Historically carved from stone or cast in bronze, busts are the most enduring kind of portrait. For this reason, they're often used for commemoration. However contemporary artists are also finding other ways to think about the privileges of representation and the presumption of durability. Here, for instance, the artist Janine Antoni (@janine_antoni) cast fourteen busts of herself, seven in chocolate and seven in soap, to not only upset the expectation for a single male portrait, but also to challenge the longevity of traditional materials. Her choice of seven refers to the classical canon of proportions that was used in sculpture and architecture to construct ideal beauty. Antoni seems to ponder: is it beautiful in multiple, melting and sudsing? We think so.
Janine Antoni, Lick and Lather, 1993.
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