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BODIES


A large theme that is coherent in adolescents is their image, specifically as they grow into their bodies. Previously, I had focussed my study on the liminal period of adolescence in context to children and adults as a sequence of events rather than studying adolescents in their own right.

An artist that centres their work on the physical discomfiture of young people is Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra. Dijkstra’s photography is known to offer “a contemporary take on the genre of portraitures artwork” relevant since 1990. Her art, focussing on young adolescent subjects, uses large-scale coloured photography to capture these individuals and encourage a connection between them and audiences. [1] Although I am inspired by her large scale, subject matter, and use of portraiture, I am interested  to see how I can bring her ideas forward while enhancing the use of colour and surrealism.

In an artist journal, an entry reviewed by Jayne Wark describes Dijkstra’s work as “psychologically penetrating portraits of adolescents posed monumentally.” [2] This perspective is interesting as emotional art is usually carried through vivid colour and abstract shapes- such as Vanessa Roger Fry’s “psychological implications of her experimentation with form”. [3] In this case, however, Dijkstra is creating contemporary art through realism portraiture and primarily muted colours, carrying a greater focus on composition and body language. In an interview by Dijkstra herself, she confirms how her artwork is created through her curiosity in what goes in these young people’s minds and their level of subconsciousness, leaning into the “naturalness” of portraiture. [4]

   
Dijkstra, Rineke, Beach Portraits, 2003. Photo: Städel Museum- Norbert Miguletz [5]

For example, in the images above, although bright colours such as red and blue are used, the are muted down to appear ‘dull’, perhaps as to not take away from the body language and composition of the adolescent models. The images shown show blank an in some ways awkward facial expressions where the individuals come across as uncomfortable- significant to how to adolescents can feel during this period of their lives. Their small and lanky statures suggest they are underdeveloped, linking well with my ideas surrounding the ‘incomplete’ nature of adolescents.


Jenny Saville is another portrait artist- one centred on body image and fighting social norms through the depiction of large visceral bodies. Dijkstra’s artwork focusses on skinny bodies, with awkward slanted body language and visible bones. However, although his artwork is significant in expressing the discomfort of adolescence, these issues centring body image carry through to large bodies as well. Jenny Saville’s art centres on carrying art away from traditional figuration and towards liberation in a political angle Dijkstra does not focus on. [6]

     
Saville, Jenny, Anatomy of Painting Exhibition, 2025. Photo: Gagosian- Hybebeast [7]

Although Saville’s is incredibly diverse, the images displayed above are most relevant in my research. A consistent theme across her artwork is the texture she creates through her brush work and pallet knives and, in these particular artworks, her pinks and blues. In the second image, she depicts a blind woman using blue tones on her skin, for her iris, and in the negative space. This lost feel through the colour blue stand out to me as I consider the colours I would like to use in my own art practice. Another element of her work is how she exposes audiences to bare skin and larger female bodies through the feminist movement. Although this is contemporary in its own right, I am intrigued by her use of colour and exposure of bodies. Furthermore, the image to the very left is interesting in its distortion, something I am curious to pursue in my own practice.



 

The artworks above show oil pastels layered on top of secondary images found online under the search browser “awkward adolescent bodies” and “large bodies,” as an extended search. Additionally, I collaged the original images on top of my drawings to experiment with composition, scale, and colour. Although Dijkstra’s colour pallet is darker, I was inspired by Jenny Saville’s laying of colour through the use of pallet knives and therefore used abstract colours to employ an emotional field. In the second image, I used green and brown to compare the composition to a tree, suggestive of the model’s growth while disguising them into the drawing; the red background was used simply due to its complimentary and abstract nature. The other images all include blue, to suggest feelings of being lost- accompanied with warm tones to show the adolescents’ energy and growth. In the third image, I included my signature, symbolic of possession and identity in such a vulnerable and lost piece of artwork (as my experimentation on ‘identity’ looks at). All images are suggestive of discomfort, inspired by the composition of surrealism and dadaism.



Here, shows a pencil artwork I did of a secondary sourced image of a large female in line with my research on Jenny Saville and my ideas on body dysmorphia in adolescence. I created this pencil sketch to experiment with flesh and skin. In my previous artworks, I have used oil pastels and colour and neglected the realism in flesh. From this artwork, I will carry skin texture forward in my project, similar to the stippling paint marks I created in my experimentation on identity. However, I am more interested in Dijkstra’s underdeveloped bodies, appearing more adolescent and symbolic of their incomplete growth. That being said, body issues surrounding any size is equally as valid during adolescence, but my personal experiences through adolescence have consisted of struggling to gain weight and muscle rather than the other way around.

Bibliography


[1] Marian Goodman Gallery. “Rineke Dijkstra - Marian Goodman Gallery.” Marian Goodman, 2017. https://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/40-rineke-dijkstra/.

[2] Phillips, Sandra S., and Jennifer Blessing. Rineke Dijkstra: A Retrospective. Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2012.

[3] Roe, Sue, and Susan Sellers. “The Impact of Post-Impressionism.” The Cambridge Companion to Virginia Woolf, 2000.

[4]Städel Museum. “Was Bewegt Rineke Dijkstra?” YouTube, January 29, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8FT35aqsI.

[5] Städel Museum. “Rineke Dijkstra,” 2025. https://www.staedelmuseum.de/en/rineke-dijkstra?app.layer=0bc6ca39-0a5c-4bbb-bf8a-cc19d2d8fa04-2.

[6] Castaneda, Maria Joscelyne. “‘So Terribly, Terribly, Terrifically Fat’: Rethinking Jenny Saville’s Grotesque Female Bodies - ProQuest.” www.proquest.com. California State University, Long Beach , 2009. https://www.proquest.com/openview/bae18d809a347374187cb4cd6df95a4f/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750.

[7} Hypebeast.com. “Beauty Bleeds through Jenny Saville’s ‘Anatomy of Painting,’” 2025. https://hypebeast.com/2025/6/beauty-bleeds-through-jenny-savilles-anatomy-of-painting.

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