Robert Trudell

Who

Joel-Peter Witkin entered the world September 13, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York, on the same day as brother, Jerome.  At 72 years-old Witkin designs, documents and explains ^[4] his composited Tableaux’s and process forming the expressive art which invokes his self.  Witkin reflects true art mirrors its artist.  Witkin’s childhood story tells how he curiously poked at a young girl’s severed head that rolled to his feet following a dramatic car crash. In a similar emotionally removed state, he arranges, nails, saws and manipulates corpses to form theatrical scenes drawn out mimicking historic and religious menus.

Joel-Peter Witkin’s 1982, Le Baisier (A man’s head sawn in 2 is arranged by Witkin to kiss itself.)

Joel-Peter Witkin’s 1982, Le Baisier (A man’s head sawn in 2 is arranged by Witkin to kiss itself.)

Where

Can he really do that here?!?  Maybe not in the U.S.A., I’m not certain.  His documented travel to Bogota might be explained by different standards and rules governing handling of human body parts.  His popularly used Tableaux itself answers laws against nude women physically moving in performance art.  Finding and forming cooperative compositing partners leads him around Europe and South America.  He was religiously raised in a New York apartment with his Catholic mother and Grandparents.  Intolerant beliefs forced a Jewish father from the family.  Witkin served as an Army photographer in the Vietnam War from 1961-1964 ^[1]. Following service, he freelanced as a photographer before attending New York’s Cooper Union to complete a 1974 Bachelor of Arts in Sculpture.  Today, Joel-Peter Witkin resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico – the place that awarded him his University of New Mexico’s Master of Fine Arts Degree.

Technology              

Hand drawn sketches outline each of Witkin’s detailed plans. He gathers disfigured, disemboweled and distressed models all of which aren’t alive and assembles their parts to fit the diagram. Utilizing Daguerreotype like editorial techniques, Joel-Peter scratches large 4×6 and 8×10 inch negatives till his image design is “perfect”.   He often paints the set and collects skeletons and meaningful objects to place in it.  Negatives are often joined to composite an image and paint may be applied to the negative or print as well.  Joel-Peter the Sculptor utilizes those skills to supplement his object library.  Recently Witkin partnered with a Photoshop composite specialist ^[5] to digitally edit the negative images.  He emphasizes the analog world his art operates in though his 2 forays with a forbidden digital fruit leave him reveling in its power.

Witkin uses bleaching and toning and hands in chemicals printing techniques ^[1].  He employs crude 19^th Century Ambrotype editing methods by scratching off faces he wants not to appear.  Many models and characters are masked or have their faces hidden.

 Cultural Context

Affected and uprooted by 20^th Century Catholic superstitions, Witkin rebels with Transgressive Art ^[13] that marries late 13^th Century Giotto-esque religious frescos with the 1970 & 80’s styled Transgendered and Transsexuals, ala E.J. Bellocq whore house images.  Real life disfigured characters prominently take center stage in an act that embraces Catholicism and spits in its face simultaneously. Invoking contemporary Political blunders he giggles with a gotcha kind of laugh when describing “The Raft of George W. Bush” 2006; Witkin describes it is one of his most significant photographs and includes a “big chunk” of his consciousness ^{[ 16]} .

Witkin frequently writes handwritten prayers or poems to accompany Catholic/Latin influenced Retablos ^[17] interjecting another layer and twisting a knife in a wound his art means to inflict.

Effect on Culture

Effects of shock art wear off and society’s mores shift toward nonchalant image acceptance.  Polarization occurs and viewers are drawn toward its horrific beauty and message or repelled away as non-believers.  My opinion is Witkin clings to that polarization effect and no matter which side of the message’s fence you’re on, he wants that image burned into your consciousness and to stick in your head.  He wants the image to affect you.

My question of whether it’s legal to desecrate dead humans as he does in the US is answered.  He practices this art in Mexico to usurp his country’s laws.

Work Samples

Witkin continually reiterates, “Everything is perfect” in describing his final products. He releases approximately 8 images a year and nothing that isn’t perfect.

Joel-Peter Witkin’s “Love and Redemption”

Joel-Peter Witkin’s “Love and Redemption” ^[6]

Joel-Peter Witkin’s “The Raft of George W. Bush”

Joel-Peter Witkin’s “The Raft of George W. Bush” ^[9]

References

1. Wikepedia: Joel-Peter Witkin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel-Peter_Witkin
2. Jewish Virtual Library 1939 – http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Witkin.html
3. Band of Outsiders:  http://www.billburg.com/community-affairs/archived/band-of-outsiders-williamsburg-s-renegade-artists?id=134
4. Edelman Gallery http://www.edelmangallery.com/Witkin/witkin-main.htm
5. Night in a Small Town, Joel-Peter Witkin’s Design Description http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkinvideo10.htm
6. Love and Redemption http://www.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/witkin2/state.html
7. Artist Talk with Joel-Peter Witken http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8H8V3OC0WY
8. Edelman Gallery http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkinshow2008.htm
9. The Raft of George Bush http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkinshow14.htm
10. Witkin Show, Poetic Realism http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkinshow2008.htm#6
11.  Edelman Gallery Video (Full Length) http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkinvideo16.htm
12. Jewish Virtual Library 1939 – http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Witkin.html
13. Transgressive Art http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgressive_art
14. Son, Kersen Witkin http://www.facebook.com/kersen.witkin
15. Kersen Witkin Flicker Images http://www.flickr.com/photos/kersenwitkin/
16. Witkin’s Video Descriptions http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkinvideo16.htm
17. Retablo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retablo