Denis Masi

Masi was born in the US but has lived in the UK since the late 1960s. His 1970s performances, or ‘body works’ were often to camera, and he explored the body distorted, contorted and twisted by the means of production. He also often used animals in his installations further offering a sense of the trapped and alienated, and the desire to question and resist the controlled body.

Denis Masi

Performance documentation / Examples of works

Artist and Muse, 1970

Lip Smear, 1970-1

Arm Lift, 1970

Publications

KENT, Sarah (1979) Denis Masi: Encounter/counter, Four Constructions, London: Institute of Contemporary Arts

MASI, Denis (1981) Artists’ thoughts on the seventies in words and pictures, Studio International, v 195, Nos 991/2, pp 48-49

REICHARDT, Jasia ed. (1976) Time, Words and the Camera, Austria: Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz

VERGINE, Lea (2000) Body Art and Performance the Body as Language, Milan: Skira Editore S.p.A.
Study Room Ref:
P0123

WALKER, John A. (2002) Left Shift: Radical Art in 1970s Britain, London: I. B. Tauris
Study Room Ref: P0623

Website

Denis Masi’s Website

Denis Masi, Artist and Muse, 1970
Denis Masi, Artist and Muse, (1970).
Denis Masi, Lip Smear, 1970
Denis Masi, Lip Smear, (1970).
Denis Masi, Releasing the Other, 1970
Denis Masi, Releasing the Other, (1970).