Rauha Makila : "What would a painting look like, if it were like a catching song: like an airy and melodic pop tune, prepared to please; like a rhythm built on insignificance, designed to imply insubstantiality instead of substance; like a playback show without live feed, where the significance of poses and mannerisms make the listeners forget the demand for musical quality. Rauha Mäkilä (1980, Helsinki) toys with these stereotypical sentiments.
The pictorial motif of beautiful and desirable young people evokes empathy. How would it feel like to taste uninhibited self-sufficient fervor, to sway your hips on stage, to be the adored fictional diva of the painting! Mäkilä depicts a universe characterized by euphoria and inspiration, and her work gives the impression that she has been in a similar mood whilst painting.
The ideal of desirability is recurrent. Nevertheless, the pitiable nature pertaining to the superficiality of a culture of exhibitionism can be perceived in Mäkilä's work. Mediocrities remain anonym in the rapid circulation of faces of the new media. The present day fails to initialize its promise of success to the crowd of John and Jane Does, who populate such Internet communities as MySpace and YouTube, dreaming of careers as singers, DJs, rappers, dancers, and models.
In reality, these identical "wannabes" remain only fleeting and forgotten portraits. Personalities emerge rarely. Victorious in the eyes of their beholders, the chosen few leap from the Internet to a short lived life on the pages of the yellow press. The limelight and jet set lifestyle have transmuted into an unsubstantial daydream, which gives illusory meaning to the lives of the milling hordes'. The end on the website.
Rauha Makila. See also Elizabeth Peyton post.
Hey, that was interesting,
I LOVE THE LA ROUX PIC!
Thanks for writing, most people don't bother.
Posted by: Web developer | Wednesday, January 06, 2010 at 01:52 PM