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Unfinished bodies, bodies at work and Frank from Observation: Figure and ground in the work of Dana Schutz

Brief Description

The article interrogates mechanisms by which theoretical tropes such as the exotic, cannibalism and heterotopia worked through in practical terms in contemporary painting? The article uses the work of US painter Dana Schutz (born 1976) as its primary case study.

Research Rationale

This article offers one of the first academic studies of the work of US painter Dana Schutz. Schutz, who gained popularity through her paintings of self-devouring characters, deals with bodies as circuits of creation and deconstruction. The representation of the ‘unfinished’ body in process, not only echoes aspects of the artistic creation process in general, but also reflects on the paradoxical link between construction and deconstruction in the production of art. The deterritorialisation of the categories in/out, here/there, up/down in her paintings therefore allows for a productive and thoroughgoing re-examination of the broader questions attending creation, agency and alienation as part of the aesthetic process.

Strategies Undertaken

As part of the research for this article Mieves presented the following papers at international conferences: (2008) ‘Cannibalism in Contemporary Painting: A Case Study of Dana Schutz’; ‘Sex/ualities in and out of time’, 27-28 November, Edinburgh University, UK; (2008) ‘Creation and Destruction in Contemporary Art’; ‘Sexuality, Textuality, Image’, 12 September, Exeter University, UK.