National Museum of Women in the Arts - No Man's Land

Magdalena Abakanowicz, '4 Seated Figures,' 2002. Burlap, resin and iron rods.

'No Man's Land: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection' (here for the online exhibition.) was recently shown at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC.

'4 Seated Figures' may have been inspired by Magdalena's memory of witnessing her mother being shot in the hands as soldiers stormed their home in Poland during WWII. What she says about these genderless, race-neutral figures is 'they are naked, exposed, and vulnerable, just as we all are.'

Faith Ringgold, 'Jo Baker's Bananas,' 1997

One of Faith's story quilts commentating on racism and discrimination.

In Faith's signature technique of acrylic painted canvas with a pieced fabric border.

Outside the museum, a sign warned there were nuts in the building. I thought it strange and only on seeing this box of walnuts realised the sign was an allergy alert.

Jennifer Rubell 'Lysa III' 2014

Jennifer was inspired by finding a Hilary Clinton nutcracker for sale online.

She worked with the concept of harnessing female power making, as she says, 'a scary act of female power.' 

Museum visitors were encouraged, with supervision, to operate the nutcracker. The artist cleverly invites the viewer to contemplate female power in a playful way.

The Hilary Clinton nutcrackers were on sale in the museum shop at the same time Hilary was campaigning to become a president.

Vancouver Art Gallery, The Revolution - What Revolution?

I have been thinking about the exhibition Wack! and why the time period it covers, 60s & 70s, is called a revolution in the art world. Though not all of the art world. The art historian, Robert Hughes has the view 'The 1970s, a time that evokes little nostalgia in the art world today, went by without leaving a "typical" art behind' (The Shock of the New p.364). He must have spent his days in white cube galleries over this time period. Or he defines art as a work in oils or acrylic painted on a regular shaped canvas. Anything else doesn't fit his definition of 'high/fine' art.

The 2 floors of the Vancouver Art Gallery, here, are full of works in a myriad of media with only a hint of the smell of oil. What work there is in oil/acrylic and worked traditionally on canvas is macro views of the human form such as Joan Semmel's work, or photo realistic/personal memento still lifes of Audry Flack and Jacqueline Fahey, all pushing the boundaries of 'real' art.

Sylvia Sleigh's Turkish Bath is a parody of the long popular nude harem fantasy subject of male artists. Sylvia's wicked sense of humour is even more apparent when one learns the men depicted are all art historians of the day. There also 2 versions of her regular model. After all, if she is painting him as an object, just as nude women have been painted for centuries, then her male object can be reproduced as many times as she wants to only she doesn't follow the rules by putting her multiple copies of her object in the same painting.

WACK! Art & the Feminist Revolution

I went to this exhibition in Vancouver last weekend. Vancouver is its 4th and last stop in its North American tour. I recommend you go to it if you are in the area before it ends January 18th, 2009.
It is a huge exhibition covering 2 floors of the Vancouver Art Gallery. For me it was a thrill to see works I had only looked at in books. The real thing is such a different experience. The air crackles with strong emotion and the political voices of the women who were part of a social revolution.
On the 2nd floor there are a lot of Canadian artists, which I was relieved to see because all of my reading for the current module I am studying has been about European and American women artists. So the revolution was happening north of the border too. My ignorance supports Martha Rosler's comments that the "lessons of the feminist movement have been contained and particularized."
Martha's work Hot House (Harem) is on the cover of the exhibition catalogue (see above).