Body art. Literally
An American sculptor's work made of human skin is coming to Britain. Andrew Johnson reports
Andrew Krasnow with his 'Palette' made of skin from people who donated their bodies to medical science
Some will find it shocking, macabre, echoing the worst allegations of Nazi atrocities. An American artist has spent the past 20 years making sculptures out of human skin, and is to exhibit his work in public in the UK for the first time later this year.
Welcome to the world of Andrew Krasnow, who has tackled one of the great taboos in art. Günther von Hagens may have caused controversy with his Body Worlds exhibition of human corpses, but Krasnow goes a step further.
His works include human skin lampshades – a direct response to the belief that similar items made from the skin of Holocaust victims were found at Buchenwald concentration camp.
Using skins from white men who donated their bodies to medical science, he has created freak versions of mundane items including flags, boots and maps of America – in effect using skin like leather. His work, he says, is a commentary on human cruelty and America's ethics and morality.
The exhibition in London in July will include a new sculpture made out of the final piece of skin Krasnow obtained in a job lot 20 years ago – a defaced $10 bill, in keeping with his questioning of US values. It has been made especially for the GV Art gallery, which will host the exhibition.
Not surprisingly, the work attracts controversy. The only time it has been shown before in Britain, late last year, it was by appointment only. Now the gallery has been licensed by the UK's Human Tissue Authority to display a complete exhibition.
Krasnow's human-skin American flags were created just before the first Gulf War for the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, although they were never displayed after Republican politicians Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich denounced his work.
"The objective was to express my concerns about the war and that it would not be conducted in a way that was moral and ethical," he said. "Since that question wasn't permitted in a museum, the work became more complex, with all the inherent contradictions of what it means to be an American or, for that matter, to be human."
Gallery owner Robert Devcic said Krasnow uses only white skin because much of the suffering in the Americas has been caused by white people. "He uses skin to make the point that suffering is universal," he said. "It is tanned using the same process that you'd use for an animal skin."
Martin Kemp, emeritus professor of art history at Oxford University, said Krasnow was not trying to be sensationalist. "He has not overtly pushed the sense of spectacle or sensation, unlike, say, Damien Hirst," he said. "He is working with deep and disturbing resonances. As an artist, he is pretty much out there on his own."
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Comments
I wonder if these people who donate their bodies for science or organ donation, know that they will be turned into lampshades?
So why are we giving a platform to someone little more than a racist grave robber?
it's not like he stole the bodies or aquired them illegally..
The fact that someone can buy bodies is surely the more disturbing fact..
Secondly, these people donated their bodies to medical science, not an eccentric artist. Do you think these people expected to be turned into a lampshade to make a point that (in the artist's view) his race are not very nice? Whilst he did not dig up a grave he acquired body parts for a purpose for which they were not intended - it may not be grave robbing but it is a form of desecration, albeit with the assistance of the medical professionals who should have a duty to their patients both before and after death. He may believe he is making a point on ethics but he has acted deeply unethically to do so and it seems that currently everyone is ranting on about the BNP getting a handful of votes whilst here is a man also with a racist viewpoint and gimmicky show and we should respect him as being a deep feeling and expressive person - sorry, I don't buy it, a racist is a racist by any name, and turning dead people into wallets and lampshades makes him as bad as the Nazis he feels he is protesting against.
Unfortunately these days being an artist means having some kind of gimmick and a pretentious sales pitch, gone are the days when craft and creativity were the artist's fortes. Mr Krasnow has failed to impress me with his.
Those people wanted to help others by furthering medical knowledge after they had no further need for their body. Providing art materials for a conman, sorry, I mean modern artist (there's a difference you know, or so I'm told) is not helping people. Indeed it may make people rethink whether or not to donate their bodies to medical science if they're just going to end up as a lampshade. Bravo Herr Krasnow; profiteering, attention-seeking hypocrite.
Rachie
xXx
These are the kind's of remarks that create CHOAS! He should walk the streets of the South Bronx and beyond to FEEL! He speaks from a BOOK LEARNED PERSPECTIVE! A FOOL will ALWAYS be a FOOL!
Respectively,
j A. santangelo
jsantangelo@webtv.net
cjoeyspeak
I would agree with cm070537; we need to view the exhibit for ourselves before jumping to conclusions.