Abstract
This thesis focuses on a visual re-representation of tales from the Old Testament, a canon throughout the history of Western art. I place constructed plasticized models within Biblical allegories in order to satirize the representations of the body evident throughout history as well as those present in contemporary media. In the thesis work I seek to bridge a gap between the past and present. I want the images to dwell between the intended moral pedagogy of the Bible and contemporary society’s perceived deviance, by linking historical painting and current digital photography, and between antique ideals of the body and present-day distortions of those ideals. In this work, I utilize appropriated imagery from contemporary periodicals to illustrate how the manipulation of the body has evolved through centuries of painting dominated by a male perspective. This practice continues to be pushed in current digital practice. In this work, I digitally collage scanned images from fitness, fashion, celebrity, and pornographic magazines to create monstrous people. These creatures I create are as much a comment on the fabrication and retouching of personalities in the media as the strains people place on their bodies to achieve a more “acceptable” appearance.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Appropriation (Art); Bible--O.T.--Illustrations; Art and religion; Nude in art; Collage
Publication Date
11-9-2007
Document Type
Thesis
Department, Program, or Center
School of Photographic Arts and Sciences (CIAS)
Advisor
Rubenstein, Elliott
Advisor/Committee Member
Larkin, Dan
Advisor/Committee Member
Miokovic, Alex
Recommended Citation
Bimber, Jayson, "Good is dead" (2007). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from
https://repository.rit.edu/theses/5306
Campus
RIT – Main Campus
Comments
Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works. Physical copy available through RIT's The Wallace Library at: N6494.A66 B46 2007