Carolee Schneemann
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| - | Production on Schneemann's work ''Eye Body'' began in 1962. Schneemann created a "loft environment" filled with broken mirrors, motorized umbrellas, and rhythmic color units. To become a piece of the art herself, Schneemann covered herself in various materials including grease, chalk, and plastic. She created 36 "transformative-actions" - photographs by Icelandic artist [[Erró]] of herself in her constructed environment. Including these images is a frontal nude featuring two garden snakes crawling on Schneemann's torso. This image drew particular attention both for its "archaic eroticism" and her visible [[clitoris]]. Upon its presentation to the public in 1963, art critics found the piece to be lewd and pornographic. ''Eye Body'' is noted for the way in which Schneemann portrays "how random fragments of her memory and personal elements of her environment are superimposed on her perception." | + | |
| ==''Interior Scroll''== | ==''Interior Scroll''== | ||
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Carolee Schneemann (b. 1939) is an American performance artist, known for her discourses on the body, sexuality and gender. She received a B.A. from Bard College and an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois. A member of the Fluxus group, her work is primarily characterized by research into visual traditions, taboos, and the body of the individual in relationship to social bodies. Her most famous works include Eye Body: 36 Transformative Actions (1963), Meat Joy (1964), Fuses (1967), and Interior Scroll (1975)
She has published widely, producing works such as Cezanne, She Was a Great Painter (1976) and More than Meat Joy: Performance Works and Selected Writings (1997).
Interior Scroll
In 1975, Schneemann performed Interior Scroll, a Fluxus piece featuring her use of text and body. In her performance, Schneemann entered wrapped in a sheet, under which she wore an apron. She disrobed and then got on a table where she outlined her body with dark paint. Several times, she would take "action poses", similar to those in figure drawing classes. Concurrently, she read from her book Cezanne, She Was a Great Painter. Following this, she dropped the book and slowly extracted from her vagina a scroll which she read from. Schneemann's feminist scroll speech, according to performance theorist Jeanie Forte, made it seem as if "[Schneemann]'s vagina itself is reporting [...] sexism".
