Considering Meat and the Body can they Ever Exist Completely Separately?
Polysemic in nature, meat is a contentious topic, especially when considered to it’s frequent paralleling to the body. From this the question is posed whether they can even be comparable. Yet can meat and the body even exist in completely different spheres? Although meat can be regarded as primordial in material, ignoring the highly problematic morality of meat is something I personally am exploring in my own practice. However insisting my personal beliefs about meat isn’t what I want to obtain through my work but understand and explore how meat and also the body are associated , moreover distant from each other. Certainly for artists such as Rembrandt meat is taken as the medium, rather than a vessel for corporeality. Instead he used manipulation of the paint emanating the texture of the flesh , rather than exploring the idea of the subject being painted. Although completely valid I myself urge to explore the representation of the meat itself as well as the material it is created in. Although I do intend to further investigate the idea of meat as the medium.Furthermore in this exploration of what meat represents, considering the idea of meat within feminist discourse is apparent to me as an extremely important and contentious idea. Film maker Carolee Schneemann, is a pivotal figure head in the combination of the feminine body and meat itself, with her ideas of ‘Meat Joy’ (Fig.1)being a point of exploration for my own practice. The feminist idea that the female body is often treated as meat itself is again perhaps an avenue of exploration to undertake, with obvious biased factors allowing me to investigate this. However to me paralleling meat and flesh personally causes moral dilemmas. An obvious factor is my vegetarianism. Obviously considering the hypocrisy of the study of meat whilst disagreeing with the treatment and ethics of animals is controversial. Just taking my own opinion and morality I often consider whether the glorification of the dead animal and perhaps even the practice of slaughter is immoral to my own conscience let alone other vegetarian standpoints which I will take into consideration in my practice. As although I find a morbid beauty in the animal flesh the whole scope of moral ethics does weigh heavily in my practice. Moreover I view meat in a morally corrupt manner when paralleled with the idea of bodily flesh. I myself can see the problems that arise whilst these parallels take place. These problems occur when taken too literally like that of the work of Jenny Saville. Saville's work takes such a literalist view in comparing the body to meat. Also when taking the body as meat , it denies the existence of meat as anything other than being bodily. Whilst my view of meat and the body allows for them to exist in separate yet intermingling spheres, perhaps through my practice clarification will arise to allow confirmation of which of the currently questionable spheres meat and the body belong in. Meat is a contentious topic that has a large opportunity for exploration and representation previously explored in varying ways. I intend to further unravel the idea meat as it’s functionary material but also explore its binary partner, the body .
Notably artistic representations of meat formally used to have religious connotations and representations rather than just representing the subject. However Rembrandts ‘Carcass of Beef’ (Fig.2) considers meat in a more modernistic fashion. Taking it as an example of Marshall McLuhan‘s phrase ‘the medium is the message’ (Mcluhan, Fiore and Agel, 1967)Rembrandt records the meat in the embodiment of the paint. Believing this to be in partial true I consider the impasto technique and textual elements of the painting to hold the message as well as that of the subject itself. As agreed with by ‘Bergervoet’ “there is little or no evidence in the painting that the carcass should actually be read as a vanitas or other symbol”(Bergervoet, 2011) Rembrandts stylised use of the paint allows for the ox to purely be painted as itself and not hold weight of iconography. The typical religious motifs that often are interpreted through paintings of meat wholly deny the existence of these paintings for mundane recordings of typical life much like that of Rembrandts ‘Carcass of Beef’ which is frequently paralleled with the image of Christ on the cross. However with Pieter Aertsen’s ‘Butchers Stall with the flight into Egypt’ (Fig.3) the iconography is apparent within the painting. Petra Gördüren notes that “among the meat products are items that propagandise a less wasteful life:with fish and pretzels Aertsen portrays typical Lenten foods” (Gördüren, P. (2015). Gördüren suggesting this implies that the painting expresses the Christian fears of gluttony with the abundance of meat and animal produce displayed in the painting. Obviously being painted within a Christian society perhaps Aertsen did want to convey the morality of consuming meat and warned of the wasteful impacts to the soul. However taking a personal interpretation again a more modernist view is to take the painting as the scene of mundanity. Again exploring the opinion of Gördüren who suggested that the “meat stalls were an everyday affair , not however worthy of depiction”. I personally interpret these paintings in a more modernist fashion applying the idea that the meat is a representation of the medium and technique used by the paintings as well as holding its own significant meaning of religion and commentary on society’s gluttony. I want to explore the representation of meat as the medium like the practice of Rembrandt but also involve Aertsen’s mundane representations of meat in society. Furthermore both Rembrandt and Aertsen explore the idea of meat singularly without having parallels to the human flesh apart from being bound to the human practice of slaughter which is obviously depicted in both the paintings. Personally I have explored the idea of meat being able to exist without the idea of bodily flesh through printmaking. Using photographic transfers of meat and layering different inks gave the more textural exploration of meat as the subject. The prints exist wholly to depict the essence of the meat rather than any bodily comparisons much like the work of Rembrandt and Aertsen. However although the meat pieces exist singularly as representations of meat, the human element still intermingles with the subject just not as evidently as other artists parallel the body and meat.
Arguably most artworks that parallel meat and the body are often feminist in discourse. An example of the representation of this idea is shown in the performance / film piece by Carolee Schneemann. The piece “meat joy” depicts a sexual performance involving men and women writhing in meat. Schneemann herself claimed the film to “ confound this cultures sexual rigidities” (Schneemann and McPherson, 1997)with the overt sexual imagery being something of contention, especially in the time period when the performance first occurred. The piece questions the predatory nature of the male toward the female and pairs the flesh of the dead with the living of the human body. This idea calls to question whether there is a difference between the two fleshes, as in the film they become one flesh. Schneemann also on the subject of the predatory nature of the males suggests in the film how the women much like the meat around the bodies become pieces of meat themselves. The men are shown to throw the women over their shoulders ultimately depicting how the women are powerless against their predatory nature and again are in essence the same as the meat. Schneemann’s work is personally a great source of ideology for me as she pairs the body and meat in such a powerful way. The medium of performative art is personally one of the greatest ways to understand and view the pairing of both types of flesh. As the binary oppositions and similarities can be seen so evidently, in the way the medium such as painting would fail to obtain these parallels. Personally meat and the body will always be paralleled and paired together as the idea of flesh and the feminist and ethical ideas of the treatment of both animals and women is also comparable. I personally have explored this idea in photographic practice. With 35mm film I have taken ambiguous intimate photos of both human flesh and the flesh of dead animals. The work in essence explores how the two fleshes cannot be separate as the photos are in some instances are indistinguishable in the subject of which flesh is being depicted. I also explore through these photos my own morality of vegetarianism as the photos depict how we can be considered as the same flesh as these animals, yet we have the right to slaughter and use these animals for are own gain. Overall I want to explore how the two fleshes interact in the different photographs and the similarities and differences that exist between them. Schneemann especially for me greatly explores this notion for me in a perfect manner as although there are stark differences in the two fleshes they cannot become fully separated. This idea resonates with me and is ultimately the notion I want to further in my own practice. Meat can be separate from the flesh of the body but it will always have those ties and exist within the same spheres.
Investigating the idea of meat and the body in artistic practice has allowed me to explore the binary oppositions that exist between them. Meat can exist singularly with it representing the idea of the mundane and the social importance and significance of it in everyday life. Painters such as Rembrandt and Aertsen explore the idea of meat with its ties to religion and it’s notion of greed in society. Moreover especially in regards to Rembrandt the notion of the medium being the message runs throughout his work as the textural and paint elements are of a higher significance than other inferences of the idea of meat in his work. However meat and the body lay in the same spheres as each other as explored by artist Carolee Schneemann. Meat joy is a pivotal feminist piece exploring power play and the predatory nature of humanity. The idea of the two fleshes becoming one is apparent in Meat Joy as the sexual nature unites the fleshes. Schneemann for me enforces that the body and flesh are united despite being obviously different. Especially coming from a feminist angle the two fleshes experience similar negative treatment from society. Overall in my practice although I have already explored the idea of the body and meat being paired with each other I want to further this with performative pieces as well as perhaps investigating the ideas in film. Exploring through these mediums will allow me to further my investigation and understanding to the representation of the contentious topic of meat and the body.