Renee-Alyce Spasaro
Wyndham College
DYSMORPHIC METAMORPHOSIS
Painting
Acrylic, coloured pencil on canvas
My struggles with anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphia have distorted the way I view my face. My body of work, Dysmorphic Metamorphosis, is a series of grotesque self-portraits that represents the constantly changing perceptions I have of myself; the ‘metamorphosis’ of the disease. The work is intended to be disturbing, but also to express an essence of fantasy and disconcerting beauty, like the exhausting back and forth nature of these disorders. The monstrous nature of my work examines how I visualise myself, but also the deceptions of anorexia.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Miles Johnston, Dustin Bailard, Naoto Hattori, Miriam Cahn.
Marker's Commentary
Werewolf, monster, lycanthrope or devilish being, these looming faces have adopted the ability to shapeshift as if placed under a curse. With its roots in European folk law, werewolves represented pacts with the devil, and these transformed figures evoke this history. The three imposing portraits, while alluding to mythology, also delve into contemporary afflictions, trauma and psychosis and an obsessional focus on appearance and perceived flaws. The paintings draw you into the psychedelic madness of implosions and explosions through colour and form. Suffocating swathes of hair envelop the head in the first panel with the face attempting to claw its way out. Hair morphs into teeth, curved fingernails, tentacles and horns (all traditional symbols of the wolf), and then mutates into repeated contour patterns and pulsating rhythmic lines. A fleshy mouth emerges from the face and red eyes multiply as if the head is shaking uncontrollably. The reverberation motif is evident across all three panels, with the middle panel depicting a larger face with comet eye and oily cheek being pulled away from its anchoring point. There is the appearance that the face has been made from coloured marbling ink dropped into water to create these dysmorphic forms. Yellow bubbles rise to the surface, producing a linear connection with the more ominous face in the third panel. With a unibrow growing over the left eye and nose, the piercing stare of the right eye, the white rodent teeth and the asymmetry of facial form, this third mad head is captured in a cheek-puffing explosion.