WRITINGS/Texts
by ORLAN
DEFINITION
Carnal Art is self-portraiture in the classical sense, but created using today’s technology. It oscillates between defiguration and refiguration. Its inscription into the flesh is made possible by the new possibilities inherent in our age. The body has become a “modified ready-made,” no longer seen as the ideal it once represented; not quite ready enough to be affixed and signed.
AWARD
Unlike “Body Art,” which is an entirely different matter, Carnal Art does not yearn for pain, does not seek pain as a source of purification, and does not view it as redemption. Carnal art is not interested in the results of plastic surgery, but rather in the process of the surgical-operational-performance and the modified body, which has become the subject of public debate.
ATHEISM
Above all, Carnal Art does not follow Christian tradition—it resists it! Carnal Art reveals Christianity’s denial of the “pleasure-body” and exposes its weakness in the face of scientific discovery. It follows the tradition of suffering and martyrdom even less; rather than taking away, it adds; rather than reducing the body’s faculties, it enhances them. Carnal Art is not self-mutilation.
Carnal Art transforms the body into language, reversing the biblical idea of the Word made flesh—the flesh is made word. Only ORLAN’s voice remains unchanged. The artist works on representation.
Carnal Art considers the acceptance of the agony of childbirth to be anachronistic and ridiculous. Like Artaud, it rejects divine judgment. From now on, we’ll have epidurals, local anesthetics, and a variety of painkillers! Hurray for morphine! (Long live morphine!) Down with pain! (Down with pain!).
Carnal Art does not follow the Christian tradition—it resists it! Carnal Art sheds light on Christianity’s denial of physical pleasure and exposes its weakness in the face of scientific discovery. Carnal Art rejects the tradition of suffering and martyrdom, replacing rather than removing, enhancing rather than diminishing—Carnal Art is not self-mutilation.
Carnal Art transforms the body into language, reversing the biblical idea of the Word made flesh; the flesh is made word. Only Orlan’s voice remains unchanged. The artist explores representation.
Carnal Art considers the acceptance of the agony of childbirth to be anachronistic and ridiculous. Like Artaud, it rejects God’s mercy—From now on, we’ll have epidurals, local anesthetics, and a variety of painkillers! (Hurray for morphine!) Long live morphine! (Down with pain!) Down with pain!
PERCEPTION
I can watch my own body being cut open without feeling any pain!… I can see myself all the way down to my internal organs—a new stage of the mirror. I can see into the heart of my lover, and its magnificent design has nothing to do with the sappy symbols usually drawn.
“Darling, I love your spleen, I love your liver, I adore your pancreas, and the curve of your femur turns me on.”
FREEDOM
Carnal Art asserts and upholds the artist’s individual freedom. In this sense, it resists prejudice and dictates. This is why it has engaged with society and the media (challenging established ideas and causing scandal), even going as far as taking the matter to court (to change ORLAN’s name).
CLARIFICATION
Carnal Art is not opposed to plastic surgery, but it does oppose the standards that have become ingrained in the male—and particularly the female—body. It is essential for Carnal Art to be feminist. It takes an interest in plastic surgery, but also in developments in medicine and biology that challenge the status of the body and raise ethical issues.
STYLE
Carnal Art loves mockery and the baroque, the grotesque and other neglected styles since it opposes itself to social pressures the burden of which is carried by both, the human body and the work of art.
Carnal Art is anti-formalist and anti-conformist.
by ORLAN
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DEFINITION
L’Art Charnel is a work of self-portraiture in the classical sense, but with the technological means of its time. It oscillates between disfiguration and refiguration. It is inscribed in the flesh because our era is beginning to make it possible. The body becomes a “modified ready-made” because it is no longer the ideal ready-made that simply needs to be signed.
AWARD
Unlike Body Art, from which it is distinguished, Charnel Art does not desire pain, does not seek it as a source of purification, does not conceive of it as redemption. L’Art Charnel is not interested in the final plastic result, but in the surgical operation-performance and the modified body, which has become a site of public debate.
ATHEISM
Clearly, Art Charnel is not the heir to the Christian tradition, against which it fights! He points to its denial of the “body-pleasure” and lays bare its places of collapse in the face of scientific discovery.
Flesh Art is not, either, the heir to a hagiography rife with beheadings and other forms of martyrdom; rather, it adds rather than subtracts, enhances faculties instead of diminishing them. Flesh Art does not seek to be self-mutilating.
“L’Art Charnel” transforms the body into language and reverses the Christian principle of the Word becoming flesh, replacing it with flesh becoming the Word; only Orlan’s voice will remain unchanged, as the artist works on representation.
L’Art Charnel considers the famous saying “you will give birth in pain” to be anachronistic and ridiculous; like Artaud, it wants to put an end to God’s judgment; from now on, we have epidurals and a wide range of anesthetics as well as analgesics—long live morphine!
Down with pain!…
PERCEPTION
Now I can see my own body laid bare without suffering!… I can see right into the depths of my innermost being—a new stage of the mirror. “I can see my lover’s heart, and its splendid design has nothing to do with the sentimental symbols usually drawn to represent it.”
– Honey, I love your spleen, I love your liver, I love your pancreas and the line of your femur excites me.
FREEDOM
Carnal Art affirms the artist’s individual freedom, and in this sense, it also fights against preconceived notions and dictates; this is why it is part of the social sphere and the media (where it causes a scandal because it challenges conventional wisdom) and will even go as far as the courts.
CLARIFICATION
L’Art Charnel is not against cosmetic surgery, but against the standards it conveys, and which are particularly inscribed in the flesh of both men and women. L’Art Charnel is feminist, as it should be. L’Art Charnel is interested not only in cosmetic surgery, but also in cutting-edge medical and biological techniques that call into question the status of the body and raise ethical issues.
STYLE
Carnal Art embraces the Baroque, parody, the grotesque, and neglected styles, because Carnal Art opposes the social pressures exerted on both the human body and the body of a work of art.
“L’Art Charnel” is anti-formalist and nonconformist (as one might expect)