Comparative study.
Identity and its perception
in the society
The universal truth being addressed in the works “Misty and Jimmy-Paulette in a taxi, NYC” by
Nan Goldin, “Woman with a Flower” by Paul Gauguin and “Self Portrait as a Heel” by
Jean-Michel Basquiat is the identity and perception of identity in society. It is easy for others to
affect your personality. Often, your identity is not being accepted in the society, and that is when
people, like in Nan Goldin’s work, challenge everyone to look at them. They are doing this in
order to show that they are who they are, no matter what others think. When people are making
their own decisions, they admit it not only to themselves, but also to everyone in the world that
Tahitian Woman with a Self Portrait as a Heel,
they are different and it is normal. Flower, Paul Gauguin, 1891 Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982
Art reflects the problems of prejudices, perceptions, and misperceptions of its time, its artists, and its audience. The
connection between art and culture mirrors the conflict of thoughts, presumptions, values, and worldviews inherent in
human society. Artworks “Misty and Jimmy-Paulette in a taxi, NYC” by Nan Goldin, “Woman with a Flower” by Paul
Gauguin are both about identity. This idea is also supported by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Self Portrait as a Heel”. Despite
the fact that the artists have different cultural and socio-historical backgrounds, are from different times and contexts,
their artworks still share one universal truth - it is crucial to be yourself in the world where everyone is saying what you
should or should not be. They surprise the viewer by showing how the identity became the characters’ strength and gave
them independence from other people’s opinions. In this comparative study I will explore these three artworks in order
to develop and examine the universal truth, shared between them, and to discover the relationship between the context
of the artists’ lives and the ideas they were trying to propogandate through their works.
In a culture where we are surrounded by ideas and images of “what we should be”, how can one shape
a personality that remains genuine for her/himself?
Misty and Jimmy-Paulette in a Taxi, NYC, Nan
Goldin, 1991
, The Challenge
As I have already mentioned earlier, all three works share the same thematic similarity by addressing the identity and perception of identity in the society. Their
initial goal was to bring the special atmosphere and an understanding of the term ‘identity’ in the audience, and they all deliberately do something to make the
viewer experience feelings and understand the idea, however, they do it in the different ways which I will explain in this section of the study.
Nan Goldin’s message is the most obvious. Gauguin’s message is not as obvious as Goldin’s, and in order to understand the idea you have to look The cultural and personal
Only by having a look on her work, the viewer deeper for the historical background of the artist’s life that impacted his mission. On the artwork there is similarity that both artists
can immediately understand what she was a Tahitian woman, wearing her Sunday best, however this Sunday best is an European costume. It is share is that they
trying to deliver. The viewer sees two interesting how among some traditional clothes that this woman has, her best clothes is European. experienced moving
transsexual people - Misty and Gauguin and Goldin share theme of identity, however in his case, in contrast to Goldin’s characters, the between countries and
Jimmy-Paulette - wearing their makeup, woman’s authentic Tahitian identity has been changed by Europeanisation, which unlike from Misty and living in different
women’s clothes and wigs on, staring at the Jimmy-Paulette, makes her look unsure about who she really is. This will be examined further in my environments, thus the
camera and challenging everyone to look at analysis. Despite all the changes that can be seen on the outside, Gauguin, like Goldin, shows this cultural diversity that they
them. They are showing that they don’t Tahitian woman with all her inner beauty that still shows us who she is under her foreign clothes. “She had seen in their lives
accept usual rules and don’t need to be was not pretty – at least not by European standards – but beautiful.” (Tahitian Woman with a Flower, may have influenced their
accepted by others. However the most n.d.). Even though colonisation took over her culture and influenced her personality, she is still Tahitian works and made them
important thing is not their confidence, but no matter which clothes she is wearing. She will not become same as Europeans just by wearing their understandable for the
that that they know for sure who they are. clothes, but she does not need to match foreign standards - she is beautiful when she is being herself. bigger audience.
Miss Demeanor and friends at the LGBT Pride
Misty and
Jimmy-Paulette
Parade, Linda Simpson, 1991.
(here Demeanor
and friends)
photographed
the same day at Arearea, Paul
the LGBT Gauguin, 1892.
parade, looking Native Tahitian
confident and women, being
showing that beautiful
they will not because they are
accept common who they are
rules.
, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Self Portrait as a Heel” supports the same idea as the previous two works. By the time Basquiat was born, black people in America had already gone
through a long and difficult path on the way to having equal rights with others, and they achieved big results, however were still far away from equality. By 1960, a year when
Basquiat was born, average black people lived 7 years less than white, had twice a chance to go to school and third a chance to work after that. Their salaries were half of what
white people would earn, and they would experience discrimination and humiliation by others (The State of Black America 1960, n.d.). Basquiat was born in this environment,
and spent his life in it. Having in mind the historical events and facing lots of problems concerning his skin colour, Basquiat depicted a portrait of himself - an ugly, childly drawn
image, that however still shows the importance of knowing who you are and making people know who you are as well. A quote by Martin Luther King Jr. can describe the mood
and appeal that Basquiat showed in his “Self-Portrait as a Heel”: "We're through with tokenism and gradualism and see-how-far-you've-comeism. We're through with
we've-done-more-for-your-people-than-anyone-elseism. We can't wait any longer. Now is the time."(The State of Black America 1960, n.d.). The point of view stated in this
quote was that white once had taken most human rights away from African American people, and now, after partially returning it to them, they are saying how much they have
done for the race. This hypocrisy was addressed in many of Basquiat’s works along with a message that every person matters.
Basquiat was concerned about the issues of acceptance of black
people in the society and in art industry, the same as Nan Goldin
was showing honest picture of her world, questioning what is it to
be male or female, and Gauguin was addressing the beauty of a
genuine identity that cannot be covered by clothes or identities of
others. This creates a strong connection between the works that
are being analysed in this study.
Notary, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1983
All three works are representations of the environments in which the artists were born and grown. The ideas and principles that they had were
influenced by every occasion and thing that they had experienced, every choice they made, starting from an early age. It’s a representation of all
the people they have met and all ideas and misconceptions the society had at that time. These artworks are the way for the artists to show their
thoughts, as well as it’s the way for the viewer to pry about the artists’ personal lives and feelings, an opportunity to look deeper at their thoughts
and at things which were worrying them at the time.
Identity and its perception
in the society
The universal truth being addressed in the works “Misty and Jimmy-Paulette in a taxi, NYC” by
Nan Goldin, “Woman with a Flower” by Paul Gauguin and “Self Portrait as a Heel” by
Jean-Michel Basquiat is the identity and perception of identity in society. It is easy for others to
affect your personality. Often, your identity is not being accepted in the society, and that is when
people, like in Nan Goldin’s work, challenge everyone to look at them. They are doing this in
order to show that they are who they are, no matter what others think. When people are making
their own decisions, they admit it not only to themselves, but also to everyone in the world that
Tahitian Woman with a Self Portrait as a Heel,
they are different and it is normal. Flower, Paul Gauguin, 1891 Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982
Art reflects the problems of prejudices, perceptions, and misperceptions of its time, its artists, and its audience. The
connection between art and culture mirrors the conflict of thoughts, presumptions, values, and worldviews inherent in
human society. Artworks “Misty and Jimmy-Paulette in a taxi, NYC” by Nan Goldin, “Woman with a Flower” by Paul
Gauguin are both about identity. This idea is also supported by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Self Portrait as a Heel”. Despite
the fact that the artists have different cultural and socio-historical backgrounds, are from different times and contexts,
their artworks still share one universal truth - it is crucial to be yourself in the world where everyone is saying what you
should or should not be. They surprise the viewer by showing how the identity became the characters’ strength and gave
them independence from other people’s opinions. In this comparative study I will explore these three artworks in order
to develop and examine the universal truth, shared between them, and to discover the relationship between the context
of the artists’ lives and the ideas they were trying to propogandate through their works.
In a culture where we are surrounded by ideas and images of “what we should be”, how can one shape
a personality that remains genuine for her/himself?
Misty and Jimmy-Paulette in a Taxi, NYC, Nan
Goldin, 1991
, The Challenge
As I have already mentioned earlier, all three works share the same thematic similarity by addressing the identity and perception of identity in the society. Their
initial goal was to bring the special atmosphere and an understanding of the term ‘identity’ in the audience, and they all deliberately do something to make the
viewer experience feelings and understand the idea, however, they do it in the different ways which I will explain in this section of the study.
Nan Goldin’s message is the most obvious. Gauguin’s message is not as obvious as Goldin’s, and in order to understand the idea you have to look The cultural and personal
Only by having a look on her work, the viewer deeper for the historical background of the artist’s life that impacted his mission. On the artwork there is similarity that both artists
can immediately understand what she was a Tahitian woman, wearing her Sunday best, however this Sunday best is an European costume. It is share is that they
trying to deliver. The viewer sees two interesting how among some traditional clothes that this woman has, her best clothes is European. experienced moving
transsexual people - Misty and Gauguin and Goldin share theme of identity, however in his case, in contrast to Goldin’s characters, the between countries and
Jimmy-Paulette - wearing their makeup, woman’s authentic Tahitian identity has been changed by Europeanisation, which unlike from Misty and living in different
women’s clothes and wigs on, staring at the Jimmy-Paulette, makes her look unsure about who she really is. This will be examined further in my environments, thus the
camera and challenging everyone to look at analysis. Despite all the changes that can be seen on the outside, Gauguin, like Goldin, shows this cultural diversity that they
them. They are showing that they don’t Tahitian woman with all her inner beauty that still shows us who she is under her foreign clothes. “She had seen in their lives
accept usual rules and don’t need to be was not pretty – at least not by European standards – but beautiful.” (Tahitian Woman with a Flower, may have influenced their
accepted by others. However the most n.d.). Even though colonisation took over her culture and influenced her personality, she is still Tahitian works and made them
important thing is not their confidence, but no matter which clothes she is wearing. She will not become same as Europeans just by wearing their understandable for the
that that they know for sure who they are. clothes, but she does not need to match foreign standards - she is beautiful when she is being herself. bigger audience.
Miss Demeanor and friends at the LGBT Pride
Misty and
Jimmy-Paulette
Parade, Linda Simpson, 1991.
(here Demeanor
and friends)
photographed
the same day at Arearea, Paul
the LGBT Gauguin, 1892.
parade, looking Native Tahitian
confident and women, being
showing that beautiful
they will not because they are
accept common who they are
rules.
, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Self Portrait as a Heel” supports the same idea as the previous two works. By the time Basquiat was born, black people in America had already gone
through a long and difficult path on the way to having equal rights with others, and they achieved big results, however were still far away from equality. By 1960, a year when
Basquiat was born, average black people lived 7 years less than white, had twice a chance to go to school and third a chance to work after that. Their salaries were half of what
white people would earn, and they would experience discrimination and humiliation by others (The State of Black America 1960, n.d.). Basquiat was born in this environment,
and spent his life in it. Having in mind the historical events and facing lots of problems concerning his skin colour, Basquiat depicted a portrait of himself - an ugly, childly drawn
image, that however still shows the importance of knowing who you are and making people know who you are as well. A quote by Martin Luther King Jr. can describe the mood
and appeal that Basquiat showed in his “Self-Portrait as a Heel”: "We're through with tokenism and gradualism and see-how-far-you've-comeism. We're through with
we've-done-more-for-your-people-than-anyone-elseism. We can't wait any longer. Now is the time."(The State of Black America 1960, n.d.). The point of view stated in this
quote was that white once had taken most human rights away from African American people, and now, after partially returning it to them, they are saying how much they have
done for the race. This hypocrisy was addressed in many of Basquiat’s works along with a message that every person matters.
Basquiat was concerned about the issues of acceptance of black
people in the society and in art industry, the same as Nan Goldin
was showing honest picture of her world, questioning what is it to
be male or female, and Gauguin was addressing the beauty of a
genuine identity that cannot be covered by clothes or identities of
others. This creates a strong connection between the works that
are being analysed in this study.
Notary, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1983
All three works are representations of the environments in which the artists were born and grown. The ideas and principles that they had were
influenced by every occasion and thing that they had experienced, every choice they made, starting from an early age. It’s a representation of all
the people they have met and all ideas and misconceptions the society had at that time. These artworks are the way for the artists to show their
thoughts, as well as it’s the way for the viewer to pry about the artists’ personal lives and feelings, an opportunity to look deeper at their thoughts
and at things which were worrying them at the time.
