The Ultra Baroque

Baroque is defined as 1: of relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of artistic expression prevalent esp. in the 17th century that is marked generally by use of complex forms, bold ornamentation, and the juxtaposition of contrasting elements often conveying a sense of drama, movement and tension 2:characterized by grotesqueness, extravagance, complexity, or flamboyance 3:irregularly shaped (of a pearl).
Though it seems that the first definition which defines the baroque as a period of art seems most revel ant, it is actually the last definition that had come to define themes surrounding the baroque. The exhibition "Ultra Baroque" uses the definition of the irregularly shaped pearl as a metaphor for the baroque's Resistance to fixed categories of interpretation. The irregular pearl can be seen as an emblem of, if not a paradigm for, difference, by extension, a hybridity that resists order and classification.
One key feature about the baroque that stuck with me was the ideaof the Horror vacui, the aversion to empty spaces. As a an artistic device the aesthetic of Horror vacui fills every visible and conceptual crevice and covers every wall with arts and letters. Another aesthetic of the baroque is that of theatricality. In contrast to the Renissance's use of order, harmony, and naturalism in form the baroque underlines the artifice in social ritual as intrinsically theatrical. The baroque has also been associated with the use of trauma.
These three characteristics of the baroque to me are the most interesting because I can relate them back to the aesthetics of my own photographs. The photographs depict the trauma/entropy caused by mother's depression. In the photographs their daily events are overtly melodramatic and refernence religous martyrs. The photographic frame is also always filled with either body or stuff.


One artist that I have become very interested in and admirey is Kehinde Wiley. "Kehinde Wiley’s works reference specific paintings by Titian and Tiepolo, but he incorporates a range of art historical and vernacular styles in his paintings, from the French Rococo to the contemporary urban street. Wiley collapses history and style into a uniquely contemporary vision. He describes his approach as “interrogating the notion of the master painter, at once critical and complicit.” He makes figurative paintings that “quote historical sources and position young black men within that field of ‘power.’” His “slightly heroic” figures, slightly larger than life size, are depicted in poses of power and spiritual awakening. He deliberately mixes images of power and spirituality, using them as a filter in the portrayal of masculinity." -Deitch Projects