Paintings

From UBC Wiki
a screenshot from Mouchette's "Paintings"

Paintings is a webpage based artwork by Mouchette (Martine Neddam) created in 1996 and continues today[1].

description of the work

This work is 17th of the 22 works within the Mouchette website.

When you open the link to this work, first, Mouchette’s favorite painting found on the internet pops out.

Then, as you click the image, the painting starts to get manipulated and altered in different ways (mostly having hands emerging from the image with the word Mouchette.).

On the text below each photo, Mouchette talks about how paintings can be digitally manipulated.

After few clicks, you will move to another website showing all of the modification of images accompanied with somewhat German-like monologue. Then that is the end and you can go back to the top page.

Emotional outcomes

The image it self may make you feel unease and disgust as the painting Mouchette is rather a grotesque one.

It will also surprise you as the German-like monologue starts when you don’t expect. The overall emotion the artwork gives you is probably confusion. This is because during the image bit, the work comments on how a painting found on the internet can be manipulated and be claimed by some one else. But the artwork ends with a page with German-like Monologue and text wanting you to submit what you think you heard from the monologue. Which I you probably would not be able to find any collation.

Art historical relations

The Manipulation, or modification of found artwork is similar to how Asger Jorn modified the found painting in his work “et l'avant garde se rend pas (the avant garde never gives up)” [2]

References