Marina Abramovic, Frida Kahlo, and Cui Xiuwen comparison

The artist Marina Abramovic has a natural ability to capture the reality of human life. Though she is a performance artist working on solo pieces she portrays feelings that apply universally to mankind. In support of this her piece “Happy Christmas” is not what one would call “pretty” in the generic sense. The depiction of her face with a mixture of tears and mucous seeping from her orifices presents to the viewer an air of sadness we can all relate to. Furthermore, Abramovic concerns herself with discovering her limits in both the physical and mental sense. Knowing that the artist is performing to the brink of which her body can withstand adds to the theme of pain, which is often depicted in some form or another throughout many of this artist works.
This is not uncommon to the artist Frida Kahlo. The idea of pain and discomfort can be witnessed in a few of he artist’s works such as “The Little Deer” and “A Few Small Nips”. Also like Abramovic’s works Kahlo does not beautify her pieces to be pleasing to the eye. The artist leaves in all of the imperfections to better capture the reality of the hardships she has had to face in life.
Cui Xiuwen’s works however, appearing more calm and peaceful at first glance also force the viewer to take in the discomforting facts of existence by not depicting a perfect world. Notice how many of the structures seem to crumble around the figures in her works. Moreover, the young girls depicted in her pieces are sometimes shown with injury. This helps to drag the viewer away from a pretty and secure sense, thus showing them more of the real world.
In further comparison, Xiuwen uses images females that appear similar to herself. This is homogeneous to how Kahlo depicts herself in her works, and how Abramovic chooses to appear in her pieces as opposed to using someone else. By using themselves, the artist present the audience with yet another call to the realism of their works. If they had used models, it would take away from the sense of relate ability and the glimpse they are giving into their worlds.