Contemporary artists, two people sharing one
name and
identity. The work of 30 year-old Dutch
identical twins Liesbeth and Angelique Raeven is controversial because the focus of their art (which they call "aesthetic
terrorism") is their bodies. The twins are extremely thin, Angelique is positively emaciated and Liesbeth is far thinner than what is healthy.
From the website for the Institute of Contemporary Arts: http://www.ica.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1062
L.A. Raeven are fascinated with body image, the fashion, art and media worlds and their marketing strategies, which they subvert in their performances, video installations and public interactions. LA Raeven subvert these strategies. In their work they also play with the notion of 'wicked twins' and 'evil twins'. The idea of twins gone bad, focusing on the sometimes unbearable psychological condition of closeness that is defining of twins relationships.
In their exhibit at the ICA in London (from which the above is taken), viewers are subjected to the twins' body odor as part of the 'experience.' Last year, the twins attempted to create "L.A. Army" via a personal ad calling for 'Ideal individuals' with 17 inch waists and unusual eating habits. Their work also utilizes videos and photographs of themselves and others. In one image a black and white photograph, a young thin girl stares (imploring or accusing?) at the camera while the hand of an unseen person pinches the fat on her upper arm.
Disturbing and strangely compelling.