Final Project Time

Time is never singular and simple, but instead layered. No matter how hard we try to deny the past, it always permeates itself into the present. Therefore we should not deny the history from which we have sprung, but rather challenge and question how it has shaped the present-day. Classical imagery, though not overtly present, has irrevocably affected the way we view gender and identity within contemporary culture. Feminists have largely been concerned with the symbology of images of women and how they have been used in art and what connotations they have conveyed to viewers.
The image of the Venus, a mythological goddess born of the sea, is one of the most persistent icons throughout art history and has influenced modern ideals of femininity and beauty. The majority of contemporary representations of women in one form or another, purposeful or accidental, reference the Venus. Linda Nochlin defines this subliminal use of antique images as Nachleben, or afterlife of images. Naclhleben extends beyond “influence and is not appropriation, but is quite literally the afterlife of elements of western tradition achieving new meaning in the work of artists who use them as both continuity and critique in the representation of women.” The self-portrait Fuck, Suck, Spank, Wank, by Sam Taylor-Woods, “brings up antique and Renaissance memories through the use of the contrapposto pose, the escaping strands of hairs the trousers falling about the artists feet, it’s Venus, transported by Botticelli and made utterly new in the artists studio, with a cabbage instead of a scallop shell. The photograph is a harmoniously composed as any Greek frieze, and much the richer for its references, however unusual, to the past.” Taylor-Wood becomes the modern day Venus, no longer passive and victimized, she takes control of her sexuality and confronts the viewer. Not only does Taylor-Wood defy historical notions of femininity she also challenges the notion of the “genius” in art.
In creating her own Birth of Venus/ Primavera Sam Taylor-Wood questions the myth of the “Great Artist” and the traditional role of the female in art. Historically the role of the female has been that of the muse, or object of male desire, while the male has been that of creator, “genius”. All representations of the female body within the artistic discourse draw upon the same visual codes and reinstate the same relations of male sexual power and female subordination. In photographing herself Taylor-Wood is both artist and subject, therefore controlling the power of the gaze. This relationship questions such binaries as oppressor/victim, pure/impure, and active/passive. Fuck, Suck, Spank, Wank also confronts the notion of “genius” through its reference of the Primavera. The Venus has historically been depicted in masterpieces by men, and by creating her own Venus Taylor-Wood has assumed the role of master/great artist.

Reneke Dijkstra and Jesse Mann’s photographs also reference Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Dijkstra’s portraits of adolescents dressed in swimsuits on the beach show the awkwardness and discomfort casued by the subjects inability to attain historically reinforced ideals of beauty. While Dijkstra’s photographs reference Nachleben through the subconscious use of classical imagery, Mann’s photographs are a direct, conscious appropriation of Botticelli’s Venus. In her self-portrait Mann assumes the role of the Venus, wearing a long blonde wig and standing in a bird bath, exposing the absurdity of the myth and the ideals created by it. Though Dijkstra and Mann’s approaches are very different they both explore androgyny, ambiguity, and self-consciousness in an attempt to challenge history.



For my photographic series I posed men in the traditional Venus/contrapposto pose in an attempt to explore contemporary issues of the representation of femininity/masculinity, challenge the notion of “genius”, and expose the performative nature of identity. I chose the “Venus pose” because it has become the icon/ideal of femininity. When placed in this pose the male subject is asked to perform/become feminine. By photographing the male subject I am reversing the historical artist (male)/ subject (female) relationship, therefore altering the power structure, and sexualized gaze

Black Is, Black Ain't

In Spite of the acknowledgment of race as a biological fiction, it remains a social fact, in which one is still defined by the color of their skin. Black Is, Black, Ain’t, curated by Hamza Walker, examines a moment in contemporary culture in which race is simultaneously retained and rejected. Both in and outside the art world attempts to transcend issues of race have been made, however the more they try to be less race conscious the more race conscious it becomes. Issues of race have occupied a narrow space within the discourse of art and have been restricted to artists of color. In his introduction Hamza suggests that an exhibition of all African- American artists no longer passes for one of race, therefore unlike its predecessors Black Is, Black Ain’t brings together the work of twenty seven artists of multiple races in a more balanced effort to critically dissect issues of race.
Jason Lazarus’s photograph, Standing at the Grave of Emmitt Till the Day of Exumination, becomes symbolic of the exhibitions overall attempt to reopen past representations of race. Black Is, Black Ain’t problematizes the skins ability to signify difference within contemporary culture. In her video, To Think Things You Don’t Want To, Swedish artist Johanna Rytel weaves a complex love story, which appears to be a seamless account of one “white” woman’s obsession and love for her “black” lover. In this video a young women openly shares her inner prejudices and desires for the “other”. Statements such as, “ when you wear white you become more black,” reiterate issues of difference based on skin color. Rytel is one of several artists who begin to not only explore blackness but also raise issues of “whiteness.”
Another overwhelming theme within the exhibition is the re-examining of modernist notions. In his appropriation, For Whom the Bell Curves, Robert A Pruitt, depicts slave trade routes between Africa, North and South America using simple gold chains pinned on a wall in zigzagging arcs creating a map of repression out of “bling.” Pruitt rereads the ready-made, for which Duchamp notably used to challenge traditional ideals of genius and discuss aesthetics, as an object loaded with symbolism. For Whom the Bell Curves is a precise abstraction complicated with unsettled race relations. For his installation, One Substance, Eight Supports, One Situation, William Pope. L places eight different colored shelves throughout the gallery space and places a small cone of flour on top of each respectively. Over time the small flour cones begin to crumble apart as people walk by, taking remnants of the powder with them. The flour cones become a metaphor for the way in which power is dispersed and comments upon “whiteness.” Through use of the formalist aesthetic Pope L, turns formalism into a loaded vessel.
Black Is, Black Ain’t also explores the inextricable link between race and class. The photographs of Cabrini Green and the Robert Taylor Homes by Paul D’Amato and Jonathon Calm, suggest that race is produced through the structure of inequality. Rodney McMillan’s, Chair, also comments on issues of race and class. The found overstuffed chair, which is worn and broken, becomes extremely loaded within the context of the exhibition, referencing poverty, loss, and abandonment.
Black Is, Black Ain’t is a reinvestigation of issues race that have been unresolved thus far and suggests that in order to dissect issues of race we must begin with the society and histories which have created them. Walker states, “blackness, bluntly begs that a distinction be made between race as a basis of discrimination on the one hand, and solidarity as it is sought by a group racially defined on the other. The latter might sound like a mise en abyme of sorts, in which the category creates the category effect, but it is more a domino effect, where a socially reproducible pattern acquires and inertia resulting in a concept that becomes its own cause, and effect.” In the end race is a thorny subject that will never truly be resolved, however Black Is, Black Ain’t brings to our attention that race is still a very real issue.

The Ultra Baroque

Baroque is defined as 1: of relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of artistic expression prevalent esp. in the 17th century that is marked generally by use of complex forms, bold ornamentation, and the juxtaposition of contrasting elements often conveying a sense of drama, movement and tension 2:characterized by grotesqueness, extravagance, complexity, or flamboyance 3:irregularly shaped (of a pearl).
Though it seems that the first definition which defines the baroque as a period of art seems most revel ant, it is actually the last definition that had come to define themes surrounding the baroque. The exhibition "Ultra Baroque" uses the definition of the irregularly shaped pearl as a metaphor for the baroque's Resistance to fixed categories of interpretation. The irregular pearl can be seen as an emblem of, if not a paradigm for, difference, by extension, a hybridity that resists order and classification.
One key feature about the baroque that stuck with me was the ideaof the Horror vacui, the aversion to empty spaces. As a an artistic device the aesthetic of Horror vacui fills every visible and conceptual crevice and covers every wall with arts and letters. Another aesthetic of the baroque is that of theatricality. In contrast to the Renissance's use of order, harmony, and naturalism in form the baroque underlines the artifice in social ritual as intrinsically theatrical. The baroque has also been associated with the use of trauma.
These three characteristics of the baroque to me are the most interesting because I can relate them back to the aesthetics of my own photographs. The photographs depict the trauma/entropy caused by mother's depression. In the photographs their daily events are overtly melodramatic and refernence religous martyrs. The photographic frame is also always filled with either body or stuff.


One artist that I have become very interested in and admirey is Kehinde Wiley. "Kehinde Wiley’s works reference specific paintings by Titian and Tiepolo, but he incorporates a range of art historical and vernacular styles in his paintings, from the French Rococo to the contemporary urban street. Wiley collapses history and style into a uniquely contemporary vision. He describes his approach as “interrogating the notion of the master painter, at once critical and complicit.” He makes figurative paintings that “quote historical sources and position young black men within that field of ‘power.’” His “slightly heroic” figures, slightly larger than life size, are depicted in poses of power and spiritual awakening. He deliberately mixes images of power and spirituality, using them as a filter in the portrayal of masculinity." -Deitch Projects

After Whiteness

In spite of the recent acknowledgment of race as a social and historical construct, rather than a biological fact, race is nonetheless a material reality. Race is a very powerful ideology and is based around the color of one's skin. Race is conceived in terms of difference and it was not until recently that the concept of "whiteness" emerged within the contemporary discourse. However unlike blackness, which is associated with one skins color, "whiteness"is less about the color of skin and more about an ideology of power. Whiteness is related to economics and class. Whiteness is power and privilege.


whiteness: blank, empty, pure, transparent, peace

blackness: dark, shadow, evil

The exhibition "Whiteness, A Wayward Construction" explores the representation of whiteness in the United States and problemtizes white as a racial subject. The exhibition is divided into three categories, "White Out," "Mirror, Mirror," and "The Graying of Whiteness." This exhibition looks at the broader issues that underlie the representation of whiteness, particularly the of white people not seeing themselves as having a racial identity. It also considers whiteness as a tangled relationship among status, identity, and property that examine such themes as the white-collar work environment, hierarchies, within the art world, the concept of "white trash" and associations of racism. In the end the exhibition is intended to contribute to the dialogue about the naming of whiteness as a means to dislodge whites from their centrality and authority.

"As long as race is something only applied to non-white peoples, as long as white people are not racially seen and named, they/we function as a human norm. Other people are raced, we are just people." -Richard Dyer

One example of whiteness in contemporary culture that kept coming to mind was Barbie. Barbie comes in all skin colors, however her physical appearance never changes and always reflects white ideals. The white Barbie has become the ideal of what all young girls should strive to be and she is associated with the norm.

Feminism and art, 9 views

How might we assess feminism’ s initial impacts on art, its subsequent historicization, and its continuing influence? Catherine de Zegher, an independent curator and former executor director of the Drawing center in New York, states, “Today, younger artists are clearly inspired by the legacy of feminist practice and theory, and that at the core of their work is the intersection of gender, class, race, and ethnicity.” It is this legacy of “feminine” that has been at the heart of de Zegher’s directorial and curatorial practice. Under de Zegher’s directorship, “the Drawing Center was a space for art and programming with guts, vision, and imagination, a space to air contrary opinions and ideas, to present alternative structures of thought and feeling, and to embrace the differences that human beings, as cultural creatures, share.”
Catherine de Zegher suggests that feminism challenged the phallic paradigm of binary thinking, rejection or assimilation, aggression or identification that shapes everything from how art is viewed to how societies treat immigrants. Many artist of the second half of the twentieth century went against the restrictive modernist axis; making art imbued with thoughtful reciprocity between artist and viewer, opening up new possibilities for connections in the shared exhibition space between work, maker, and beholder. De Zegher states, “through the use of semiotics and psychoanalysis feminism in art enabled us to see what formerly was (or still is) eclipsed; what does not align with that which is considered important of the moment, or which has different conditions of perceptibility.” Artists such as Ellen Gallagher, Carol Rama, and Nancy Spero, including many other feminist women and men, recognized the potential for notions of relation and connectivity to provide a larger understanding of what art could be.
Ellen Gallagher is an African American painter whose work explores issues of race, identity, and transformation. De Zegher states, “Gallegher’s work resists the intelligible invocation of identity as it operates through the stylized repetition of bodily gestures and movement, the possibility for transformation is found in the interruption of such repetition. Gallagher series DeLuxe 2004/2005 is comprised of a suite of 60 framed multiples that that join together to form a large-scale work that is deceivingly abstract. Each individual unit of the grid-like structure contains altered archival images from black photo magazines. 
Gallagher is not only inspired by the aesthetic of the advertisements, but her re-working of these images is also prompted by the text within them that includes names for synthetic wig materials such as “afrilon”, “afrilic” and “Nu-Nile”. The divergence of the grid-like structure and the elaborate wigs reference the tension between individuality and conformity, as well as authenticity and artifice. DeLuxe conveys the potential of freedom through transformation and the universal desire for an unrestrained identity.
Carol Rama is a self taught Italian feminist artist whose unconventional painting includes an erotic, and often sexually aggressive universe populated by characters that present themes of sexual identity with specific references to female sensuality. Her water-colors depict erotic scenes replete with often fragmented, injured bodies of mainly women, or objects charged with sexual symbolism such as shoes, prostheses or even animals, suggesting that all types of bodies, animate and inanimate, embrace a paradoxical blend of the mechanical, the dangerous, and the pleasurable. Nancy Spero is an artist who works in many media, from installation to object based art to printmaking, both traditional and experimental. The depiction of the female form is prevalent in her work, particularly the idea of the female form being depicted by a male artist. Spero creates art that is freed from this “male gaze”, art that is done by a woman for other women. We Are Pro-Choice is a combination of images of women from the ages that are removed from their historical context and are placed on a blank page, almost delighting in their freedom. The women in We Are Pro-Choice have been given an ideal world, a blank page literally, in which to define themselves; as opposed to a world that defines them. Their existence on the page and the vibrancy that comes from it is “symbolic of the way the world could be.”
After considering these artists’ practice, Catherine de Zegher asserts “ I am hopeful that it will be possible to “degender” and “deracialize” difference and to think of it in positive, nonreifying terms. If modernism’s radical and inventive strategies were dependent on alienation, separation, negativity, violence, and de(con)struction, the twenty-first century may develop an aesthetics of relation and reciprocity defined by reconstruction, inclusion, and connectivity, binding impulses, and even by healing attitudes.” As a young artist I agree that feminist practice and theory has had a large impact on my work and that of my contemporaries. Contemporary art reflects feminist notions in its attempt to transgress the racial, ethnic, and gender dictates of society, and questions modernist notions of alienation and separation. De Zegher uses contemporary artists who “ask us to consider the ambiguous boundary between the self and otherness not as an occasion for horror and fear but as an opening into a new form of identity construction,” to exemplify

Post-Jewish: The New Authentics:Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation

In her introduction to the catalogue for "Post-Jewish: The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation," exhibition Stacy Boris states "the effort to define (or complicate) a particular self or group is a vital pursuit that reflects social circumstances, challenges preconceived notions, and moves culture forward." The sixteen artists included with the "The New Authentics," explore not only their jewishishness, but also the concerns of their generation, my generation.

One work that stuck out me was a sculpture entitled "The Settler" by David Altmejd, which explored ideas of metamorphosis. "The Settler" is an elaborate sculpture that features" a prone and decaying hairy figure out of which mirrored fragments erupt and almost envelop the body. What appears to be a corpse seems to be attempting to generate new life, accentuating processes of transformation rather than stagnation." The thing that most intrigued me about this piece was the metaphor that was created by the hairy figure (which resembled a werewolf) situated among the pieces of glass. The metaphor of the werewolf is not only powerful within the context of "The New Authentics", in which no matter how hard you try to hide your identity it will eventually be apparent, but is also symbolic of every individual who has a history.



Another piece that stuck out to me was a 7 part video installation by Joel Tauber entitled, "Seven Attempts to Make a Ritual." "Seven Attempts to Make a Ritual," consists of seven simultaneously playing videos that document Tauber as he inserts himself into holes in the earth in hopes of establishing a divine connection. Tauber states about this piece, " I feel that the idea of searching for a ritual to relate to God is taboo among the intellectual elite in our postmoderd world. It is precisely because of its lack of coolness that I feel that it is critical to tell the story." I enjoy this piece it speaks to the frustrations of our daily lives and not being able to live up to the expectations that are placed upon us by society.

Here is a link to Joel Tauber's video

Overall I thought "Post-Jewish: The New Authentics: Artists of the Post-Jewish Generation" was a compelling exhibition that explored issues of a generation that is in the process of creating its own history.

The post-black: Freestyle

The Freestyle exhibition at The Studio Museum in Harlem , also known as the post-black exhibition, presented 28 balck artists who were adament about not being labeled as black artists, unlike their predecessore. In her introduction to the Freestyle catalogue, curator Thelma Golden, states" the art of the 1990's stands between that multicultural moment and now, a link to that past and present, one of the great legacies of that period in the early 90's was that many artists emerged empowered. That generation, the beneficiaries of many and the heirs of a few includes artists such as Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Lorna Simpson, among others. This generation reinvented the debate on culture and identity in contemporary art. They set the platform for this new post-black existenxce in contemporary art." Unlike previous black artists, whose work only engaged notions of blackness, this new crop of artists created works which were still highly steeped in redefinig complex notions of blackness, simultaneously engaging issues and ideas such as culture, religion, gender, sexuality, feminism, the body popular culture, political, social and economic history.

For me, the importance of the Freestyle exhibition was in its overwhelming sense of individuality. Unlike many previous exhibitions that attempted to create a universal unity, such as the Family of Man Show, Freestyle embraced diversity, suggesting that it is our individual experiences that create a more complete sense of the human experience.

I found the reading, "The Ironies of Diversity, or the Disappearing Black Artist, " by Dawoud Bey interesting in comparison to an earlier reading, " Why have there been no great women artists," by Linda Nochlin. In his writing Bey exposes the very real fact that even though there seems to be a an acceptance of diversity as a cultural and social fact f life, there is still a narrow conceptual space for black artists. In the same way that Nochlin faults the institution for not allowing female artists to take their place within the art cannon, Bey faults the institution for its lack of acknowledgment of Black artists. Within and outside of the art world, no matter how open minded or "multicultural" we believe to be there is still a very real fact that people are judged on their skin color and sexual orientation.