davidthompson

And Then Of Course There’s This

While we’re on the subject of boundary-scorching, swoon-inducing, terribly radical art, it would be remiss of me not to mention this chap. The Argentine artist Leandro Granato has, you’ll be thrilled to hear, found “a new form of expression.” He is, he says, “the author of a new painting style in the art world.” A new style that was born of suffering and woe: “It was a difficult time when I decided to paint with my eye. My whole family thought I was going crazy.” Mr Granato, who boasts an “unusual connection between his nose and eyes,” is more than a mere painter, of course. His art is also a performance: “I try to make each piece of art unique and special,” says he. “I transfer different emotions and feelings into my work.” Because squeezing paint out of your eye is a matter of deep passion and finesse. Oh, there’s more: “While I paint I record the whole piece of art. In this way, the person who buys the art also acquires the DVD that shows how the artist performed that piece of art and what he felt in that moment.”

Yes, eye juice, random spattering and - and – some bonus made-up feelings. That’s value for money, that is. 

I Don’t Think She’s Handling the Menopause Very Well

Once again it’s time to poke a stick in the mental bog of performance art. And so readers are invited to sample the aesthetic wares of Rocío Boliver, an “underground cultural icon” whose career spans musical performance, video, raves and “porno-erotic texts.” Ms Boliver describes herself as “a 56 year old woman living in the 21st century,” a “devotee of transgression” who “aims to demystify the horror of old age in an ironical way,” while “questioning the capitalist system that’s imposed on women in this stage of life.” Her Artistic Statement (NSFW) tells us, “Doing performance art is the only way I can get my own back on life… I feel blessed when I leave those who watch what I do flabbergasted. Happy to wipe their stupid Hollywood smiles off their faces.” She describes her performances as “electroshocks… applied to listless, alienated minds… speechless idiots.” No sell-out flattering of the audience, then.

Highlights from Ms Boliver’s recent triumph Between Menopause and Old Age can be seen in the video below. Its transgressive anti-capitalist electroshocking will, I’m sure, shake your world. Readers are advised there is nudity throughout, along with barbed wire, self-harm, a bicycle pump and large amounts of Sellotape.