Janine Antoni

                                                                                             Janine Antoni

Janine Antoni 

Janine Antoni was born in Freeport, Bahamas, in 1964. 

Her main focus is on body performative work where her body is the temple which she uses to deliver the message wether she is using her whole body, to individual parts such as her mouth and even her hair, she states in an interview her body "is a funnel through which the world is poured" . Her process of creating is uncommon in comparison to many other artists, it is quite captivating because she physically becomes one with her art. In an interview she talks about her creative process as being somewhat of a  mystery and something that is hard to teach others, and it is being able to stay on a floating place and not solidifying in an idea too quickly, she also states that her approach is "to be creative is to be limber". Janine Antoni emphasizes on the relationship she has with her artwork and her willingness to listen to the material. Janine values the relationship she creates with her audience, she fantasizes about the viewer as she is making a piece of art and the final outcome she wants to make sure people can relate to the experience being shown, and she accomplishes this by doing simple things in extraordinary artistic ways.  Out of all her contributions to the art world,  the one that resonates with me the most is Loving Care performed by Janine Antoni in 1993.  The reason for this connection is because I have a personal creative infatuation with black paint and movement quality that is very abstract.

Figure A
Loving Care, 1993

In Loving Care Janine Antoni dips her long black hair in black paint and starts painting on a room size white canvas, she accomplishes to cover the canvas with black paint by putting herself in vulnerable positions as she painted away as shown on figure A. According to the online article Beautiful Trap this art installation became more popular not from a video recording of the performance but  from the photographs that were taken while she worked away the paint. In this art installation Janine Antoni's intentions of covering the whole floor black were to claim the territory in a space that had been occupied primarily by male artists. An interesting aspect of this exhibit is that while Janine painted away she was slowly driving away her audience  from the space. In this particular project Janine confesses that this performance forced her to engage in positions that were dangerous and defiant at the same time.  Below is a short video from the reenactment of Janine's Loving Care.

    

                                                                                          Reenactment of Loving Care 

WORKS CITED 

"The Beautiful Trap: Janine Antoni’s Body Art." The Beautiful Trap: Janine Antoni’s Body Art – Border Crossings Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 


"Janine Antoni - Luhring Augustine." Janine Antoni - Luhring Augustine. N.p., n.d.

"Janine Antoni: Loving Care & Lick and Lather | Performance Art | Anxious Objects, Appropriation, Janine Antoni |." Contemporary Art. N.p., n.d. Web.