Artists have incited reflection and contemplation on controversial and complex issues through their visual narratives. To bring attention to important issues, artists, especially modern artists, have used shocking and horrific content to catch the viewer’s attention. The use of blood and bodily fluids along with dismembered animals can be very shocking and disturbing to the viewer, but it catches the viewer’s attention. It can be argued that this is just for fame and money, with no deeper meaning. The art world is a competitive place where artists must find a way to stand out. It is very probable that there are artists who use shock value in their art for entertainment and money with little regard for a deeper meaning. Some artists use these shock tactics to confront the viewer on socio-political and gender topics. While the imagery may be distasteful, it brings awareness to important topics. Shock content can be a useful tool when used constructively. It confronts the viewer with its uncomfortable context, creating a self-reflection about the topic. Shock value is important in creating difficult dialogue about controversial topics.
Shock value can mirror
the message of the visual narrative, creating a powerful correlation between
the two. Through thoughtful interweaving of imagery and context, shock value is
successful. In the art piece “Vagina Painting” (1965), performed by Shigeko
Kubota, the artist creates paintings by attaching a paintbrush to her underwear
and using red paint to symbolize menstrual blood. It is argued that compared to Jackson Pollock's
ejectatory-like paint splatter, hers was a feminine or menstrual-like stroke (Doyle,
2024). Kubota uses her vagina as a communication tool. Kubota was born in 1937
in Niigata, Japan. She was a video art pioneer, a member of the avant-garde
scene in Japan, and a reoccurring participant in the 1960s New York Fluxus
events. Kubota's artwork pushed visual narratives, often exploring post-war Japan
and its centralized authority and its obsession with financial gain over the well-being
of its citizens (MOMA,2024). She also dealt with issues on gender-normative
roles, such as with “Vagina Painting.” The
symbolism of the performance showed the duality between the masculine and the
feminine in the performance piece with the use of the vagina using a paintbrush
which is phallic in shape, while creating hyper-feminine images with red paint
symbolic of menstrual blood. Her performance shocks the viewer with a graphic focus
on her vagina and the paintbrush while they create these menstrual strokes. This
graphic display incites the viewer to question their view on gender and
castration anxiety. Menstruation is symbolic of the female’s otherness to the
male gaze. This creates a reminder of the fear of castration and loss of power.
Kubota controls that phallic paintbrush with her vagina. She is the master of
the performance. She reverts the male gaze and is defiant in her art; while
shocking to see, she delivers a powerful, thought-provoking visual narrative.
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