Still Life, 2005 (Johnson, D and Oliva, A and B, F and Jones, A and Davis V, 2007:86)
I have just finished doing an essay on how body based artists utilize blood in their work and I wrote about Franko B. Whilst researching Franko B I was very interested by his use of lighting in his performances. Whilst looking through his book I encountered photographs that instantly caught my attention. The photographs were part of his performances of Still Life 2005 where Franko B paints himself white, lays upon a lit bed whilst bleeding, after that he leaves the bed. The way the light lit up his body highlighted all of the contours and I found the light shining through the blood a beautiful image as it changed the colour of the light and it was a real contrast between the red and white light.
So, after finding out about this performance I looked at some more of his performances and found that light was a reoccurring theme in his performances. I read about a performance called Don’t Leave Me This Way which in my opinion used lighting in such a creative and original way.
‘In Don’t Leave Me This Way’ a new piece who’s earliest manifestation is also documented here, Franko B’s body is presented naked and unpainted, seated on a raised plinth or altar. The audience is allowed time to look at his body, to approach it as a sculptural form. After a short time, a bank of bright lights floods the audience, forcing them to avert their gaze. Carefully choreographed, this blinding technique mimics the effect that his exposed body has on the audience in the bleeding pieces, while striving for new affective proximities: diverse emotional and bodily responses.’ (Johnson, D and Oliva, A and B, F and Jones, A and Davis V, 2007:12)
using light to recreate the feelings that his bleeding pieces produced is something that I have no come across before. At his performances viewers have been described to cry, wince, and turn away and even pass out. (Johnson, D and Oliva, A and B, F and Jones, A and Davis V, 2007:12)
These emotions have been caused because the audience are watching someone loose copious amounts of blood, so to use light to create such a feeling is quite inventive.
Here is a link to his performance of Don’t Leave Me This Way, I hope you can check it out.
http://www.franko-b.com/dont_leave_me_this_way.htm
I think he is performing this piece at the ICA in London in June so I really want to go and see it and see what kind of effect the harsh lighting has on me.
Bibliography
Johnson, D and Oliva, A and B, F and Jones, A and Davis V (2007) Franko B: Blinded by Love. Italy: Damiani
On the subject of performers I wanted to talk about a piece I saw at the Seduced exhibition at the Barbican. The piece consisted of a large screen in a dark room and Gabriel Faure’s Requiem of 1877, playing. On the screen was K r Buxey. The piece was called Requiem and it showed K r Buxey reaching orgasm.
