Toyen and Self-reflection

Toyen - Dívka s mandlovýma očima

For some reason, finding a single painting I would identify with well enough is a very challenging task for me. I think there are many aspects to one person. In one art piece, I see a small reflection of this part of me, in another a completely different one.

I like Toyen's portraits and some of their many aesthetic drawings of women. The ones with sad eyes are the best. I don't enjoy their paintings as much, they tend to often feel too polished and kitschy for my taste. But their story and personality is something I can easily reflect myself in, in a completely unique way.

Toyen - Spící, 1937

Toyen, born Marie Čermínová, was a Czech-French gender nonconforming artist and a significant figure in Czech history. They chose a genderless pseudonym, wore men's clothes and even used Czech masculine pronouns. (Frankly, they refused to use the feminine ones) And despite all that, they are being brushed off of any possible queerness by most media, under the calming assumption of them not feeling equal in the male dominated scene of the Czech avant-garde movement of the 20th century.

But if you read about their life and relationships with other artist of that movement, I think they felt more than comfortable in their presence. Since Toyen desperately didn't want their birth name to represent them in their first exhibition, Jaroslav Seifert, their friend and a fellow member of the group Devětsil, came up with the pseudonym Toyen while hanging out together at their favorite cafe, writing it on a piece of tissue paper.

Painters Štyrský and Toyen wearing protective masks, 1929

Apart from erotic art and recognition of lesbians in their work, Toyen's gender identity or sexual orientation is not known, thus left for interpretation. But still, to the Czech (queer) art community, Toyen is somebody we treasure. A revolutionary figure that inspires us to be ourselves. Their quote "Jsem malíř smutnej" a witty and masculine way of saying "I'm a sad painter" is almost a catchphrase. I see all sorts of young Czech artists using it as a humorous way to flex their art history knowledge. Or simply because it's relatable.

To me, Toyen was somebody I aspire to be. Or at least to be in their position. A bold artist, respected and loved by their community and friends.

Comments

Yayoi Kusama - Infinity Mirrored Rooms

The "Infinity Mirrored Rooms" are a series of works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. They are immersive artworks incorporating the viewer and all sorts of artistic additions taken from Kusama’s incredible imagination. Her recent piece, ‘Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life’, shown here at the Tate Modern in London, features a dark room with hundreds of twinkling LEDs, reflected in a shallow pool of water, with the walls and ceiling covered in mirrors. The galaxy-like lights are reflected in the room of mirrors. As a result, the viewer is transported into an otherworldly space that seems to go on endlessly. This work is incredibly immersive. The viewer travels through the space by following integrated walkways, they may shift and change position and view of the work in order to better see it and understand it. In contrast to the typical experience of viewing art in a gallery, Kusama’s work escapes the canvas, taking overseemingly huge amounts of sp...

Madonna's Banned Music Video

The music video of Madonna's lead single and album title song "American Life" was so controversial, it was banned because of how explicit and shocking it was. Because of the controversy, there are 2 music videos for this song, both directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The second video is heavily censored compared to the first one, with the singer simply lip syncing in front of various national flags floating in the background. The original video is centered in a fashion show that is themed around the American military and slowly progressing to show shock elements, even including gore, to portray the cruelty of war. Even the directors cut that I have linked is missing one of the last scenes which portrays the singer throwing a hand grenade at George W. Bush, him catching it and using it as a lighter to light his cigar, which is one of the main reasons that this particular video was banned. The lyrics talk about Madonna's political and religious views. How the American dream ...

Vincent Van Gogh - Flowering Plum Tree - Mental Health, Genious and Japonism

Van Gogh, together with his brother Theo, participated in the craze of collecting cheap ukiyo-e prints. To quote The Guardian: “The artistic relationship between the European avant garde and Japan in the 19th century is one such cross-cultural flow. There’s plenty of evidence that the (mostly French) artists who laid the foundations of modernism were obsessed with the images of Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utagawa Kuniyoshi and other masters who took popular, brightly coloured woodblock printmaking to a zenith of sophistication in 18th and early 19th-century Japan.” We can find evidence of this very easily, as you can see Van Gogh's ukiyo-e collection portrayed in many of his artworks, that do not necessarily have anything to do with Japan. The walls of his studio were covered by an assortment of oriental prints. A good example is his incredibly famous “Self-Portrait with a Bandaged Ear” from 1889, painted two years after he recreated Hiroshige’s garden scenery. Behind the artist...

Art talk

Search This Blog