WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution
The Geffen Contemporary at MoCA, Los Angeles
March 4 - July 16, 2007
* traveling exhibition- see below
By SANDRA SIDER
Installation view; Abakan Red by Magdalena Abakanowicz (hanging sculpture) and
Torture of Women (right) by Nancy Spero
Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution, which opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles on March 4th, was curated by Connie Butler, previously at MOCA and recently appointed as the Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. She selected works created between 1965 and 1980 by 119 artists from 21 countries, and arranged them according to eighteen themes, such as Autophotography, Goddess, and Social Sculpture.
Butler used these themes to attempt a “dismantling of the received canon of feminist art.” By avoiding a chronological or geographical arrangement of the works, she hopes to create a more open-ended and inclusive approach, “to suggest a more complicated history of simultaneous feminisms.” While her intention is admirable—and works well in the catalogue with its informative essays—the structure of Art and the Feminist Revolution occasionally seems to defeat her purpose. The question of influence, or “genealogies,” arises repeatedly. When I saw the show, several viewers in Body as Medium were looking at dates in the wall labels, wondering whether the earliest works had influenced the others. People seemed to assume that these pieces were grouped together precisely because they had such a relationship, not simply an “affinity.” Explanatory wall text might have prevented this sort of confusion.
Installation view; OX by Miriam Schapiro
Many of the works are so famous that they do not need an explanation, such as Judy Chicago’s Through the Flower painting and the five lithographs of her Butterfly Vagina Erotica. Miriam Schapiro’s iconic OX paintings, of which two are featured, also should be familiar to many viewers. But with the exception of the show’s introductory panel, viewers have almost no indication of the historical significance of the specific works of art they are experiencing, or of the logic behind the exhibition’s thematic divisions.
In several sections, however, Butler’s arrangement does allow for thought-provoking juxtapositions, such as a room full of works by Louise Bourgeois in which Eva Hesse’s Hang Up serves as a sort of anchor along the back wall. Harmony Hammond’s nine solid pieces in Hunkertime (two with ruffles) balance the spare wall installations by Mimi Smith, Closed Door and Stairs, with thread and fabric as the common denominators. In the room where Butler grouped figural paintings, Alice Neel’s portraits and the male nudes in Sylvia Sleigh’s The Turkish Bath share an energetic dialogue. One can imagine art historian Linda Nochlin, one of the women portrayed, thoroughly enjoying the arrangement.
The exhibition space is large enough to accommodate monumental works, such as Soft Gallery by Marta Minujín (and Richard Squires), a room consisting of twin-bed mattresses bound together. Behind this work is Judith Baca’s portable mural Uprising of the Mujeres, a magnificent surprise, along the back wall of the museum. The most memorable large-scale piece is at the entrance: Abakan Red by Magdalena Abakanowicz, woven sisal and mixed media extending from floor to (invisible) ceiling. This vaginal sculpture welcomes visitors to the main exhibition floor, with Nancy Spero’s Torture of Women dominating the wall immediately beside it.
The sheer volume of material in Art and the Feminist Revolution testifies to the significance of art under feminist flags, with some historic works represented in several stages. Niki de Saint Phalle’s Hon, for example, can be studied via the artist’s model, a wall mural reproducing an installation photograph, and a poster. Two masks by Nancy Grossman are accompanied by collages referring to their assembly. Lorraine O’Grady’s MlleBourgeoise NoireCostume is documented by thirteen cibachrome photographs, in which her whip is shown festooned with flowers. These images mitigate the strident aspects of her performance usually emphasized in art history classes.
Art and the Feminist Revolution rambles along over three levels, with open lines of sight accessing the exhibition from different perspectives. Within each level, viewers sometimes must walk through a narrow passageway to reach other sections. The physical conditions of this daunting exhibition space may have been intended to reflect aspects of feminist aesthetics: vibrant, new, open-ended art forms channeled through female blood, sweat, tears, and genius.
The exhibition will tour to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. (September 21-December 16, 2007); P.S. 1 MoMA in Long Island City, New York (Winter 2008); and the Vancouver Art Gallery in British Columbia, Canada (Summer 2008).
