Found Art: Christa Palazzolo

I stumbled upon Christa Palazzolo's work the other day and I was attracted immediately. She's an artist working in Austin, TX, who has a illustration driven approach to painting that's become rather popular over the past few years, with a photo realism quality to it. If I were a betting woman, I'd say one of her immediate influences is Wayne Thiebaud. He has similar ideaology behind his work as Christa, "Currently focused on using portraiture as a vehicle of mockery,isolation, discomfort, and objectification, she strives to confront formal aspects of painting with a contemporary voice and commentary." (taken from her artist statement).

Let's do a little comparison shall we...

Thiebaud's "Bikini" is about subtle objectification while Palazzolo's "Christa Lee" is much more blatent. "Bikini" is brilliant in that the woman is confronting the audience, wearing something that is so specifically meant for women it's undeniable objectification and her stance is not meant to provide sexual context. He's playing with the role of woman, much like a viewer at the zoo, you are seeing this woman as a object, a bikini's purpose is to cover female parts but leave as little to the imagination as possible. It's a clinical and factual interruptation.
"Christa Lee" has similar much more apparent forms of objectification, her battered face and bra worn on the outside of clothes is a forced role, her heels are too big, she's trying to fit into the role that has been assigned to her, a much more personal look into the idea of being a woman.
The thing I find most interesting about the two pieces is the idea of objectification coming from a male artist vs. a female artist.

Wayne Thiebaud's "Bikini" vs. Christa Palazzolo's "Christa Lee"