Male Gaze

When I first heard of the semester project I didn't know where to begin. I couldn't decide on a theme. The idea of having complete total freedom of a project is exciting and it made me nervous. I wanted to explore several topics until I finally decided to combine some of the ideas and I became really excited about the project. I wanted to explore and combat the male gaze in depth. Though out the semester I saw how women were depicted historically under corruption. I wanted to rewrite the art history of how women were portrayed in the male gaze and include a more psychological approach by replacing the famous classical painting figures of female models with the male figure and by switching the gender roles that were placed on women, this creates a reflective mirror of the male gaze by objectify men under the same level of visual scrutiny as women by placing them under the same level of vulnerability and standards women had to face. I came across some inspirational artists, and one artist’s style that I chose is Sarah Awad because of her style of abstract painting of women dressed in brilliant colors yellow, blue, and green. It captures the female figure and threatens to absorb the figure despite its graceful appearance. I wanted to use this style as a form of liberation from the classical style that displayed women in a sense of tranquility and vulnerability in paintings women were held in.

Publication

Its no wonder that the male gaze continues to spread throughout the media and young children are being subconsciously fed these rules that still dominate part of our culture. The semester project allowed me to analyze society under the microscope and become more aware of problems that continues to fester in today’s society. In my blog I posted more artists that inspired me to create this project, paintings, and other posts to spread awareness of the power of the male gaze. Link

Sources: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/90986854950404184/ http://www.manrepeller.com/2016/09/male-gaze-definition.html http://www.headforart.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Riace-bronzes-650x824.jpg http://www.artistsnetwork.com/articles/art-demos-techniques/drawing-is-the-heart