Week 8 — Artist — Joseph DeLappe & Micol Hebron

Artist: Micol Hebron and Joseph DeLappe

Media: studio work, curating, writing, social media, crowd-sourcing, teaching, public-speaking/

Game art, sculpture, imaging, drawing, painting, teaching

Websites:t http://micolhebron.artcodeinc.com http://www.delappe.ne

Instagram: Unicornkiller1 and josephdelappe

Micol Hebron is an interdisciplinary artist, Chapman University professor, and creator of the digital male nipple pasty. Hebron has studied at UCLA which ultimately got her a BA and MFA. Along with being an associate professor, Micol has multiple feminist projects constantly at work. Hebron does a lot of feminist art which explores the body and breaking censorship of female bodies, hence the male nipple pasties. She even runs a feminism summer camp located in Utah. Similarly, Joseph DeLappe incorporates activism into his work. Though, DeLappe’s activism gravitates towards gun control and protests while Hebron centers on feminism.

Much of DeLappe’s work is really big in the sense that he uses cardboard to make giant versions of things. For example, he made “Cardboard Gandhi” in 2008 which is an enlarged replica of real life Gandhi. From the photo provided on DeLappe’s website the sculpture is roughly 17 feet in height. Along with Gandhi, Joseph also made a 20 foot AR-15 assault rifle out of cardboard. While DeLappe’s art is big, Hebron’s art is also big but not to the scale of DeLappe’s art. Hebron made an installation piece called “Sisterhood is Powerful” which consisted of a 5 ½ foot sculpture of the female anatomy. Along with that installation from 2011, Hebron has made other installations such as “Final Fantasy” and “Not in My Backyard” which could take up an entire room. While Joseph’s art is big in height, Micol’s art takes up space in height and width as well.

Although both artists use their art as a platform for their activism, they advocate for different things. Joseph DeLappe’s art project of the 20 foot assault rifle titled “Thoughts and Prayers” dives into the discussion of private owned arms in the country and how the AR-15 has contributed to many mass shootings in the U.S. DeLappe’s art focuses on militarization where Hebron focuses on feminism and breaking the censorship of the female anatomy. Micol Hebron created a nipple pasty with the photo of a male nipple on it to challenge the existence of pasties for women in general. How is it that the female nipple is always censored while the male nipple is not. This is just one of the ways that Hebron has actively tried to empower women and their bodies.

I do like both artists’ art. At first, Hebron’s art was overwhelming but then again I guess that is what it’s meant to do. In a way I feel like her art gets us to realize how women censor their own bodies because society tells that is what is normal. Her art gets us to question why we do it if men don’t. Joseph’s art is also impactful in the way that it talks about issues that affect the U.S as a whole. His art piece titled, “Thoughts and Prayers” really resonated with me because time after time tragedy strikes at the hands of assault rifles yet no change in legislation happens. When a shooting occurs, thoughts and prayers are all that are offered rather than a solution.