Liu Xue

I am looking into the topic of the body and to gain a full understanding I thought to look into a wide variety of forms of art not simply the photographers view, therefore I looked into the manipulation of the human body through sculptures. Sculptures often use the subject of the body for their work due to it being so weird but beautiful, even from the roman times many statues were themed on the body. I came across artist Liu Xue and his body of work 'Grotesque human and animal hybrid sculptures' which showed the human body but in a very extreme surreal way. These sculptures stuck out to me due to the use of the animal hybrid as my photoshoot is essentially just this, 'Giraffe Girl'.

examining the work of Liu Xue I have noticed how each sculpture is created by the humans character and personality which is linked to the significant part of the animal they are portraying for example the second image of 'pig man'. Xue has linked the mans laid back attitude and personal features for example his largeness and linked it to the significant part of a pig, a pigs belly. This created more of the illusion that actually they are not two separate species, they are one. Although I wasn't going to extremify my photographic work like Xue has, I need to take this into consideration, using personal features and personality to link my subject to the animal, making it more believable.