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Threads of Identity: Marisol's Exploration of Self

Marisol Escobar, known in the 1960s as the "Latin Garbo," is a sculptor famous for showing with the Pop art greats. However, Marisol holds a curious position in art history, stranded between the formalism of the fifties' and sixties' male-dominated Pop movement and the conceptual experimentation and radicalism that followed. Trained as a draftsman and painter early in her career, Marisol's main body of work mostly consists of large-scale wooden and mixed-medium sculpture. Lesser known, her lithographs, drawings, collages and small figurines further prove her technical and artistic validity. Preferring to go by surname only, Marisol’s quiet yet intense observation pinpoints the overriding human elements present in the objects of her scrutiny. Most notable for turning her gaze inwards, her self-portraiture defies easy categorization. Meshing American art and non-Western art styles while bridging the gap between intellectual understanding and empathetic approachability, Marisol represents a unique perspective that remains relevant today. Marisol's approach to self-portraiture is, first and foremost, in service to the exploration of her own identity. Furthermore, her choice of subject matter, artistic methodology and style appear closely aligned with Postmodern discourse. Each period of her work from the 1950s to the present day includes different guises and methods that subtly critique societal roles and norms, all presented through the lens of the artist's acute wit. Internationalism, gender roles, and explorations of identity are inherent in each of her works, proving that Marisol deserves further examination to explore her relation to Postmodern thought.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-2794
Date01 January 2013
CreatorsWilliams, Emily
PublisherSTARS
Source SetsUniversity of Central Florida
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceHIM 1990-2015

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