and spends the majority of the time doing regular, everyday stuff such as showering. The way that the pieces were sculpted are also significant. Antoni says that it was like a "love-hate relationship".
Antoni, like several other artists, uses self-portaits to accurately depict herself. She says that these self-portraits "immortalize" the artist. Sometimes self-portraits might not be physically accurate to emphasize meaning on a certain part of the body. Or sometimes they are altered to how we see ourselves and so they might not even be realistic. Portraits can represent our inner self and be pieces such as our Trees of the Forest project.
When asked about the reason she makes self-portraits, Janine Antoni responded that self-portriats are used by artists to immortalize and create a public image of themselves. She said that she makes self-portraits to show the real aspects of her life and face and to also experiment with different materials. I think the main reason people make self-portraits is to create a public image of yourself that you deem suitable for you. Many people have different perceptions of the same thing and what self-portaits do is they create a singular way for people to look at and interpret you. Artists make self-portraits to immortalize themselves and keep their livelihood alive after death.
This artist, Janine Antoni, is making a statement with her "Lick and Lather" self portrait. She made the busts out of soap and chocolate to convey the idea that there is nothing closer to the self than everyday activities such as eating and bathing. Antoni got very close to the sculptures in the process and she states that she feels especially connected to the soap bust because she "spent a lot of time in the tub together". I think its important that she feels close to the pieces because it comes off as a genuine piece that was thought out and intimate rather than just a piece made to look pretty. I would make a self portrait for the same reasons as Antoni, to show myself through a different light that would accurately portray me, not necessarily just physically but also emotionally.
Janine Antoni makes self portraits because she wants to immortalize herself. Also she has the chance to play with her physical characteristics through the different pieces. She used everyday materials like chocolate and soap to break away from traditional bust, which are usually male heads made of stone. I would make a self portrait to be able to depict myself with many different materials and depict myself in various ways through the materials.
This artist makes self portraits to play with the many views of self-image. She uses specific materials to create an intimate experience for both herself and the piece as well as with her viewers. Because of this intimacy with the materials she represents self love. She licks the chocolate to sculpt herself and also bathes herself with soap to sculpt the other piece which demonstrates a love and connect with one's inner self and appearance. If I were to create a self portrait I would like to play with two different images: How I see myself and how others see me. I think this would demonstrate a similar idea that Antoni also portrays because she says she grapples with the same struggle of how she views herself and how she she actually looks.
The reason for her self-portraits are a combination of traditional and modern reasoning, which show in said self-portraits. She had made a sculpture typical of antiquity, yet made of herself (a woman, which goes against busts being traditionally men, used different mediums, and different techniques (usually busts were sculpted, not cast). Because of the way she experimented and made decisions for the process and materials, she not only forms a connection with the sculpture as a physical art piece but also one with its abstract essence. The main idea of the self-portrait is the essence of its character and the ideas behind it, and her experimentation and emotional connections only deepen the connection she has with the pieces. I believe that is key to self-portraits, the meaningfulness it has to the artist and how it connects to them, and how this connection is passed on to the viewer.
The artist Janine Antoni said in her interview that she creates self-portraits to immortalize herself and create an image that the public can see. She wants people to look at her portrait and feel like they are getting to know who she is as a person and as an artist. Persoanlly, I would create a self-portrait for the same reasons. Although her busts aren't forever, she wanted to immortalize herself. I also would want to create something that would represent me for years to come.
This artist, Janine Antoni, makes self-portraits to show herself to the public. She makes them to show the public how she views herself. Janine Antoni also creates self-portraits to immortalize herself in a sort of therapeutic way. I agree with the first part of her reasoning, for why I might want to make a self-portrait. I think making self-portraits is a way of indirectly letting people in and helping them see you the real you through your own eyes.
The artist, Janine Antoni, made a self portrait mostly because she just wanted to, partially to open herself up to the viewer, and partially for the sake of self discovery. However, what was more meaningful that the making of the portrait were the materials she chose to use. She chose to use a material that wouldn't last long, to juxtapose the fact that busts are usually made out of stone and meant to last for a very very long time. In this she was doing a study of one's mortality. In the process she realized that even stone busts crumble after a long time, and she realized that the chocolate, beautiful, sweet, could serve to represent the face one puts on in front of others, and could be beautified, while the soap one was more easily eroded, showing the "love-hate relationship we have with our physical appearance". So, for this reason I personally would create a self portrait. For the ability to show the viewer how I see myself, perhaps by highlighting certain features that I like or take pride in, while subtly hiding others. And for the journey of self discovery that comes with it.
Janine Antoni says that she was inspired by a few ideas for her self-portraits, such as women and beauty, and the idea of intimacy. Her sculptures are unique in the materials which helps to create and emphasize her meaning in identity of one's self. She also mentions that her self portraits go against the norm of wanting to immortalize yourself, since her pieces are the exact opposite, being made of chocolate and soap. I like her ideas that went into Lick and Lather, but I think if I were to create a self-portrait, I wouldn't necessarily use these same concepts. The way she created intimacy with herself and with the viewer of the piece is fascinating, and I think it's a great purpose of a self-portrait, to give back something to yourself. I also find the love-hate relationship with ourselves that she explores with the licking of the chocolate and cleansing with the soap. She really seems to explore herself with these self-portraits, which is an important thing to remember instead of making art only for the viewer. A self-portrait that I would make would be mainly for my own purposes instead of for the purpose of having others view it, because since it is myself, it should be for my self-discovery, which could be shared with whomever I choose. Self-portraits in general have a much different meaning than a portrait of another individual, because you can never see yourself the way others see you.
Sculpting life is difficult, and it must be more so for Janine Antoni who must sculpt her self. The very act of imbuing yourself into another object requires not only skill but also a deeper questioning of your personal identity. Though cliche, it stands true here: the focus is not on the final sculpture but rather the journey taken. What matters is what you might learn from having spent hours perfecting the lips and that sincere, knowing smile. Were I to make a self portrait, I would confront the way I see myself, the way others would, and hopefully find out which parts matters the most to me-to seek the truth within myself.
The reason why this artist wanted to do self portraits is to immortalize herself in a material, though this would be temporary as eventually, through the licking and the lathering, there wont be a recognizable person on the bust, just a silhouette of a head. I would make a self portrait to portray to people of what i think i look like, so that others can see what i think of myself from my point of view
The artist Janine Antoni makes self portrait because she wants to explore the concept of self identity and how we view ourselves compared to the way that we are viewed by those around us. She also makes the self portraits to immortalize herself in a material, this is almost therapeutic to her. She also uses the very intimate approach to her artwork in order to become more comfortable with herself and gain confidence with who she really is. I would make self portraits to become more comfortable with my insecurities and show who I am vs. the person that I think I am or that others think I am.
What are some of the reasons this artist makes self-portraits, and what are some reasons why you might also make a self-portrait ?
Some reasons why Janine Antoni makes self portraits is to work against the idea of immortalizing yourself by contrasting it with unique materials and to also create the you that you present to the world. Some reasons why I might also make a self portrait would be to get closer to myself through the process of subtracting and adding to get to something that I feel embodies me. It may not come out to look exactly similar me, like how Janine Antoni's soap bust evolved through the process, but it will be the product of action and intent.
Janine Antoni makes self portraits to works against the traditional reason of making a self portrait (to immortalize one's self) by creating hers out of materials that will not last forever and to represent herself to the public in the most personal moments and materials she could imagine. I might make a self portrait to portray myself through my personal feelings in my physical appearance. My mouth might look a certain way to some, a different way to others, and a different way to myself. I can acknowledge these differences and try to represent my mouth in a way that embodies all these views or choose to ignore all of these views. When creating a self portrait, it's important to realize that no one knows one better than one knows one's self. I can choose to present myself as how I feel as though I am seen or I can choose to present myself as how I ideally want to be seen. A self portrait can last longer than one's life, thus when one is potentially making an everlasting version of one's self. One may choose to use materials that will erode in a certain manner to leave a meaning that changes over time.
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This artist makes self portraits to experiment with different textures, ideas, modes of communication,and also different possibilities that come with each self-portrait and medium of self portrait. In Lick and Lather, she didn't enter the project with a set argument, only with the fact that it was making an argument about how self portraits should be taken we we are most ourselves, not when we are only showing off the parts of ourselves that we are more comfortable with. She did not know that the soap and lathering it would bring on the idea that the more pure and cleaner you are, the less yourself you are. That idea occurred to her during the project. It was a realization. I would make a self portrait to expose an insecurity that I wouldn't feel comfortable talking about in person. Explicating something like that through a self portrait would both be an accurate self portrait that would carry ample meaning and emotion, and also make me more comfortable with myself and image.
-Luis Collado
The artist Janine Antoni chooses to make self-portraits because she feels they share an intimacy with the viewer. She also feels that they immortalize her. Depending on the material used, self portraits can last forever, at least considerably longer than a lifetime. I myself like self-portraits because I think they best show the viewer how I see myself, and that's not always physically accurate. I might focus on my nose or my hair, when someone else doesn't notice them. By creating a self-portrait, I can highlight the aspects I like about myself, and blur others.
Janine Antoni makes self-portraits to show two sides of self-portraits: a realistic piece and the more traditional self-portrait. The piece she made in chocolate shows every single detail of her being, every single strand hair and every curve in her face. The soap stone piece shows the general structure of her head, something which could resemble anyone. Ultimately Antoni is striving to expose the two sides of appearance. The one in chocolate, a not so "desirable" medium in terms of its symbolism in appearance, is the reality of how we look. The piece in soapstone shows what we want in our appearance, perfection, no flaws. I personally think self-portraits should be made to expose one or more sides to our personality. It should have a "signature" which makes it different from every other self-portrait in the world, that signature being "the real you".
Janine Antoni enjoys making self-portraits because it allows her to explore the love hate relationship that she has with her physical appearance. I think that everyone is able to understand what she means by being uncomfortable with just your outer surface representing who you are. Many people would like the opportunity to wash parts of themselves away and I'm sure the intimate process strengthened her self confidence and provided her a new outlook on her physical appearance. "That's what a portrait is; a way of getting close to the person that it's depicting." This quote is true for the viewer as well as the artist, the process of creating a self portrait is a time of introspection. I would make a self portrait to explore not only my outside but my inside. It would give me a better understanding of how I see myself physically and emotionally as well as how my image of myself differs from that of viewers.
Janine Antoni makes self-portraits for many reasons. She makes them because in a way she wants to immortalize herself. More importantly, she makes self-portraits because it helps her deal with and accept who she is physically. Antoni said that when she thinks of herself she often imagines herself as a little girl or in some other way that is not how she looks currently. By her making self-sculptures she is able to realize, accept, and cope with who she is from the outside. She also makes self-portraits in order to get close to herself. Through licking herself and bathing with herself, she feels a sort of intimacy and she can view herself in a sort of fetal state. I might make myself for similar reasons to Janine Antoni. I would want to make a self-portrait of myself to immortalize myself and focus on details of myself I may not catch by looking in the mirror or in photos. I would also want to get to understand myself better through and intimate process like creating a self-sculpture, totally focusing on myself.
Janine Antoni makes self portraits as a form of expressing herself, but more importantly wants to bring to light her insecurities and well as her highlights by virtually immortalizing herself within these sculptures. We sculptures are often reflective and bring to light many of what she considers to be her flaws. By immortalizing herself through different art mediums, at different times in her life, they are reflective of her personal growth. By experimenting with different mediums, she creates different levels of intimacy with the viewer of her pieces by providing common materials that people can relate to. I think it would be very interesting to make a self portrait and get feedback from others. I am interested to see the contrast between what I think of myself (how i constructed the piece as well as what I wished to encompass within the piece) and what others see or receive by looking at the piece. It always intrigues me to see if my point comes across through my artwork and I think a self portrait would yield interesting results.
Janine Antoni has come up with many reasons for artists to make self-portraits through the making of her own. One being that artists want to immortalize themselves by using material that would withstand harsh conditions like stone. Yet through the process of her self-portrait and exploring stone sculptures around the city of Venice she realized that even those made of stone where still vulnerable to the elements. Her other reason was to explore the idea of the self and how we present ourselves to others. Her design to use chocolate and soap brought about intimacy that she hopes the viewer can see. To modify the busts she had to lick (chocolate) and lather (soap) which brought about different changes, with the soap the lathering made details disappear. If I made a self-portrait I would want it to portray how I see myself not necessarily how other see me. Not to make myself immortal but understood, there are more sides to a person and I would want a way to expose those hidden or unknown sides.
Self portraits are a way for artist to immortalize themselves, a way to feel like they have left their mark on the world. Antoni made these portraits for the purpose of self assuring herself. She tried to accurately represent herself with everyday activities such as eating and showering (where the materials of chocolate and soap came from. I would like to make a self portrait to poke fun at my flaws. Everyone has flaws and a self portrait should represent who we truly are rather than how we want the world to see us. A self portrait should describe us, not a perfect being.
This artist mentioned that she makes these sculptures to give an image of yourself to the public. She also mentioned that it's a way to immortalize yourself. I would make a sculpture like this to show who I am. Sometimes it's hard for people to know you for who you truly are. I don't feel all to comfortable around people and it would be me showing who I am to the public.
Based on what I read I think I can safely say that Janine Antoni chooses to make self portraits because the way you look at your self and the way you present yourself in the public eye are very different. Janine believed that by using conventional everyday activities like eating and bathing to construct herself made it more personal. Janine Antoni mentions the fact that generally people create portraits to immortalize themselves but she wanted to do just the opposite by using materials that are easily dissolved. I might make a self portrait because it would be the best way to observe how I see myself. The only reason I believe self portraits aren't effective is because most times you are bias to yourself and maybe downplay a strong feature just because it may be the very same feature your insecure about.
Janine Antoni creates self portraits to answer questions about self identity and how we are perceived in the world. By using soap and chocolate, simple, everyday items, she can play around with how the world would see her. She gets to decide what parts of her she wants to emphasize, and what parts she wants undermined. Making these self portraits required creating a bond with herself, which got her to really evaluate herself as an artist. I would like to create a self portrait that exaggerates some of my facial features and creates juxtaposition between who I am as a person and parts of my appearance.
Janine Antoni makes self portraits to explore her perception of herself and her relationship with her physical appearance. She also makes these self portraits to show our mortality by making them out of soap and chocolate which degrade quicker than stone. She also mentioned that most classic busts are of men, important men and her busts of a women provides a deviation from that. I feel making a self portrait is a highly intimate process because it reveals how you perceive yourself. Keeping this in mind, I feel by making a self portrait I would achieve a greater understanding of how I perceive myself. This would be about self discovery and enlightenment.
Janine Antoni creates self portraits to explore the relationship between a person's physical manifestation and their view of themselves. Her work is a statement on the physically insubstantial characteristics that define who we are, as well as the complex and intense interactions between a person and their reflection. Making self portraits is a way for Antoni to express whatever she would like about herself- to preserve her self awareness in a person's view instead of their perception of her physical characteristics. Her materials and process go against the traditional form of self portraiture and bust making, which is another statement on the fluid nature of self portraits. The fact that she is able to change her portraits so intimately and drastically shows the one-dimensional nature of a person's physical manifestation. I would make a self portrait to convey an internal truth about myself that does not display itself physically in my features. I would use a material with a short life span, like Antoni, so communicate the fleeting and fluid nature of identity. I would also try and communicate an emotion or belief in a self portrait because many people, including myself, have a hard time communicating personal sentiments physically.
-Mara
Janine Antoni makes self portraits in order to better understand herself. It seems that when she starts she doesn't necessarily have a specific goal or idea in mind, but then she later discovers more about herself when she's finished, such as her own self-consciousness or other emotions she hadn't fully been aware of. Personally, I might make a self portrait in order to express my deepest, rawest emotions and to convey these same emotions in the audience.
Janine Antoni makes self-portraits to create a public image of herself. Self-portraits allow her to express how she wishes to be seen in the world. Antoni also attempts to work against artistic norm regarding the seriousness self-portraits, bringing out the humorous qualities instead. Through these differences, she tries to immortalize herself. The piece made of chocolate is extremely detailed, while the piece made of soap stone is a more general structure (which could resemble anyone). Ultimately, Antoni is striving to portray two images of herself. For similar reasons, I would make a self-portrait to highlight the traits that I would want a public audience to recognize, also reflecting my inner ideas of what makes me different from others.
Artist Janine Antoni chooses to create sculptures because she feels they are an effective medium to parlay both her thoughts/ emotions about herself and about society. She takes her own issue and translates them into art that the world can relate to. One reason she created the art was to immortalize herself and create a self-image to the world. Self-image is a very important social topic that many people struggle with. She discusses that the way she licks the chocolate and wears away the soap sculpture is a reflection of the love hate-relationship many people have with themselves. One effect this sculpture has is to help people identity with their feeling about themselves and really aid in self-identification. Another reason Antoni creates art is because it is ritualistic. It is important to have a routine in life and often having one can help bring order. When Antoni transforms the art she is also transforming herself. This is likely the reason I would make a self portrait- for the ritualistic purpose, to help bring our self-identification and for the routine aspect.
Janine Antoni creates her piece, Lick and Lather, to accurately present herself to the public. Its not merely the image that shows the viewers who she is, but the materials as well. The chocolate and soap show that Antoni, underneath it all, is simply a person that indulges in the sweetness of chocolate it and spends the majority of the time doing regular, everyday stuff such as showering. The way that the pieces were sculpted are also significant. Antoni says that it was like a "love-hate relationship".
Antoni, like several other artists, uses self-portaits to accurately depict herself. She says that these self-portraits "immortalize" the artist. Sometimes self-portraits might not be physically accurate to emphasize meaning on a certain part of the body. Or sometimes they are altered to how we see ourselves and so they might not even be realistic. Portraits can represent our inner self and be pieces such as our Trees of the Forest project.
When asked about the reason she makes self-portraits, Janine Antoni responded that self-portriats are used by artists to immortalize and create a public image of themselves. She said that she makes self-portraits to show the real aspects of her life and face and to also experiment with different materials. I think the main reason people make self-portraits is to create a public image of yourself that you deem suitable for you. Many people have different perceptions of the same thing and what self-portaits do is they create a singular way for people to look at and interpret you. Artists make self-portraits to immortalize themselves and keep their livelihood alive after death.
This artist, Janine Antoni, is making a statement with her "Lick and Lather" self portrait. She made the busts out of soap and chocolate to convey the idea that there is nothing closer to the self than everyday activities such as eating and bathing. Antoni got very close to the sculptures in the process and she states that she feels especially connected to the soap bust because she "spent a lot of time in the tub together". I think its important that she feels close to the pieces because it comes off as a genuine piece that was thought out and intimate rather than just a piece made to look pretty. I would make a self portrait for the same reasons as Antoni, to show myself through a different light that would accurately portray me, not necessarily just physically but also emotionally.
Janine Antoni makes self portraits because she wants to immortalize herself. Also she has the chance to play with her physical characteristics through the different pieces. She used everyday materials like chocolate and soap to break away from traditional bust, which are usually male heads made of stone. I would make a self portrait to be able to depict myself with many different materials and depict myself in various ways through the materials.
This artist makes self portraits to play with the many views of self-image. She uses specific materials to create an intimate experience for both herself and the piece as well as with her viewers. Because of this intimacy with the materials she represents self love. She licks the chocolate to sculpt herself and also bathes herself with soap to sculpt the other piece which demonstrates a love and connect with one's inner self and appearance. If I were to create a self portrait I would like to play with two different images: How I see myself and how others see me. I think this would demonstrate a similar idea that Antoni also portrays because she says she grapples with the same struggle of how she views herself and how she she actually looks.
The reason for her self-portraits are a combination of traditional and modern reasoning, which show in said self-portraits. She had made a sculpture typical of antiquity, yet made of herself (a woman, which goes against busts being traditionally men, used different mediums, and different techniques (usually busts were sculpted, not cast). Because of the way she experimented and made decisions for the process and materials, she not only forms a connection with the sculpture as a physical art piece but also one with its abstract essence. The main idea of the self-portrait is the essence of its character and the ideas behind it, and her experimentation and emotional connections only deepen the connection she has with the pieces. I believe that is key to self-portraits, the meaningfulness it has to the artist and how it connects to them, and how this connection is passed on to the viewer.
The artist Janine Antoni said in her interview that she creates self-portraits to immortalize herself and create an image that the public can see. She wants people to look at her portrait and feel like they are getting to know who she is as a person and as an artist. Persoanlly, I would create a self-portrait for the same reasons. Although her busts aren't forever, she wanted to immortalize herself. I also would want to create something that would represent me for years to come.
This artist, Janine Antoni, makes self-portraits to show herself to the public. She makes them to show the public how she views herself. Janine Antoni also creates self-portraits to immortalize herself in a sort of therapeutic way. I agree with the first part of her reasoning, for why I might want to make a self-portrait. I think making self-portraits is a way of indirectly letting people in and helping them see you the real you through your own eyes.
The artist, Janine Antoni, made a self portrait mostly because she just wanted to, partially to open herself up to the viewer, and partially for the sake of self discovery. However, what was more meaningful that the making of the portrait were the materials she chose to use. She chose to use a material that wouldn't last long, to juxtapose the fact that busts are usually made out of stone and meant to last for a very very long time. In this she was doing a study of one's mortality. In the process she realized that even stone busts crumble after a long time, and she realized that the chocolate, beautiful, sweet, could serve to represent the face one puts on in front of others, and could be beautified, while the soap one was more easily eroded, showing the "love-hate relationship we have with our physical appearance". So, for this reason I personally would create a self portrait. For the ability to show the viewer how I see myself, perhaps by highlighting certain features that I like or take pride in, while subtly hiding others. And for the journey of self discovery that comes with it.
Janine Antoni says that she was inspired by a few ideas for her self-portraits, such as women and beauty, and the idea of intimacy. Her sculptures are unique in the materials which helps to create and emphasize her meaning in identity of one's self. She also mentions that her self portraits go against the norm of wanting to immortalize yourself, since her pieces are the exact opposite, being made of chocolate and soap. I like her ideas that went into Lick and Lather, but I think if I were to create a self-portrait, I wouldn't necessarily use these same concepts. The way she created intimacy with herself and with the viewer of the piece is fascinating, and I think it's a great purpose of a self-portrait, to give back something to yourself. I also find the love-hate relationship with ourselves that she explores with the licking of the chocolate and cleansing with the soap. She really seems to explore herself with these self-portraits, which is an important thing to remember instead of making art only for the viewer. A self-portrait that I would make would be mainly for my own purposes instead of for the purpose of having others view it, because since it is myself, it should be for my self-discovery, which could be shared with whomever I choose. Self-portraits in general have a much different meaning than a portrait of another individual, because you can never see yourself the way others see you.
Sculpting life is difficult, and it must be more so for Janine Antoni who must sculpt her self. The very act of imbuing yourself into another object requires not only skill but also a deeper questioning of your personal identity. Though cliche, it stands true here: the focus is not on the final sculpture but rather the journey taken. What matters is what you might learn from having spent hours perfecting the lips and that sincere, knowing smile. Were I to make a self portrait, I would confront the way I see myself, the way others would, and hopefully find out which parts matters the most to me-to seek the truth within myself.
The reason why this artist wanted to do self portraits is to immortalize herself in a material, though this would be temporary as eventually, through the licking and the lathering, there wont be a recognizable person on the bust, just a silhouette of a head. I would make a self portrait to portray to people of what i think i look like, so that others can see what i think of myself from my point of view
The artist Janine Antoni makes self portrait because she wants to explore the concept of self identity and how we view ourselves compared to the way that we are viewed by those around us. She also makes the self portraits to immortalize herself in a material, this is almost therapeutic to her. She also uses the very intimate approach to her artwork in order to become more comfortable with herself and gain confidence with who she really is. I would make self portraits to become more comfortable with my insecurities and show who I am vs. the person that I think I am or that others think I am.
What are some of the reasons this artist makes self-portraits, and what are some reasons why you might also make a self-portrait ?
Some reasons why Janine Antoni makes self portraits is to work against the idea of immortalizing yourself by contrasting it with unique materials and to also create the you that you present to the world. Some reasons why I might also make a self portrait would be to get closer to myself through the process of subtracting and adding to get to something that I feel embodies me. It may not come out to look exactly similar me, like how Janine Antoni's soap bust evolved through the process, but it will be the product of action and intent.
Janine Antoni makes self portraits to works against the traditional reason of making a self portrait (to immortalize one's self) by creating hers out of materials that will not last forever and to represent herself to the public in the most personal moments and materials she could imagine. I might make a self portrait to portray myself through my personal feelings in my physical appearance. My mouth might look a certain way to some, a different way to others, and a different way to myself. I can acknowledge these differences and try to represent my mouth in a way that embodies all these views or choose to ignore all of these views. When creating a self portrait, it's important to realize that no one knows one better than one knows one's self. I can choose to present myself as how I feel as though I am seen or I can choose to present myself as how I ideally want to be seen. A self portrait can last longer than one's life, thus when one is potentially making an everlasting version of one's self. One may choose to use materials that will erode in a certain manner to leave a meaning that changes over time.
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