User:Eleanor Massie/sandbox

Heather Cassils is a performance artist, body builder and personal trainer, born in Canada and now based in Los Angeles, US. Cassils' work uses the body in a sculptural fashion, interrogating feminism, body art, and gay male aesthetics.

Education
In 1997 Cassils received a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Canada. In 2002 he received an MFA in Art and Integrated Media from California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, US. Cassils has also received diplomas from the National Academy of Sports Medicine, California, in Personal Training (2011) and Corrective Exercise (2013).

Solo Work
In the 20 minute performance Becoming an Image (2013), Cassils punches a block of wet clay, remodelling it through his blows. The piece explores the violence perpetrated against trans and queer bodies, and was performed to an audience in the dark, recorded only by a flash camera.

Cuts: A Traditional Sculpture (2011), was created as a response to a commission by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). As inspiration, it drew on Eleanor Antin's Carving: A Traditional Sculpture, 1972 and Lynda Benglis's 1974 Artforum magazine intervention advertisement. Over 23 weeks Cassils followed a body building regime to alter his body's shape, an exercise plan which included consuming the caloric intake of 190-pound male athlete and taking mild steroids. The documentation of the process involved a two-channel video installation, a pin-up, a photographic series and a zine called LadyFace// ManBody.

Collaborations
Along with Clover Leary and Julia Steinmetz, Cassils formed Toxic Titties, a feminist art collective based in Los Angeles. The Toxic Titties are known for their intervention in the work of Vanessa Beecroft. The Titties infiltrated Beecroft's installation VB46 in 2001 and later spoke of their experiences in the performance.

Cassils features in the music video for Lady Gaga's song 'Telephone' from Gaga's 2009 album The Fame Monster.

Awards
In 2013 Cassils won the MOTHA Art Awards (Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art) for Best Solo Exhibition of 2013.

Websites

 * http://www.heathercassils.com/
 * http://sculptthebody.com/