Adding to the art world’s current dialogue on feminism and art, Girl on Guy: the object of my desire features 24 women artists whose work deals with the subject of women loving/desiring their male counterparts.
“Loving men and being a feminist is not a contradiction,” says Marci McDade, the curator of the exhibition Girl on Guy: the object of my desire at Columbia College Chicago’s A+D Gallery.
Images of men sleeping by Melanie Schiff, plaster casts of rock star’s penises by Cynthia Plaster Caster, erotic pictures sewn into cloth by Orly Cogan, comic strips by Heather McAdams, drawings of physically challenged male athletes by the artist and activist Riva Lehrer, amusing sexual role reversals by Claire Rojas, one-sided love affairs with hunky t.v. stars by Stacia Yeapanis and the dulcet tones of lovers who whisper sweet nothings into each others ipods by Dawn Reed are just of few of the artworks that attempt to tell the story of where feminist art has been and where it is today.
“By presenting positive portrayals of men made by strong, talented female artists,” says McDade, “the goal is that our collective understanding of the feminist movement (past, present and future) will benefit from some thoughtful reconsideration and invite much needed input for the next generation.”
Girl on Guy features traditional and conceptual approaches in a wide range of media and time arts. The exhibition showcases the talents of emerging, mid-career and established women artists such as Sylvia Sleigh and Jane Fisher.
Thursday, September 27th, 5-8pm
Opening reception and Dueling Desires dj set with Dawn Reed and Carl Warnick, 6:30-8pm
Saturday, September 29th, 1-4pm
Performances and Gallery Talk
2pm Bruised Orange Theater Company performs Memoirs of a Statue
3pm Gallery Talk with Curator, Marci Rae McDade
Thursday, October 11th, 5:30-8pm
Talk the Walk
A curatorial tour of Columbia College Chicago’s gallery spaces
In conjunction with Chicago Artists’ Month
Performance by D. Denenge Akpem, Vaquera Serenade (Rise of La Cueruda Negra) at 6pm
Saturday, October 27th
1 pm Sally Alatalo reading from her new text piece The Language of Men
2 pm Performance by D. Denenge Akpem, Vaquera Serenade (Rise of La Cueruda Negra)
images
Sylvia Sleigh
Mark Warsh Seated Nude, 2006
Oil on canvas
52 x 56 inches
courtesy of i-20 Gallery, NYC
Sylvia Sleigh, acclaimed feminist painter from the start of the 1970’s, is 90 years old now. Linda Nochlin wrote that her depiction of her male subjects was erotic yet humanizing and respectful. Her work has challenged the notion of reverse-objectification throughout her career. “Sylvia Sleigh’s work is direct and unrepentant, libidinous and indulgent. She paints friends, allegorical scenes and nudes. Her work dovetails with younger figurative artists painting today but stands apart in its guilelessness and by the obvious pleasure the artist takes in what she sees. All the subtle differences between people are observed. Instead of only critiquing the objectification of women, Sleigh leads by example. As she has said, “I made a point of finding male models and I painted them as portraits, not as sex objects, but sympathetically as intelligent and admired people, not as women had so often been depicted.”” - i-20 Gallery, NYC press release from her spring 2007 solo show.
Julia Hechtman
The Air Guitar Series, 2003
20 x 16 inches each
16 photos to install as a grid
Julia invited a group of men to sing along with their favorite rock’n’roll songs and photographed them at the heights of their joy. These candid shots evoke an enviable sense of ecstasy and release. Displayed as a grid in series.
Cynthia Plaster Caster
Three Sailors and a Girl, 1968 - 1991
3 plaster casts of musicians’ penises
pedestal and plexiglas vitrine display
Noel Redding (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), 1968
Jon Langford (The Mekons), 1988
Jello Biafra (The Dead Kennedys), 1991
Courtesy of the artist
From the Cynthia P Caster Foundation web site :
“Cynthia Plaster Caster began making plaster casts of rock stars' erect penises in 1968. Begun originally as a goof, and as a way to meet the idols of her affection, the project has consumed the last 35 years of her life. Rock stars, their roadies, their managers as well as other peripheral players central to the rock scene have been cast in varying degrees of glory and arousal. “
Keiler Sensenbrenner
Lance and Tattoos, 2000
oil on panel
13 x 13 inches
My work is always small, and each piece is made fairly quickly. I choose subjects that I like; people who are my friends, objects that I like to use, see, or consume, and animals that I relate to, particularly dogs. I try to capture the personality and mood of my subjects, matching the comfortable attitudes I observe with a suitably casual painting style. When people are relaxed and unself-conscious they reveal something that I find beautiful.
Orly Cogan
Tangledupinyou, 2006
48 x 48 inches
paint and embroidery on vintage cloth
Orly reinterprets vintage cloth, bed covers, tablecloths, pillow cases to render her painted and sewn images of desire and play. In the past her work has more bacchanalian in sexual content but recently she became engaged to be married. Her new pieces focus much more on dreams of being a wife and mother in a loving, long-term relationship with the man of her dreams.
“Rarely have medium and politics been brought together so successfully as in these craft investigations. Cogan's conversion of old-fashioned ladies work into sex pot cerebrations does two things: it takes back the night, to quote the street protest movement, and it works to blur the line that for centuries has kept craftswomen separated from the world of mainstream fine art.
Some critics have suggested that Cogan's sexualized images succeed as they do only because she's a woman but the images say otherwise. Absent is the shame, lewdness and mean-spiritedness of male-dominated porn. Also lacking is the anger and hand-wringing of 70s feminism. The free-spirit, urban hippies on display here pose an interesting counterpoint to both the neurotic girls of Sex and the City and the strong-willed feminists whose art is being revived all across the country in shows like Wack, At the Museum of Contemporary Art in L.A” - Steven Wolf Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA press release for Orly’s solo summer 2007 show.
Melanie Schiff
Sleeping Boy #3, 2002
30 x 40 inches
Courtesy of Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago
Melanie invited men she knew to lay in her bed in order to photograph them sleeping. These ‘secret gaze” tableaus, actively created with her subjects, reference the powerful forces of mutual attraction experienced by men and women as well as subject and artist.
Inge Hoonte
Mr. Right, 2004
2 minutes 49 seconds
MP3 sound piece
Courtesy of the artist
In this seductive yet unsettling sound piece Inge attempts to communicate just how daunting and exhausting the search for a mate can be. The text she reads is from personal ads filed by women seeking men in a local paper. The short suggestions and descriptions also serve to comment on Inge’s observations of American culture and personal priorities for happiness.
Jane Fisher
Brendan in the tub, 1988
Oil on canvas
48 x 64 inches
Courtesy of a private collection, Chicago
Jane’s paintings have always captured the beauty of everyday moments. During the 1980’s she was deeply in love with the subject of this painting, Brendan, her lover at the time. The series of images she created were her attempt to somehow capture their passion for each other, to freeze time to stay in love forever.
Stacia Yeapanis
Fox Mulder, 2007
Hand sewn cross stitch on fabric
10 x 14 inches
pattern generated from video still
Courtesy of private collection
Stacia’s work concerns itself with emotional aspects of fandom and virtual reality. In these stitched pieces she has ‘captured’ vulnerable moments experienced by some of her favorite characters on tv shows such as Dawson’s Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For her the one-sided love affair of the fan is very real and satisfying as it lacks any possibility of ending in personal disappointment as a love affair might in the real world.
Pia Guerra
Original drawing for issue #1 of Y: The Last Man, 2003
Issues #1-60 from Vertigo Comics, 2003 - 2007
graphite pencil on paper
14 x 17 inches
Pia is the co-creator and pencilist for all the original drawings for every issue of Y: the Last Man, an immensely popular comic book. From the publicist web site:
“When a plague of unknown origin instantly kills every mammal with a Y chromosome, unemployed and unmotivated slacker Yorick Brown suddenly discovers that he is the only male left in a world inhabited solely by women. Accompanied by his mischievous monkey and the mysterious Agent 355, Yorick embarks on a transcontinental journey to find his girlfriend and discover why he is the last man on Earth. But with a gang of feminist extremists and the leader of the Israel Defense Forces hunting him, Yorick's future, as well as that of the human race, may be short-lived.”
Riva Lehrer
Lynn, 2007
Charcoal on paper
44 x 30 inches
Courtesy of private collection
In addition to being an accomplished artist, Riva has been an advocate and activist for disabled persons rights for many years. Her newest series of drawings celebrates physically challenged male athletes. Her provocative presentation of these subjects highlights their sexual identity and pulchritude above and beyond any physical impairment.
Betsabeé Romero
Incrustaciones del Asfalto I, 2004
Gum incrustations on carved tire
19.29 inches in diamter
Courtesy of Galeria Ramis Barquet, NYC
“Throughout her career Romero has dwelt on traditional genres and handcrafting techniques to comment on aspects of contemporary Western culture, from the standpoint of her Mexican identity. For almost a decade, the automobile has been a recurrent theme in her paintings, sculpture, photography and site-specific installations. From toy cars transfigured into quasi Dadaist objects, “ex-voto” paintings on car parts like hoods and doors, to actual reconfiguration of automobiles as public sculptures, With poetic wit and ingenuity, Romero has transformed these artifacts into commentaries on the conjunction of technology and craft and the recycling of form and function.” Press release quote from Betsabeés 2005 solo show at Galeria Ramis Barquet, NYC.
Sarah Anne Johnson
Skinny Dipping, 2006
C-print
20 x 24 inches
Courtesy of Bucket Rider Gallery, Chicago
“Sarah Anne Johnson continues her exploration of the themes of idealism and nature and humanity’s ongoing struggle with the natural world… in a new series of single photographs which continue her work from her Tree Planting project in 2005. With this project she combined traditional photographs of the landscape and the people involved in it with photographs of sculptural dioramas that recorded her memories of her lived experience.” Quote from Sarah’s press release from her 2006 solo show at Bucket Rider Gallery, Chicago.
Heather McAdams
The Very Best of Robbie Fulks, 1999
Pastel on paper
11 x 14 inches
image reproduced for the album by the same title
Heather has for many years focused on cartoon and comic book portraiture art, for the last ten years producing a very popular annual country music calendar filled with her cartoon portraits of country musicians she admires. In this piece she creates a very favorable and loving image of Robbie Fulks, a Chicago-based folk rock singer and guitarist who won Heather’s admiration.
Anna Fidler
Skyhawk and Vision, 2007
Paper collage, color pencil, acrylic on paper
32 x 36 inches
Courtesy of Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, Portland, OR
“The artist's connection to geological formations, panoramic vistas and the magic of place both real and imagined remain steadfast in this new body of works on paper. Painstakingly handcut, the artist layers intricate shapes of hand-made papers on painted and drawn surfaces. An adroit musician and composer, Ms Fidler brings her inner music to visual form in these works with sinuous shapes, delicate tendrils and compositional harmonies.” - Press release quote from Anna’s recent solo show at Pulliam Deffenbaugh.
Oriana Fox
Tale of Narcissus (still), 2003
Video
4 minutes, 50 seconds
Oriana plays all of the characters in her videos, digitally overlapping sections of footage to seamlessly re-enact a scene from the popular TV series Sex in the City. On her web site she says this about the intention of her work: “ I admit it, I want to be like and look like many of the women I see on TV and in the movies, yet I am highly critical of them. I want them to more accurately represent my self and the women I know and admire. I feel similarly about the feminist artists of the 1970s... By taking varied sources from films and TV, I explore my own perceived reflection in the images I see day to day, re-enacting them and altering them to further define myself and my place in representation and the history of art.”
Dawn Reed
something that I said, 2007
Furniture and mp3 player with two sets of headphones
MP3 plays tracks of deconstructive music mixes
duration to be announced, set to continuous loop
courtesy of the artists
Dawn has created a love seat sound installation project for this show. The soundtrack, heard by the viewer on headphones, will be a back and forth “dueling desires” music mix crafted from her uniquely deconstructive approach to sampling songs from pop culture.
Torreyana Barley
Sketchbooks, 2007
Reinterpreted found books
Pen, pencil, watercolor on paper
10 x 8 inches
Torreyanna uses her unique sketchbooks as drawing journals, capturing her daily mood within the hand-bound pages. Mostly figurative, sometimes abstract often strange or perverse, her drawings describe her personal experience of the world around her.
Mary Lou Zelazny
Clyde, 2006
Acrylic and collage on panel
20 x 16 inches
“I have been making paintings with collage for the past 20 years. The spontaneity of collage combined with the rigors of painting and drawing create multiple meanings whose sorting and unraveling drives the content. My subjects are improvisations and it here where my humor, discomfort, incomprehension, and pleasure can coexist.”
- Quote from the artist web site
Claire Rojas
Man Walking in a Field of Lilies, 2006
Gouache and latex on paper
12 x 12 inches
Courtesy of Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
“Clare Rojas’ recently exhibited new paintings in her signature gouache technique place figures in a crisp and colorful landscape. Combining features of cartoon and folk art, her paintings depict sexual role reversals with the male as the object of a critical (and mocking!) female gaze. Rojas blends ironic spice into the expected charm of her visual treats.” - From the web posted Gallery Paule Anglim press release.
Denenge Akpem
Morena (still), 2004
Video documentation of live performance
Vaqueros Serenade, 2007
D. Denenge Akpem grew up in a rural farming town in Nigeria listening to country music where the image of the "West" was largely associated with the self-determination of the American cowboy, a character full of masculinity, romance and freedom. As an adult, her artistic and musical paths led to a love of the band Los Lobos and the "vaquero", or Mexican cowboy. Her performance explores adult fantasy and childhood nostalgia, toughness and vulnerability in the expression of love.
Stephanie Brooks
Boys Who Drive Their Mothers’ Station Wagons (detail), 1998
Series of 12 c-prints, framed
12 x 15 inches each
Courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery. Chicago
My work concerns itself primarily with the vocabularies of authority, standardization, and classification in common sign systems, and in our critical thinking about post-minimalist art practice. From fill in the blank forms to opinion polls and signage, I appropriate some of the most ubiquitous forms of presenting information to a "public." The work redefines social spaces by inserting subjectivity and humor into
impersonal forms, and by bringing to the surface the multiple meanings inherent in the language of those forms.
Above all, I am interested in exploring the abstract, minimal and textual properties of these systems, and offering alternative methods to measure our achievements, locate information, self identify and relate to each other.
Sally Alatalo
The Language of Men, 2007
Conceptual text in manuscript form
Displayed on table with a chair for viewers to sit and flip though the text
Through her successful independent publishing company, Sara Ranchouse Press, Sally has published several experimental artist books of her own along with a host of other accomplished artists working as individuals and in collaboration with others. Sally’s newest piece, The Language of Men, is a reinterpretation of traditionally masculine books such as motorcycle repair manuals and guides for success.
Bruised Orange Theatre Company
Memoirs of a Statue
Written and directed by Tiffany Ross © 2007
A movement performance with two players
Set in a futuristic society where people are forbidden to touch, a man and woman meet in their assigned roles as custodians in a forgotten art warehouse. While cataloging various objects of pulchritude they soon begin to crave more tactile interactions. Desire builds and a variety of taboos end up broken.
