Art and The Body: Mike Parr

Art & The Body

I feel that this style of artform has two main ideas embedded within it, for both the artists and audience. That is to reconnect with oneself physiologically or physically, this could involve testing ones limits or simply heightening ones own senses or self awareness. Artists that incorporate the body within their practice are either performance artists whereby their practice can only be successfully experienced firsthand. Or else within the final works, there remains an essence of a body having been present.

One of my favourite artists, would have to be Mike Par (Sorry to repeat) but absolutely love him. Why am I so attracted to his practice? I would have to say, it is the same reason that I love gory films and perhaps also why I am so afraid of self harm.

There are three reasons, one allows me to mentally place Par into the box in the back of my brain as a fictional character. So I can aesthetically appreciate his practice without emotionally taking everything in. The second, would be the opposite when I emotionally allow myself to receive the full impact and confrontation of what Par is doing as if it were myself. And lastly, I simply think it's really cool that someone is gutsy enough to take the stupidest ideas such as 'nailing your arm to the wall' and actually doing it, and in the name of art.

Well - it’s obvious why I’m doing it. I’m doing it because I want to!

Mike Parr pushes both his physical and psychological limits to the extreme, his practice is highly confrontational and remains embedded in ones thoughts.