Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Marina Abramović's "Portrait with Scorpion (Closed Eyes)"


Marina Abramović, "Portrait with Scorpion (Closed Eyes)" (2005) 
Silver Gelatin Print, 125 x 145 cm

Though this photograph offers much more simplicity than most contemporary works we've discussed, I believe the simplicity and silence conveyed by Marina Ambramović is much louder than the most chaotic of pieces. Her use of the "shock factor," though subtle, immediately catches the viewer's eye, and, upon seeing the intimate symmetry, the viewer cannot help but maintain focus. Her use of symmetry seems to convey a parallel between this misunderstood creature--an insect crowded by stereotypes of fear and disgust--with herself. She, like the scorpion, naked and blind (as many scorpions exist in nature). 

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