Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty features over 25 paintings made between 1976 and 2013, three video works and several photographs that explore culture’s complex relationship to beauty and the feminine body. The exhibition is organized by time period, demonstrating the depth of Minter’s critical examination, which predominantly focuses on fashion, beauty and celebrity culture. Pretty/Dirty illustrates Minter’s evolution from a young critic, documenting domestic life, to an established media savvy cultural producer. Marilyn Minter’s piece titled Big Girls (Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty, 2015) represents our culture’s views of feminine beauty.
The style of these paintings can be compared to artwork during the 1960’s. For instance, the dotted pattern, …show more content…
Most of these shapes are formed with the use of shifts in color and lines. For example, Sophia’s white hair is formed by the use of a shift from the black background and her darker checkered body. Consequently. both lines and shift in color are implied at the same time as it creates shapes in the artwork.
In this artwork, the light source is not seen. On the other hand, the light source is placed in the left of the artwork. This is presented when Minter uses the black Ben-Day dots overlaying white. It shows the artworks focal point, Sophia, and it makes it seem as her skin is glowing. The bright white color make her stand out from the distractive cut in pictures on the top left of the art work. Also, the warm color red against the darker black background gives Sophia an exquisite quality.
While Minter’s use of colors create unity and variety, one must understand the placement of Sophia’s hair and the curves which create a strong sense of motion. Her hair is seen curled up to the very left of her face, and shown in the cut out picture overlaying the right side of her face. On the other hand, symmetrical balance is used to express order. This work is marginally unbalanced in that regard as of the angle of perspective. With the empty space on the top is balanced with the white in the bottom left, but not to a magnitude that one would recognize it as asymmetrically …show more content…
As seen with Sophia, she is bent over in a position to reveal her breasts, which shows femininity and “the general thought of being a female” (from gallery wall text, exhibition Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty, MCA Denver). Her provocative images ultimately urge us to understand the feminist critique of the construction of gender and femininity. As it is titled, Big Girls, it is Minters direct approach of showing the proper grown woman in the matter that was seen by society in the 1980’s. It suggests the deceiving effects of socially imaged ethics of beauty and femininity that creates a gaze for the
The style of these paintings can be compared to artwork during the 1960’s. For instance, the dotted pattern, …show more content…
Most of these shapes are formed with the use of shifts in color and lines. For example, Sophia’s white hair is formed by the use of a shift from the black background and her darker checkered body. Consequently. both lines and shift in color are implied at the same time as it creates shapes in the artwork.
In this artwork, the light source is not seen. On the other hand, the light source is placed in the left of the artwork. This is presented when Minter uses the black Ben-Day dots overlaying white. It shows the artworks focal point, Sophia, and it makes it seem as her skin is glowing. The bright white color make her stand out from the distractive cut in pictures on the top left of the art work. Also, the warm color red against the darker black background gives Sophia an exquisite quality.
While Minter’s use of colors create unity and variety, one must understand the placement of Sophia’s hair and the curves which create a strong sense of motion. Her hair is seen curled up to the very left of her face, and shown in the cut out picture overlaying the right side of her face. On the other hand, symmetrical balance is used to express order. This work is marginally unbalanced in that regard as of the angle of perspective. With the empty space on the top is balanced with the white in the bottom left, but not to a magnitude that one would recognize it as asymmetrically …show more content…
As seen with Sophia, she is bent over in a position to reveal her breasts, which shows femininity and “the general thought of being a female” (from gallery wall text, exhibition Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty, MCA Denver). Her provocative images ultimately urge us to understand the feminist critique of the construction of gender and femininity. As it is titled, Big Girls, it is Minters direct approach of showing the proper grown woman in the matter that was seen by society in the 1980’s. It suggests the deceiving effects of socially imaged ethics of beauty and femininity that creates a gaze for the