After considering how I may want to represent body dysmorphic disorder, I felt a powerful way to identify this illness was to explore the feeling of distortion, and not recognising oneself. I feel a good way to create this within makeup would be to create some kind of distortion on the face, based around abstract art. Although I could use prosthetics to create a more literal image, I want my work to make the viewer stop, and think about how these conditions may make a person feel.
One of the most famous abstract portrait artists in history is Pablo Picasso. Born in Malaga, Spain, on the 25th October 1881, Pablo dedicated more than 80 years of his life to his art, before passing at 91 years old, on the 8th April 1973. Although during his lifetime he had two marriages, and four children, Pablo completely devoted his life to his art work.
Hugely influenced by Art icons Vincent Van Gough, and Paul Cezanne, he continuously demonstrated his passion for art throughout his works. This, in turn, contributed significantly to the whole development of art within the 20th century, notably through his invention of cubism.
Today, he is recognised as one of the most important artists from the 20th century, and unlike many other historical painters, he was just as famous in his lifetime as he has been since his passing. Before his death, Picasso’s net worth was estimated at around $100-250 million dollars, making him probably one of the richest men of his day.
Many of his portraits were made of women, most famously a piece named ‘woman weeping’. Although the previously mentioned piece is the one he is most recognised for, another hugely famous piece of his work is named ‘Bust De Femme’. The piece is one of his most valuable, with an estimated value of around $130 million.
I will use the images above to help inspire my body dysmorphia makeup design. The extremely distorted effect in these images create a great illusion, so I intend to use similar techniques within my design.
Megan Hoff 