The Kiss by Witkin and Relationship between Love, Life, Beauty and Death - Essay Example

The Kiss Catalogue of Entry Creator name: Joel- Peter Witkin Nationality: American Title: The Kiss (Le Baiser) Creation date: 1982 Object type: photograph Medium: toned gelatin silver print Dimensions: 36.88 x 36.83 cm. (14.5 x 14.5 in.) Framed: yes Institution: Marianne Boesky gallery Location: New Mexico Description: Signed, titled, dated, numbered AP/1 and annotated N.M. in pencil on the verso. Body of entry The kiss also called le Baiser in Mexico is an image of a single head cut into half down through the middle which appears to be two individuals kissing with no masks (Witkin 1985). The kiss shows two heads of cadavers kissing; the two heads look like they are a bit identical. Witkin allows some sort of freedom that the consent of the dead disregards. This is the freedom of feelings for the dead. This appears to be a bit unusual but at the same time it acts as a consolation. A kiss is on a normal occasion linked with pleasure and joy but here Witkin shows that the heads feel the passion in the kiss, this shows that each half of the head is attaining what it had wholly in life (Witkin 1985) . The most significant meaning of this piece therefore is the theme of death, shows that the death breathe to communicate (Preziosi 2009). However like any other art work the meaning of this piece depends entirely on the viewer, so it may have varying meanings Witkin is an American born 1939 in Brooklyn of a catholic mother and a Jewish father. It is assumed that his art work is attributed to the accident he witnessed at a tender age; hence the graphic and not so appealing photographs (Witkin 1985). A child was knocked down by a car and her head was swept to the feet of Witkin, this left him traumatized and freaked out, hence his inspiration in art to link the dead and the living. He has studied sculpture and worked as a photographer for the better part of his life, but never done commercial photography. He currently resides in the New Mexico (Preziosi 2009). Witkin argues that his work is aimed at making him a better person, loving, and unselfish (Witkin 1985). He goes further in explaining that he goes for the outcasts in society who are his main inspiration. Critics however have found more immorality in the work of Joel peter arguing that is work is not for the faint hearted (Witkin 1985). This is true as most of his pieces of art are horrific, frightening and too graphic making them more horrendous that beautiful. Most of viewers refer to his pieces of art as pornographic material. The photographs of Witkin not only show a single moment but they capture a series of events of these unusual people in the society. Most of the work done by Witkin represents death and or torture. The work of Witkin is based on transforming body parts of the outcasts into portraits, lustrous and glowing in which the strange variations of people and animals to him is beauty. However the interpretation of his portraits on whether they’re beautiful or horrific depends solely on the viewer. Most viewers state that his artwork is a test of tolerance and patience for the viewer; most of the viewers deny the truths in those photographs. He has been surrounded by various criticisms such as exploiting his subjects to accepting his photography requests. This is mainly because most of his art pieces are horrific and no one would allow for such photographs to be recorded. Witkin has expressed his willingness to be willed in bodies of people after their death to continue with his work, this however is not clarified as the said people are not mentioned. The theme of death as narrated by Witkin in this piece of art is described by various artists and authors as most of them try to establish the link between life and death. During my research I linked this piece, The Kiss to various works of art by different artists as described below. Death in Venice (1912) A head of human skull is a noble show of death (Cunningham, Heim & Mann 2004); death head is expressed in this novella as compared to those seen in the kiss. This is a novella by Thomas Mann that discusses the theme of death at length. This novella is Mann’s best work in history as it explores the pursuit of beauty by transformation of an artist. Just like The kiss seeks to express beauty in art work. Death in Venice is based on the relationship between art and beauty and love and death too (Cunningham, Heim & Mann 2004). In this study though we seek to know how the theme of death is expressed. Like The kiss this piece has received too much criticism as viewers consider it too is fictions. The plot of this novella is about a Bohemian who has spent most of his life struggling to cut off his Bohemian nature, especially of living an immoral and a lie in his life. This piece describes the how his art was influenced by homosexuality and early life experiences and this compares to my chosen piece by Witkin. Death of a culture is what he has been fighting in his whole life; he can’t seem to appreciate his own culture. Just like death in real life people left behind take time to appreciate that anyone has passed on and maybe spending their whole life trying to fight reality. This is seen clearly in this novella as the bohemian spends the better part of his life trying to eliminate realities. This piece describes homosexuality as it s in the background of The Kiss it is described vividly as the photograph is showing an image of two men who look like one. Other themes discussed in this novella are culture, gender, sickness, and relationship of life and death in art. Like Witkin this novella has been influenced by the early life of the character and they both deal with the unusual in the society. Death is seen as the last straw of life in both works and both artists show a connection between the living and the dead (Witkin 1985), alternatively they seek to find beauty in their work which many people consider to be immorality. Both works have received a lot of criticism from the viewers. Death is feared by all people and this is related to the fear young ones have for stepping out into darkness, but in reality people should just stop fearing death as it completes part of our biological cycle. A rose for Emily (1931) This text by William Faulkner is a strange tale of the female character Emily. This text shows how her freaky life is overwhelmed by change of culture and the aspect of death. According to my interpretation death is camouflaged by the culture of the people in the society as described by the author. It describes how her father denies her the chance of establishing a relationship with men, hence the rose. A rose is a symbol of love from a man to a woman and it is highly appreciated by women in love. This story is gothic and as we all know Goth is associated with horror, it has a similarity to The Kiss in that their ideas are a bit creepy. The text shows that Emily was affected by her father’s death and that due to pity the community exempts Emily from paying taxes. This shows how much the society worships death and considers it a problem hard to recover from The theme of death is discussed here and it is shown that people in the community refuse to accept death in that they take time to appreciate one has died and live with it. Part of this text also describes the funeral of Emily and death occurs several times here. In addition to death other themes like isolation, transition and unity are described in this text. Just like the kiss Emily in this text is seen to be necrophilia as she doesn’t want to let go of the dead bodies. The denial of the existence and truth of death of her father is dominant in this text and this is mainly because he was the only man in her life. However the interpretation of this text lies solely on the reader. Emily is seen to link death and life as The Kiss shows the relationship between the skulls kissing and the lives they lived before death. Critics think this is completely out of order as death can’t be conjoined with life as these are two different things. Linking death and life is seen as disrespect to religion too (Pacholski 1986) and hence most people highly criticize this work. . Ideas discussed in this text are that people should accept death and learn to live with it (Pacholski 1986), but writing about this on the other hand is unacceptable by the society. But like any other thing there must be cons and pros of certain work. Theme brought up by The Kiss is similar to that in a rose for Emily as both show their attraction to dead bodies and their futile efforts in merging love life and death. Therefore art has played a big role in associating death and life, but in the end death wallows life. Catcher in the rye (1951) The author Salinger, not only describes death as the end of life but also the disappearance of a person spiritually. Holden the main character in the novel finds it hard in accepting the death of his younger brother Allie and he describes it to be unfair as Allie was the best in his family and didn’t deserve to die (Salinger 1991). Holden views death as inevitable but he also thinks one can inflict it upon oneself. His is mainly because of the young boy who commits suicide in the novel he is also tempted to commit suicide if at all it ends his struggles and pains in life. Again the fact that many artists have ventured in linking death to life is seen here as Holden attempts to link humanity and death. He has used this experience in other difficult situations to console himself as he thinks nothing conquers death. This story also reflects of the unusual people in the society which is similar to what Witkin describes in his work the kiss. The death of Allie has a major impact on the death of Holden and has really affected his growing up; just like The Kiss this piece was inspired and influenced by events in his earlier life. Unlike his peers Holden is more intrigued by death than anything else (Salinger 1991) and he is out to seek answers on his questions about death. Holden sees death as a way to end one’s pain and suffering in life. This story is based on explaining how death has played a major part in the upbringing of Holden and his reaction to various situations both emotionally and physically. The only connection between this text and the Kiss is that both of them bring out the theme of death, but unlike Witkin, Holden the character in the text is scared by death. This text seems to be appreciated by majority of the viewers as most people in the society don’t respond positively to death rather they are freaked out by the idea (Pacholski 1986).This story is however appreciated by its readers unlike the Kiss as the story of this young boy is captivating and educating to the adolescents who are going through the same problems. Conclusion The relationship between love, life, beauty and death is greatly acknowledged by several artists as this is seen to be a debatable subject. Most of the artists are motivated by the idea of linking death to life. Death itself is a mystery to all living creatures we can only come up with theories to help u understand. My chosen piece of art, The Kiss by Witkin is a perfect example that shows that the dead too once enjoyed life and can feel what the living feel passionately. According to my research he also tries to bring out that the dead too have feelings and attitude just like the living which according to the definition of death is not possible. Necrophilia is another major theme brought out in his piece of art and this is considered as immorality and very unreligious. Not only based on this specific piece the Kiss, Witkin seems to be fond of the dead in his work. Most of his artwork is built on dead photographs of dead people or a badly mutilated body which seems to creep out a lot of his viewers as these photographs is disturbing He is considered to be part of a cult that believes in the dead and his intrigued by their parts. Art has played a major role in trying to associate death with life but above all death beats life and no activity can undo death or even reactions towards death can reverse the event. Other themes brought about by arts discussing death is that people should learn to appreciate and deal with such tragedies and not letting such events alter their future events in life. One may never be happy if they keep recounting on sad events like death. This art work also shows that beauty is defined by the viewer, different people see the beauty in very different aspect, and hence the saying beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. This is because what Witkin perceives to be beautiful in his art work is considered immorality by the people in the society. In as much as art work is put up with various specific themes by an artist during his project, it is open to personal interpretation and people are allowed to judge and criticize art works according to their own interpretation. In other words art is a personal skill and according to my research I can conclude that it doesn’t limit anyone. References. Preziosi, D., 2009. The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology. 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pacholski, R., 1986. Death Themes in the Visual Arts: Resources and Research Opportunities for Death Educators. Journal of Death Studies, 10 (1). Routledge: Taylor & Francis. Salinger, J. D., 1991. Catcher in the Rye. 2nd edition New York: little brown and company. Cunningham, M., Heim, H. m., Mann, T., 2004. Death in Venice, 1st edition. New York: Ecco. Witkin, J. p., 1985. Joel-Peter Witkin, 1st edition. Twin palm Publishers: Twelvtrees Press. Read More