Drawing

Fall 2007

"The Necrophiliacs"

(Click on thumbnails for larger view)

(Color pencil on paper)

(More will be added soon)

The study of human anatomy is the perfect merge between art and science. Many of these studies not only aimed to understand the workings of the body, but also originated from a fear of mortality. It was believed that artists had the ability to reanimate the dead through images. For example during the Renaissance era artists would often depict animated cadavers strolling through landscapes. Anatomy books dissect the human body in sensuous detail, making organs and flesh into visual fetish. Body parts are always displayed in isolation against a stark white background, further emphasizing every curve and crevice.

Anatomy illustrations began to take on a moralistic tone during the Renaissance and this theme continued into the 19th century. Many of the cadavers in anatomy books engage in actions that illustrate the moralistic implications of being dead and dissected. In many ways, the cadavers became the living personification of our fate after death.

Western medicine’s exploration of the body through anatomy ultimately reflects cultural attitudes regarding gender and mortality. These gendered power dynamics can be seen in the “objective” scientific gaze of the examiner and the examined body. I always found it fascinating how even after such violent violations of the body the figures in these illustrations are still able to maintain expressions of ecstasy, even one of sexual pleasure. Many of these drawings inspired my upcoming animation film “The Necrophiliacs”; which further explores this eroticization of the violated body and the gender dynamics in Western medicine.