Janine Antoni

Janine Antoni's Loving Care:

(image from artnet.com)

For this performance, she dipped her hair into a bucket of "Loving Care" hair dye, and systematically painted the floor with it, while viewers observed. There are 3 things I really want to address about this piece: her performance, the end product, and hair dye.

First of all, seeing a woman dressed in all black quietly painting the floor in hair dye would not only raise an eyebrow, but the scent of the stuff was probably overwhelming. I like that her art has an inclusive element to it. She wants the viewer to be part of the creation. How it's made is more important than what is made - which is an interesting aspect of art to think about. When an artist can get a viewer to ask questions, the piece is more successful. And questions like, "How was that made?" or "How did they do that?" or "What did they use for this?" attribute to the artist's creativity, and makes a stronger statement.

The end product: a floor covered in black lines going back and forth. It makes you think of Antoni like a human paint brush. This concept was especially funny to me, because I've pondered if one could make paintbrushes out of human hair, and if you could, just how many paintbrushes you could make. This woman just went for it and made her whole head the brush.

Now, using hair dye as the medium was a calculated choice. Having dyed my hair countless times, I can tell you that it would not be fun painting with the stuff, especially with your own hair. It would get all over your face, and the scent of the developer makes your eyes sting. The consistency of it changes the longer it oxidizes. It just wouldn't be fun. However, kudos to her. It adds a whole new layer to her piece, completely changing the meaning had she just used acrylic paint.

Lesson learned: get people to ask questions.