Topic Declaration: Janine Antoni

Around January 28th, 2021, the class session for Women in Art ended. Afterward, Professor Anna Arnar and I discussed a few options for my final research paper and presentation. After speaking with the professor, I decided on the topic for my research paper. It will be the contemporary feminist artist Janine Antoni.  

Best known for her performance pieces, Antoni has worked as an artist out of Brooklyn, New York, since the 1990s. She says her body is a tool. My claim is that Antoni uses her performance creative faculties to transform her body. Her innovative combination sculpts out a unique vision for feminist art and the environments containing her works. 

Today a lot of people have seen performance art. However Antoni’s displays induce examination. But why? Introducing information about feminist performance art may be critical to understanding her purpose. If comprehensive, the history of performance and feminist bodyworks permits an evaluation of her contributions to contemporary activist art. 

Three pieces seem to summarize Antoni and her work. The mixed prototypes are titled, Gnaw, Slumber, and Loving Care. Moreover, her creative displays illustrate three key functions. First, the material-based processes of Gnaw, involve the body as an instrument. Next, the amount of labor, size, and effort involved in Slumber draws attention from the contrasting environment. Lastly, the monumental, sometimes torturesome efforts in Loving Care adhere to the premises of pedagogical feminism. In contrast to other feminists using the body as a theme, Antoni is distinctive.

Evidence is necessary for artistic interpretation. Fortunately, general research produced multiple interviews on Antoni and pointed to her prestigious awards-and lectures-for the national Getty Museum. Other prominent galleries and institutional sites, such as the Luhring-Augustine, Gallery, contain multiple evaluations and displays of her work. The two-source collection clarify her themes and concepts. However, a critical article on Loving Care presents counterarguments. The author uses Antoni's comfortable upbringing to makes a counterargument against the value of the piece. Overall, reputed, and general sources gave me a larger idea of how her art established her as a feminist and contemporary artist. 

Leaving common-information to search for more substance, I found peer-reviewed articles and books. Reputable literature propelled my questioning. The first question is obvious. Are Antoni and her work contrived to have shock value by relating to sex or sexuality? To answer, no, not absolutely. But entire pieces and different elements of her work do suggest sexual dynamics. For example, several of her photographic and sculptural pieces acknowledge the tensions and bonds created in relationships- self-based, group-based, or commitment-based. The complicated analogy can get confusing. Fortunately, Antoni discusses relational tensions during her interview at the Getty. In it, she clarifies the concept for her audience.

A relationship with oneself is valuable. But how does Antoni's work in Brooklyn, and her background in the Bahamas, influence her and her audience? She is from two separate yet remarkably similar cultures. Also, how does feminism and creating in a feminist context influence the particulars of her performance art? 

How do her performance pieces balance across the growing chasm of fine and commercial art to develop an individual identity? I may be close to an answer. From gathered research, her visionary art seems to construct a metaphor-based tether. It brings her, safely, away from the precipice of ad-based design to the visionary-side of the fine-arts. But how? To foreshadow my presentation, I will only mention that Antoni balances on a tightrope!  

Questions about motivation, processes, and tools arise for most artists. But if Antoni's foremost tool her body, and it differentiates her, she is exclusive from other artists using the theme. But, if she is a different voice within an accepted topic, what compels viewers towards her pieces? 

For my collective theme titled, “Artists who Use the Body in Art,” Sailesh Thapa, Magar, and I will be revealing a prolific source of creation for feminist and present-day art. Our presentation date is on April 22nd, 2021. If we can communicate clearly with each other about what makes both Portia Munson and Janine Antoni unique, success is assured. Also, the order of our talk is meaningful. Janine Antoni uses her body in performance, and Portia Munson uses her bodily fluids and flesh. Munson’s displays contain external products meant to stimulate the senses. Both elements help her create striking installations and prints. The two artists marry their bodies to their tools, and, in doing so, they shape contemporary and feminist art. Their work needs to be argued for and explained so other citizens can witness how these two key figures reclaim the body for women and women in the arts.