Tag: art

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2013 Abstracts Stage 3

Embedded within Reality? A Philosophical Inquiry into Whether Photographic Practice Differs from Other Modes of Visual Representation in Terms of its Classification as Art

The discussion of this paper will be centred on the argument of whether photography can ever be considered as anything more than merely a mechanical replicate of the world. Photography is generally seen by many as an automatic unemotional means of ‘capturing a moment in time’. Art, on the other hand, is commonly seen as a hand-rendered expression of human imagination typically illustrated within a visual form.

The following questions will be asked;
 What effect has the mass production of photographic images had?
 How much does the intentionality of the artist matter?
 What is the impact of photo-manipulation on the notion of authorship?
 Can our perception of a believed photographic reality be merely an illusion?
 Is our modern consumerist world driven by the image?

We will begin with a brief outline of the ways in which photography of the past designed modes of replicating the painterly styles of the artworks of the time. We shall then discuss the notion of how photography became a product of mass production, whilst introducing the thoughts of Walter Benjamin and Heidegger who both see modern works of art, and photography, as unable to reach the previous standards of past great artworks for they have lost originality, ‘aura’. We shall consider the views of Scruton who fundamentally states a photograph is unable to be the product of aesthetic judgement for it is bound by a casual relation to the world and is an automatic technical invention which requires no thought processes on behalf of the creator to effectively formulate it. Our discussion will finally lead us to the views of Susan Sontag and Jean Baudrillard who believe that under the present age of our consumer media driven tradition, our reality is reinstated by the photographic image, for photographic seeing fundamentally alienates reality.

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2012 Abstracts Stage 2

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, which Fine Art is Best of All? A Philosophical Inquiry into whether Beauty Has Disappeared from Modern Day Artworks.

The discussion of this paper will be centred on the object of art with reference to beauty. We know that beauty has played a vital role in the lives of humans for thousands of years, we seek it in natural and man-made objects, and we crave it. So, why is our art turning towards what we would generally consider to be ‘ugly’ aspects within our modern culture?

This project will focus on the following main questions;
 What do we mean when we call a work of art ‘beautiful’?
 Does art have to be beautiful?
 Has beauty been lost to the modern world?
 Has the understanding of what is beautiful changed in the modern world?
 Can beauty still be found?

We will be discussing the position held by Roger Scruton, who asserts the purpose of art is to provide the spectator with a sense of comfort, however, he states this rationale has been consequently lost to modern art as the artist is no longer concerned with technique or skill and instead focuses on self expression. We shall consider the views of Arthur Danto, who claims since the Brillo Box exhibition, art has become a purely philosophical endeavour. Our discussion will finally lead us to the views of Hans-Georg Gadamer who is unafraid to admit that there is an inevitable ‘gap’ between what we classify as traditional art and what we see as modern art, however, he sees philosophy as being able to bridge this gap. We will also look to his concept of ‘play’, ‘symbol’ and ‘festival’ which primarily allow for an object to be regarded as art.

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2011 Abstracts Stage 3

Does Art Succeed where Language Fails? Art as the Vehicle for the Expression of Emotion

I aim to see why we as humans ever need to say such phrases and is it at this point that art comes to the fore.

I will use the following Philosophers:
Heidegger M. On the Way to Language. 1982. Harper Collins Basic Writings: Martin Heidegger. Ed. David Farrell Krell. 2010. Routledge.

Mugerauer R. Heidegger’s Language and Thinking. 1991. Humanities Press International.

Van der Heiden G-J. The Truth (and Untruth) of Language. 2010. Duquesne University Press.

Silverman D. and Torode B. The Material Word. 1980. Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Derrida J. Writing and Difference. 2010. Routledge.

Derrida J. Of Grammatology. 1997. John Hopkins University Press.

Basic Writings: Jean-Paul Sartre. Ed. Stephen Priest. 2006. Routledge.

A Nietzsche Reader. Ed. Hollingdale R.J. 1977. Penguin Classics.

Gadamer H-G. Truth and Method. 2006. Continuum

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2011 Abstracts Stage 2

The Dual Nature of the Artist as Genius & Madman and its Repercussions for the Theory that Art is a Source of Moral Enrichment

The aim of my project is to explore the potential repercussions of the non-dichotomous relationship between the genius, the madman, their works of art and the concept that said works of art may be used for the purposes of moral edification.

The western tradition of linking art with morality began with Plato and Aristotle, who each viewed the potential of art in a different way; Plato believed art was dangerous and should be censored, whilst Aristotle believed that art could get people to emotionally engage with traumatic events that they had not yet experienced.

However, the turning point for art originated in the 18th century with the work of Kant, who cemented the relationship between art and morality by concluding that judgements concerning beautiful things were of the same nature as judgements concerning the ethical and the good.

From Kant’s work, the concept arrived in the philosophies of Schiller and Schopenhauer. Schiller believed that art was necessary in order to heal that which he saw as the fractured human spirit; beautiful art would improve the soul and return it to its proper moral course. For Schopenhauer, the beautiful was a part of the realm of Ideas, a, concept for which Schopenhauer is indebted to Plato. In turning our intellect towards the study of the beautiful, in whose realm resides also the moral, we can cancel out the influence of the will on our lives, the will which is the source of all human suffering.

These ideas form the philosophical basis of my project, in which the next step would be to apply the concepts of Schiller and Schopenhauer’s philosophy to the work of an accepted genius/madman.

For this part of the project I chose the work of Sylvia Plath, as I think she fulfils the criteria for both the genius and the madman. After her suicide, Plath left behind a rich body of poetic works, the themes of which correlate nicely with the work of Schiller and Schopenhauer. As such, I was able to examine her poetry using their philosophy and conclude that there are undeniable repercussions associated with the study of the artwork of a mad genius.

At the end of my study, I was able to discern that art, in a moral capacity, exists as somewhat of a double-edged sword and that we should be careful not to put too much faith in its ability to lead us to morality.

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2010 Abstracts Stage 2

Entertainment and Education. Audrey Hepburn and Friedrich Schiller: Artists and Teachers

Audrey Hepburn is synonymous with the glamour, style and beauty of a bygone age. Her films have a lasting appeal and are as popular today as they were when they were released in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They gave hope to a world which was recovering from the Second World War and offered an escape to a generation.

Escapism into art, be it music, fine art or cinema is something which is done by all at certain times in life. There is something about the arts, in particular films, which invites us to lose ourselves in the moment and forget our reality.

The concept of the betterment of man from art is not new, dating back to the writings of Romantic poet and thinker Friedrich Schiller, who believed that society’s ills could be remedied through the arts.

Through the writings of Schiller, I intend to study the ways in which these films, as an example of art, can help and improve man. The films which I employ are amongst my favourite and are studied in terms of their plots, script, costume and locations to highlight the notion of aesthetic education.

The personal connection these films have with individuals is key and so my recollections and those of others will be studied in order to show that these films, and indeed art in general, have a greater purpose than mere entertainment.

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2010 Abstracts Stage 3

Art as Free Expression under Capitalism

My overall aim: To determine whether art can be free expression or whether it is always constrained by capitalism’s effects.

My objects: The works of; Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht and the film Fight Club.

Philosophy: Heidegger, Vattimo and Adorno.

The concepts I wish to explore include…

Alienation – Does a film that can be bought and sold provoke, as a result, alienation from its message?

Truth – Can a work under a capitalist agenda still give us the semblance of truth? I will contrast Adorno with Heidegger and Vattimo in addressing this.

Is it necessary to adopt Artaud’s methods of enveloping an audience as described in The Theatre of Cruelty in order to freely express under capitalism? And is this compatible with Adorno’s critique of culture?

By the end of the work I will answer the question of the possibility of resistance of capitalism by art. I will have taken into account the postmodern views of Heidegger and Vattimo and contrasted them with the philosophy of Adorno. At the end I will have determined whether any of the artists mentioned have produced any works of originality or if, under capitalism, this is merely an illusion. I will also determine whether a film like Fight Club can be seen as original in its criticism of capitalism.

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2010 Abstracts Stage 3

Director’s Role of ‘Delivering’ a Play with Heidegger’s Philosophy of Art and Truth

Art enables us to interpret the world around us; just as Philosophy encourages us to understand our being in-existence. This project aims to discuss the way in which the art of theatre encourages us to reflect upon the world through a director’s recreation of reality upon a stage.

Heidegger’s notion of ‘being-in-the world’ and language in his work Being and Time, encourages us as beings to come to terms with the idea of Being, otherwise known as Dasein. From this, we are able to grasp the true nature of our existence.

I aim to pay close attention to the Artistic Director Sam Walters of the theatre in-the-round: The Orange Tree Theatre. Being-in-the-theatre is a process of entertainment, whereby as an audience we are faced with characters and scenarios that touch upon aspects of our own lives. Hence, there exists a fine line between forms of real life and the features of ‘make-believe’.

In order to connect the art of theatre with Heidegger’s philosophy, I aim to explore the concept of Being and art in his work The Origin of the Work of Art and Julian Young’s Heidegger’s Philosophy of Art, both of which consider and examine:
– The ‘origin’ of an art-work.
– The unconcealment of a ‘world’ via the metaphysical relationship between ‘earth and world’; shown through the Greek Temple.
– The notion of truth [Wahrheit] revealed through an art-work.

In order to test Heidegger’s thought on language, art and Being, I aim to discuss Alan Ayckbourn’s farcical creation of Taking Steps; a play that explores modern-day issues such as marriage and alcohol. As an audience, we recognise aspects of a ‘taboo’ subject-matter, but preserve our comfort-zone through laughter.

I aim to conclude, that through ‘being-in-the-theatre’ with Heidegger’s Philosophy, we essentially examine our world; and thus come to terms with the truth of our ‘being-in-the-world’.

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2010 Abstracts Stage 2

Art, Definition and Essence: Doomed to Failure?

Many Philosophers over the centuries have debated whether the attempt to define art is plausible, indeed, possible. Numerous artist and philosopher, alike, have tried to define art in one corresponding universal term, bringing together all sufficient and necessary factors involved.

Many denied that art could be defined at all; in fact, it was considered anti essentialist. Meaning that art has an essence which is unable to be defined, the range is so broad. Others however maintained that art has no essence and turned their backs on the philosophical notion of essentialism all together. They maintained that the essence of art cannot be hidden from us, therefore denied the existence of a definition. Philosophers’ such as Weitz’s argued in his highly famous paper “The Role of Theory in Aesthetics” that it was no coincidence that there was a constant failure from both artists and aestheticians to define art in a universal term.

The aim of this dissertation is to work through a multitude of philosophical views on the definition of art, to find out the terms that art is placed under and what qualities a piece needs in order to qualify. For example, what qualities have to be similar in order for a renaissance portrait and a contemporary installation need in order to satisfy a universal definition? I will be looking at concepts such as essentialism, beauty, essence, expressionism and reality within art.

This dissertation will use a multitude of key philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Weitz, Bell and Kant; along with others that interlink during the project.

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2009 Abstracts Stage 3

A Foucauldian Investigation into Conceptions and Opinions of Tattooing held by the British General Society in the Present Day

My Stage three project is a Foucauldian investigation into tattooing in England  in the present day. I have based my research around Foucault’s theories of  power, history and governmentality. 

I have also investigated psychological and social theories that relate to the Foucauldian ideas of power and governmentality. 

From working through my investigation, I decided that I should make history the greatest aspect of my analysis, and that allowed me an insight into collective notions in what I termed the “general society” and this  has made up the main body of my work. 

I have also investigated how the view of the tattooed community has changed, as well as investigating where negative opinions held by the societies at each point in history originated from. 

I have discovered through my investigation that negative attitudes towards tattooing stem from the orthodox Judeo-Christian belief that the Body is the property of God, and that to scar or tattoo it is a sin against God. Tattooed Jews are still not allowed the same burial rites as non‐tattooed Jews.  

This project represents a new understanding of tattooing as a genealogical  entity, as much has been written about the social, psychological and  anthropological impact of allowing tattooing in civilised society.  

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2009 Abstracts Stage 2

Art Incorporated: Exploring the Growing Relationship between Capitalism and Art

Whether or not the realm of freedom apparent in the plurality of styles used by contemporary artists is actually a way of concealing its true function, as a slave to business? In contemporary art’s exploration of the human psyche, it appears to hold out no consolation; conventional styles are broken and indiscretions of morals all define the basic contemporary art world orthodoxy. However although contemporary art has reinvented itself this also means that art’s existence now comes in relation to world politics, commerce, consumerism and the worlds of business and finance. In this project I will discuss how art has changed and been shaped by the demands that these external pressure points have put upon it, and what that means for the way we ‘read’ art and treat artists in contemporary culture. I will centre my argument on how the mass consumer culture of our society has lead to the commodification of art. I will focus on the artists Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst, and how both artists have embraced commercial success and celebrity status, buying into the values that art originally transcends, suggesting that they themselves have become a brand name out of which their art is made. The key philosopher that I will be using is Karl Marx and his theory of capitalism. He believed that the continual modernization in industry means that old structures, traditions and attachments begin to dissolve, so that in his famous phrase “all that is solid melts into air.” This can be applied to art’s status which is conventionally and ideally aligned with truth, beauty and ethics but with capitalisms involvement there is a shift from ethics to aesthetics. Contemporary art has become about creating pieces that are morally ambiguous, that promote corporations and entertain the mass culture. I will also be using Guy Debord and his Society of the Spectacle to elaborate on Marx’s theory and explain how he felt art had become commodified and the consequences of this, such as alienation and the loss of art’s function.

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2009 Abstracts Stage 2

Can Alienation and Disaffection be a Catalyst for Art? Popular Music as a Form of Social Commentary and Self-Expression

Objective: In this essay I intend to look at how alienation and disaffection may be a catalyst for art, in particular with popular music, as a form of social commentary and self-expression, and what effect if any this art may produce within society. I will do so through studying Marx’s theory on alienation by looking at how if one becomes alienated in society they may use music as an alternative form of subjective labour. Then I will assess the role and worth of popular music in relation to the individual creating it and in turn how this may be used by other people in society and what they can gain from it. Concept: Popular music as a form of social commentary and self-expression. Thinkers: 1. Marx’s theory of alienation: ‘Anxiety about one’s social role, its basis, and its value is especially likely for creative artists who have “betaken themselves to their work as an isolated means of ‘self-expression’ without clear social function.’ (Elridge, 2003) I will explore how, whilst deprived a means of objectifying and fulfilling one’s human nature capitalist labour, creation of music may be an alternative form of productive labour. 2. Adorno’s critique of popular music ‘Its planned idiocy virtually tests what mankind will put up with, what threadbare, noncommittal intellectual contents can be imposed upon it.’ (Adorno, 1989.p52) Next, I will critically assess Adorno’s damning critique of popular music, aiming to interact with his theory to illustrate how, rather than being a meaningless practice, an audience may connect and be of benefit from it. Key Sources: Marx— Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, Adorno— Introduction to the Sociology of Music, Popular music, Popular culture, Society.

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2009 Abstracts Stage 2

Is Art a Result of the Effects of Culture or is it Entirely Free Expression?

Do events in society affect artists in such a way that it is clearly reflected in their work, or is their work completely individual? In my project I look at the Abstract Expressionist movement, in particular Jackson Pollock. My main focus is the effect WW2 had on Artists in America and how Abstract Expressionism emerged as a result of it. I look into the government funding behind the movement and the postwar mood of society. Jackson Pollock is an interesting focus point because not only was he an alcoholic who suffered from depression but his art works, particularly his drip‐paintings, were extremely emotional and well documented. I centre my attention on the drip‐painting era because they demonstrate his connection with his art, his technique was controversial and the result seemed thoughtless and chaotic to some critics. To establish what is to be considered aesthetically pleasing, I will be looking at Kant, this covers how we perceive things as human beings and how our desires and preferences affect what we consider to be beautiful. To explore this idea I am going to focus on Kant’s concept of beauty, where he believes what we perceive as beauty, can be nothing other than subjective because it is the individual’s taste. In essence my project analyses art aesthetically, from both the artist and the people’s point of view. The influences surrounding artists at the time shows how art can be an inevitable result of mass emotion and therefore its popularity does not relate to how aesthetically pleasing it is.

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2008 Abstracts Stage 3

Yves Klein – the Painting of a Future Anticipated in the Present

Yves Klein produced over one thousand “works” during the seven year period he devoted to painting. Although he is most commonly associated with his monochrome canvases (leading the patenting of his own International Klein Blue; IKB), Klein’s work is not abstract but conceptual. However prolific, his production was not the end goal of his efforts, but rather only an “interval” in his spiritual accomplishment; the quest for pure sensibility; the quest for the void. Klein fought all his creative life the “French defect” (as his role model Eugene Delacroix first spoke in his journals) the obsession with line, compositional prison bars of our own contrivance that delineate and concretize existence, drawing boundaries for our emotional and spiritual life. His works are a final and fatal wounding for painting-the impossibility of painting thereafter. This project is an attempt to chart the aesthetic progression of his painting towards the immaterial and the revelation of the artistic project situated in the quotidian. A pictorial quest for ecstatic and immediately communicable emotion; the painting of a future anticipated in the present.

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2008 Abstracts Stage 3

A Discussion on the Subject of Arts, Politics and Authenticity

The nature of this discussion does not lend itself to a specific object on which to focus, the subject is simply too vast. However, the central topic of this discussion is the question concerning the possibility of existence or extinction of authenticity in a highly consumerist culture. The topic led me to discuss many subsequent questions: Heidegger’s temple, in which ‘world’ becomes manifest. Can this relate to contemporary song? Can life affirming, world reflecting, active truth be found in a contemporary song? Is it possible to be both a ‘mainstream’ and an authentic artist? Can art and artist ever really validate or justify their influence on social change and politics, does it exist at all or, does surrealism and artistic social/political/philosophical commentary fall inevitably back into consumerism? If we conclude that ‘symbolic authenticity’ (the representation in art of underlying popular, time and culture specific ‘feeling’ and opinion) is compromised by capitalism and consumerism, are the feelings and opinions themselves compromised? The main areas of focus as outlined above are discussed with reference to Martin Heidegger, Theodor Adorno, Sigmund Freud and Andre Breton.

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2008 Abstracts Stage 3

Graffiti Art and the Truth of Being

Territory: Graffiti. Object: Graffiti Art. Graffiti as an art movement and global phenomenon, originates in the early 1970’s in New York City. The unique dynamics of the city gave rises to an artistic battleground of expression in a cultural climate of alienation and class divide. As the youth at the heart of American capitalism struggled to gain recognition, the graffiti subculture was born. Using unconventional mediums and the alternative canvas of the urban landscape, graffiti, enveloped the city, the nation and eventually the entire world. Philosophical Concept: Heidegger- The Origin of the work of art. Heidegger’s intent is always to bring us closer to the understanding of Being. Art in its origin, is art; the happening of truth of a people’s historical existence. Great artworks in the current tradition of aesthetics are ripped away from their essential truth when classed as objects to be judged and experienced in pleasure, losing their authenticity and ability to ‘set-up’ a world and ‘set-forth’ the earth. Graffiti’s philosophical relevance: The Truth of Being. Graffiti writing rose out of a particular ‘world’, a horizon of disclosure dominated by capitalist alienation. The struggle of the youths in New York City was a battle of resistance to authority and conformity that led to an artistic battle of expression. In graffiti’s expression, the ‘world’ of the American culture is opened up, the ‘earth’ rips through this ‘world’ in the form of undefined and sublime images of the New York subway trains, taking us out of our everyday world and reminding us of other existing realities. We forget the mysteriousness of truth in its dual essence of aletheia, and the works of the original underground graffiti movement disclose this struggle of world and earth; the truth of Being. It is this struggle that graffiti writers sought to sustain in their works, therefore, graffiti did not originate from art but rather from the truth of a people’s historical existence; the historical truth of being.

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2007 Abstracts Stage 2

Art in the Urban Space

Project Outline: In our daily lives we experience a huge amount of artistic representation in the things we see and do. This art can take any form, be it adverts, architecture or sculptures; but on the whole it goes unnoticed by the observer. This project is looking to uncover hidden meanings behind these artworks to explain their origins and placement in the urban environment whilst focusing on the implications to the observer. Methods and Sources: Architecture, Advertisements, Film, Street Art, Photography, Sculptures,Television Etc. The Ideas: What is the purpose of art? – Modernity vs. Postmodernity; do they exist?; Why do people create art? – Existentialism in art and the principles of Sartre; What is good art? – Aesthetic qualities from Kant and Hegel.

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2007 Abstracts Stage 3

Weapons of Mass Creation. De-territorialisation in Territorialised Flows

TERRITORY: Banksy is an infamous stencil graffiti artist, using the urban scenery for his canvas, painting on everything from walls, over the top of other art and even animals. Banksy’s work, from the walls of London Zoo to the Segregation Wall of Palestine, evokes strong reactions in the minds of those who look upon it. This is arguably one of his many aims, evoking reaction and controversy, awakening the often numb souls of the urban jungle. The city streets of the world can be transformed, his work acting as a catalyst within the minds of creativity; attempting to corrupt the already corrupted world of corporation, government, advertising and capitalism. Deleuze and Guattari, the War Machine. In this study, I will evoke what the a war machine essentially is, and what it actually encompasses with a close reading of A Thousand Plateaus, which I will use as my primary reading source. I will consider Banksy as a war machine, and throughout the study will relate the characteristics of the war machine to Banksy’s thought and art. In developing this I will explore what I believe the war machine has created, and whether these movements are useful, or perhaps more appropriately whether they are beneficial, to modern society. Furthermore, I will also argue as to whether one, or whether the war machine, can maintain a level of creativity within our society, which as it evolves appears to be suffocating the creative flows with the engulfing arms of capitalism, systems of government, and society itself. One question that I believe is crucial to ask is can a war machine truly exist? Are all attempts at creativity inevitably condemned to fail and become part of the system that they originally rejected? It is these, amongst other questions that will form the structure of Weapons of Mass Creation.

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2007 Abstracts Stage 2

The Impact of Surrealism on Art Culture from Renaissance-Surrealism … Beauty, the Sublime and Autonomy

How has surrealism changed the way we can look at “art” and how has art changed since its “rebirth” in the 16th century Italian Renaissance? Kant’s notion of art posed against the Surrealist Philosophy using the object of Un Chien Andalou. Critically comparing this form of art against the notions of the Renaissance period assessing the emergence of the fascination with the Sublime in Surrealism from the typical Beauty in Renaissance. Philosophers and Artists: I shall be involving the philosophers Kant and Breton in discussing the merit of art and surrealism, as well as the Artists Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel and various Renaissance artists. I shall also involve insights from the work of Sigmund Freud.

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2007 Abstracts Stage 3

Presenting the Unpresentable: from modern art to postmodern art

Modern art is generally understood to be any art created between the late 19th century and the 1970s. Following the emergence of photography, art was no longer needed as direct representation so artists turned to abstraction and experimentation. Modern art is a blanket term for all artistic movements in this period, as well as the avant-garde. Postmodern art is generally believed to be in some way opposed to an aspect of modern art, experimenting with genres, cultures and mediums not previously considered. It is art following modern art, and some areas of contemporary art. It accepts past styles and traditions, unlike modern art, as well as embracing new media. Lyotard did not distinguish modern art and postmodern art in the traditional way described above, he believed that postmodern art was always at work within modern art; it is the avant-garde in all its forms, it is whatever is new and progressive about modern art, forcing it into new territory. He therefore said that something must be postmodern (new and disruptive) before it can become modern (acceptable). Although the postmodern eventually becomes the modern, it never entirely loses its ability to shock and disturb. He believed that modern art showed us that the unpresentable exists, while postmodern art attempted to present it. This paradoxical task leaves in the viewer a mixture of pleasure and pain, known as Kantian sublime. Lyotard thought the ultimate task of art to be presenting the unpresentable, which is fulfilled by the avant-garde, in which matters of taste and public opinion simply aren’t important. The sublime is the feeling when the imagination is pushed to the limit, causing pain as the individual is faced with something beyond them, which they have no control over and are faced with their true position in the world. Pleasure follows this as our reason reasserts itself and we become aware of the superiority of human reason over perception. The mathematical sublime is when we are confronted with an object unbelievably large, so we cannot see and comprehend it as a whole. The dynamical sublime refers to our confrontation with something far more powerful than us, in which case we are aware of our own mortality and insignificance. Having looked at Lyotard’s postmodernism and postmodern art in detail, with both Lyotard’s examples and my own, I will conclude with a brief examination of the works of Anderson and Jameson, as they provide arguments both for and against Lyotard’s work, taking their own examples to illustrate points made.

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2007 Abstracts Stage 3

Study in Femininity and Gender in the Postmodern Era, with reference to the art of Sarah Lucus

How has the representation of women in art changed since modern times? In what ways is Lucas’ art demonstrative of wider changes regarding the role of gender in identity and the position of women in society? – the shift from ‘natural’ to prescribed gender roles – Lucas subverting traditional roles / images of women – comparison with Goya’s ‘Maja’ paintings (from early modernity) – Beck’s theory of self identity in the postmodern age – Gidden’s writings on gender identity in late modernity – Harvey’s description of postmodern art (is art the best medium in which to initiate change in attitudes or is it merely reflective of this?)