Marina Abramovic "Art is Beautiful, Artist must be Beautiful"

Performance artist Marina Abravomic created the piece “Art must be beautiful, Artist must be beautiful” (1975). The piece looks into the thoughts of an artist. When a viewer sees an object they then wonder about the artist. Should the artist be just as beautiful or as ugly as the piece that they created? After all they are a part of it. To create this piece, Abravomic stated “I brush my hair with a metal brush held in my right hand and simultaneously com my hair with a metal comb held in my left hand. While so doing, I continuously repeat ‘Art must be beautiful’, ‘Artist must be beautiful’, until I have destroyed my hair and face”.* This question of what is an artist becomes more apparent in Abravomic’s pieces because she has become the art object. The audience is watching and listening to her. Her body, just like everyone else’s is another functional object in the world that was created by something else so therefore it is another thing that can be considered as art. The body however is controlled by each individual mind so it can be more intriguing. In this piece Abravomic pushes her body to a certain limit with the simple movement of her arms, wrists, and hands. She does this to get her point across of how an artist can feel at times. Although in the late 80’s early 90’s Abravomic no longer tested the borders of the body, her performance art still has a great impact. **

* "Media Art Net | Abramovic, Marina: Art must be beautiful." Media Art Net | Homepage. Web. Dec. 2009. .
** "Marina Abramovic." Journal of Contemporary Art. Web. Dec. 2009. .