ABSTRACT
Recent art history, however, reveals a significant shift in artists’ perception of the body, which has been used not simply as the ‘content’ of the work, but also as canvas, brush, frame, and platform. The performance artist’s body is the work’s supporting medium; as both a means and an end, the body is simultaneously an artistic creator and creation. By taking the elements from everyday life as their working materials, performance artists explore their personal, political, economic, and social problems. The body broadens its meaning, becoming metaphor and material, text and canvas. The exploration of the body and the search for a free sexuality is addressed from the standpoint of feminism, the lesbian/gay struggle, the questioning of the religion, and an examination of the public and private behaviors, all of which are significant subjects in autobiographical and intimate performance art.
