Work Title: Thinner Than You
Artist: Maureen Connor
Media: Stainless steel and cloth
Dimensions: 60 x 16 x 18 inches
Year: 1990
Image Link: Thinner Than You
Exhibition History: http://www.maureenconnor.net/MCabout.htm
Official Website: http://www.maureenconnor.net/
Artist Statement:
" Since the mid 70s I have been committed to the exploration of gender and its modes of representation. Although the forms as well as the media I have used have changed quite a bit over the years, I have continued to concentrate on a number of related and often overlapping concerns. Included among these are the investigation of how sexuality develops, especially for women, an interest in the symbolic power of the mundane, various analyses of the body and its relation to culture, a desire to engage the audience in an active, physical manner and an emphasis on humor and sensual pleasure. "
Artist: Maureen Connor
Media: Stainless steel and cloth
Dimensions: 60 x 16 x 18 inches
Year: 1990
Image Link: Thinner Than You
Exhibition History: http://www.maureenconnor.net/MCabout.htm
Official Website: http://www.maureenconnor.net/
Artist Statement:
" Since the mid 70s I have been committed to the exploration of gender and its modes of representation. Although the forms as well as the media I have used have changed quite a bit over the years, I have continued to concentrate on a number of related and often overlapping concerns. Included among these are the investigation of how sexuality develops, especially for women, an interest in the symbolic power of the mundane, various analyses of the body and its relation to culture, a desire to engage the audience in an active, physical manner and an emphasis on humor and sensual pleasure. "
Curator Comments:
Maureen Connor’s, Thinner Than You, is made from mixed media; it is a tightly stretched, black dress made of fabric, twisted and contorted around and hung up by a metal rod shaped like a tall, clothes hanger. The sculpture is simple—a sheer fabric draped over a dull armature. This work of art is an example of the human body without directly creating the human form.
The thin black dress is a hyperbole of a very small size, because clearly no human body could possibly fit in it, but it is saying that it is, in a sense, the size all women strive to be. It is beautiful. Black is also referring to the idea that the color black is always suggested to be a “slimming” color. Although there is no figure present, the viewer can imagine the female body within the shape created by the fabric. The twist of the fabric around the metal rod suggests the constant struggle to lose weight, to stay sickeningly thin, and the pain that it entails. The skinny rod used as the clothes hanger hints to the bony shoulders and overall “skin and bones” bodies that these females try and achieve. Overall, this work conveys a direct sense of struggle and difficulty of maintaining the perfection that the media dictates through the use of one major, dark color, thoughtfully manipulated.
Connor does this with the purpose of implying the metaphor of “the pressure that American Women are under today to strive for extreme thinness” and “a body drained of the illusion of a soul” (McDaniel and Roberston 76). This meaning, that because of the media, the idea of the idealistic female body is as thin as possible, always “thinner” than they already are, and never satisfied with their size. In many of Connor’s works she discusses “issues of sex, race, class, and the influence of the mass media” and this piece is not an exception (Johnson).
Maureen Connor’s, Thinner Than You, is made from mixed media; it is a tightly stretched, black dress made of fabric, twisted and contorted around and hung up by a metal rod shaped like a tall, clothes hanger. The sculpture is simple—a sheer fabric draped over a dull armature. This work of art is an example of the human body without directly creating the human form.
The thin black dress is a hyperbole of a very small size, because clearly no human body could possibly fit in it, but it is saying that it is, in a sense, the size all women strive to be. It is beautiful. Black is also referring to the idea that the color black is always suggested to be a “slimming” color. Although there is no figure present, the viewer can imagine the female body within the shape created by the fabric. The twist of the fabric around the metal rod suggests the constant struggle to lose weight, to stay sickeningly thin, and the pain that it entails. The skinny rod used as the clothes hanger hints to the bony shoulders and overall “skin and bones” bodies that these females try and achieve. Overall, this work conveys a direct sense of struggle and difficulty of maintaining the perfection that the media dictates through the use of one major, dark color, thoughtfully manipulated.
Connor does this with the purpose of implying the metaphor of “the pressure that American Women are under today to strive for extreme thinness” and “a body drained of the illusion of a soul” (McDaniel and Roberston 76). This meaning, that because of the media, the idea of the idealistic female body is as thin as possible, always “thinner” than they already are, and never satisfied with their size. In many of Connor’s works she discusses “issues of sex, race, class, and the influence of the mass media” and this piece is not an exception (Johnson).
Bibliography:
Connor, Maureen. Thinner Than You. 1990. Sculpture. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.curatedobject.us
/.a/6a00e54f9f8f8c8834011571e67746970b-320wi>.
Johnson, Ken. "ART IN REVIEW; Maureen Connor." The New York Times 19 Jan. 2001. Print.
McDaniel, Craig, and Jean Robertson. Themes of Contemporary Art. Second ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Princenthal, Nancy. "Maureen Connor at the Alternative Museum and P.P.O.W." Art In America (1995). Print.
Connor, Maureen. Thinner Than You. 1990. Sculpture. Web. 28 Apr. 2010. <http://www.curatedobject.us
/.a/6a00e54f9f8f8c8834011571e67746970b-320wi>.
Johnson, Ken. "ART IN REVIEW; Maureen Connor." The New York Times 19 Jan. 2001. Print.
McDaniel, Craig, and Jean Robertson. Themes of Contemporary Art. Second ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Princenthal, Nancy. "Maureen Connor at the Alternative Museum and P.P.O.W." Art In America (1995). Print.
