Solitary Bodies and Emotions in Western Contemporary Plastic Art

Authors

Keywords:

solitud, arts plàstiques, cossos, societat contemporània

Abstract

Starting from the broad sweep of Weberian Sociology, hermeneutical and iconological analysis methods were applied to 9 contemporary plastic works (painting, sculpture and photography) that are significant and representative of
Contemporary Art. This paper pursues two goals, namely to: (1) analyse the construction of the solitude of the bodies
and human emotions depicted in contemporary plastic art; (2) show how this theme has evolved in artistic practices
from simple to reflective modernity in the context of a society enshrining individualisation and separateness. As will become evident, the bodies and emotions are mistreated given that the analysed works depict lonely men and women leading depressing, empty lives. The mistreatment lies in the fact that these figures have been disembodied and desentimentalised for artistic effect.

Author Biography

  • Juan Antonio Roche Cárcel, University of Alicante

    Juan A. Roche Cárcel es profesor titular de Sociología de la Cultura y de las Artes en la Universidad de Alicante. Entre sus últimas publicaciones destacan los libros Entre el monte de Apolo y la vid de Dioniso. Naturaleza, dioses y sociedad en la arquitectura teatral de la Grecia Antigua (Anthropos Editorial, 2016); La sociedad evanescente (Anthropos Editorial, 2009), en inglés The Vanishing Society (Logos Verlag Berlin, 2013), y Transitions. The fragility of Democracy (Logos Verlag Berlin, 2016); Espacios y tiempos inciertos de la cultura (Anthropos Editorial, 2007) y La sociología como una de las bellas artes. La influencia de las artes y de la literatura en el pensamiento sociológico (Anthropos Editorial, 2013). Es también autor de numerosos artículos en revistas especializadas de España, Europa, Latinoamérica y Norteamérica y coordinador de diversos números monográficos en España y Latinoamérica. Actualmente es presidente del Comité de Sociología de las Emociones de la FES (Federación Española de Sociología).

Published

2021-05-29

Issue

Vol. 135 No. 1 (2021)

Section

POINTS OF VIEW

License

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How to Cite

Roche Cárcel, J.A. (2021) “Solitary Bodies and Emotions in Western Contemporary Plastic Art”, Debats. Journal on culture, power and society, 135(1). Available at: https://revistadebats.net/article/view/1917 (Accessed: 3 November 2026).