Absurdity in art is not unheard of. It refers to the logically (seldom humanely) impossible reality. Instead of driving the viewers away, absurdity invites them to look at their reality from a different perspective. Take a look at Salvador Dali’s clocks. But absurdity may take on multiple meanings. It can incorporate blood, gore, and offensive subject matter. But what is such an artwork called? The simple answer is Jake and Dinos Chapman artwork.
Who Are Jake and Dinos Chapman?
Often known as the Chapman brothers, Iakovos ‘Jake’ Chapman (b. 1966) and Konstantinos ‘Dinos’ Chapman (b. 1962) were a British visual artist duo. The brothers are known for their deliberate incorporation of shocking subject matter. The brothers studied at the Royal College of Art (1988-90), during which they served as the assistants of the performance art duo Gilbert and George. While the duo do have mastery over paintings, the globe knows Jake and Dinos Chapman dolls better. Jake and Dinos Chapman sculptures are often made of doll parts collated in unfamiliar and contrasting places. While the duo has been working for a long time, they announced the end of their partnership with Jake Chapman’s solo show, ‘Me, Myself, and Eye.’
Courtesy – Christie’s
Jake and Dinos Chapman artworks are often a subject of controversy. But that may be attributed to the juxtaposition of vile and offensive humour with something pious, ensuring their artworks remain blasphemous. In 2022, Jake and Dinos Chapman Balenciaga’s photo shoot became a matter of scrutiny. The photoshoot featured children holding up teddy bear purses. However, the plushie wore suggestive BDSM and bondage attire. Even Balenciaga’s brand ambassador, Kim Kardashian was shaken by them.
Art Jake And Dinos Chapman
Art by Jake and Dinos Chapman is a leading head-turner. Not even in their wildest imaginations could the viewers (including us) think of the minds that conceived such horrific yet attentive art pieces. Jake and Dinos Chapman Art has seen a popularity surge. This is evidenced in the fact that the duo have been the 2003 nominees for the prestigious Turner Prize. (which they eventually lost to Grayson Perry) Their 2013 painting, ‘One Day You Will No Longer Be Loved III’ became the subject of illusionist Derren Brown’s special – ‘The Great Art Robbery.’ Let’s discuss some of the most stupefying Jake and Dinos Chapman artworks.
Jake and Dinos Chapman Child Mannequins – F**k Face
Jake and Dinos Chapman child mannequins frequently employ fibreglass mannequins and plastic dolls morphed into unusual creatures. While they have undoubtedly used mannequins in multiple projects, including but not limited to ‘Two Faced C**t’, ‘Satyr’, ‘Catherine Milner’, and ‘Mirror, Mirror on the Floor Your Dad’s a Prick Your Mom’s a W**re.’ But nothing could have prepared the world for the monstrosity entitled ‘F**k Face.’
‘F**k Face’ is a series of child mannequins where the nose of the children are swapped with an erect penis. Some figures are clad in a T-shirt, while others are nude; the mouth is left out in favour of a gaping anus. One of the figures, which is reminiscent of ‘Two Faced C**t’, is a Siamese twin sharing the torso and three legs.
Jake And Dinos Chapman Goya
A few of Jake and Dinos Chapman artworks have focused on the Spanish painter, Francisco Goya. In their earliest collaboration, they rendered Goya’s ‘The Disasters of War’ into eighty-three small three-dimensional plastic models. ‘Great Deeds Against the Dead’ was turned into a life-size model. Some of their models — ‘Zygotic Acceleration’, ‘Biogenetic’, and ‘De-Sublimated Libidinal Model’ toured the 1997 Sensation exhibition.
The duo returned to Goya in 2003, where they added funny faces to his paintings. In the April – June show titled ‘The Rape of Creativity’, the duo presented mint Goya etchings from his work ‘Disasters of War’, which they continuously defaced. This new piece was titled ‘Insult to Injury.’ The piece became headlining news, prompting performer Aaron Barschak to throw a can of red paint on Jake during a press conference.
Jake And Dinos Chapman Exquisite Corpse
Jake and Dinos Chapman artwork often transmutes a fun and thought-provoking piece into a horror-comedy piece. The surrealist created a game called ‘Exquisite Corpse’ or ‘Le Cadavre Exquis’ in 1925. The main motive of the game is to create a unique creature with the imagination of multiple players. Each player draws a body part, clueless about what their predecessors have drawn. In their unique fashion, they created these etchings which evoke the bizarre, sexualised, sacrilegious forms which appear to come out of a hallucination. One may easily revel in their obsession with intricate details.
Hell Jake And Dinos Chapman
Jake And Dinos Chapman Hell is a grand tableau made of over 60,000 toy shoulders, decapitated, disfigured, and dismantled. They wear the Nazi uniforms. The mass genocide, an inversion of The Holocaust brought on when Adolf Hitler rose to power. They are arranged inside nine large vitrines and assembled in the shape of a ‘swastika’. The Nazi’s torture of the Jews was a testimony of human cruelty. This artwork is titled ‘Hell’ as the roles are reversed. The soldiers are now at the end of torture, which is not oppression, but rather hell.
This art by Jake and Dinos Chapman was destroyed in the 2004 fire in MoMA’s warehouse where it was stored. However, Jake and Dinos Chapman sprung back quicker and harder than ever as they produced an even bigger rendition in 2008 titled, ‘F**king Hell.’
Image Courtesy – Evening Standard
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