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.

Second Wave Feminism and "Post-Feminism"

The feminism movement encouraged women to understand the psychological implications of sexist stereotypes, and attempted to make women realize that they could achieve more in life then being a mother and house wife.

In "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" Linda Nochlin states "while the recent upsurge of feminist activity has been a liberating one, its forces has been chiefly emotional-personal, psychological, and subjective centered.....like any other revolution the feminist one must ultimately come to grips with the intellectual and and ideological basis of the various intellectual or scholarly disciplines in the same way that it questions the ideologies of present social institutions." Noclin argues that what is important is that women face up to the reality of their history and present situation and rather than making excuses based on our "disadvantages", women should reveal institutional and intellectual weakness, simultaneously destroying false consciousness. Nochlin suggests that when asked, Why have there been no great artists, that we do not fall into the trap of drugging up women artists from the pasts who have left their mark, but rather question the institution and our education.

When asking, "why have there been no great women artists?, Nochlin points out the failure of the institution to expand its definition of great. Throughout art history the great artist has been conceived as one who is "genius." The term genius has historically always been associated with the male, one who is godlike. It is not until the institution expands its definition of genius as one that is dynamic rather than static, that the institution can open true greatness to anyone, man or woman. In the end Nochlin suggests, "it is indeed institutionally made impossible for women to achieve artistic excellence or success, on the same footing as men no matter what the potency of their so-called talent or genius."

Post-feminism

Amelia Jones states that post feminism follows the Mulveyan way of thought. If we recall in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", Laura Mulvey notes that Freud had referred to (infantile) scopophilia - the pleasure involved in looking at other people’s bodies as (particularly, erotic) objects. In the darkness of the cinema auditorium it is notable that one may look without being seen either by those on screen by other members of the audience. Mulvey argues that various features of cinema viewing conditions facilitate for the viewer both the voyeuristic process of objectification of female characters and also the narcissistic process of identification with an ‘ideal ego’ seen on the screen. She declares that in patriarchal society ‘pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. Jone's states that the Mulveyan "feminist anti-fetishism", where visual seduction is seen to be necessarily complicitous with male fetishism, female pleasure is simply ignored. "Ironicallly, in overlooking the question of female pleasure, critical texts that privilege feminist appropriation art for its refusal of the desiring "male gaze" have maintained the boundaries of masculinist critical and viewing authority even as they worked to celebrate practices that critique it." In stating such, Jone's suggests that the fault within the post feminist program,with its Mulveyan focus on male pleasure, is that it prohibits the possibility of a desiring female spectator.

Beyond Idetity, Towards Affiliation part II, Gillian Wearing

Gillian Wearing's photographs/videos, question identity, memory, and the veracity of the photographic medium. Wearing focuses on questions of human spectacle and the blurred boundaries between reality and fantasy, through various kinds of masks—from literal disguises to voice dubbing—to conceal the physical identities of her subjects and allow them to reveal their innermost secrets. In her Family Album series (2003) Wearing adapted this strategy to a more autobiographical end. Donning silicon prosthetics, she meticulously reconstructed old family snapshots, transforming herself into her mother, father, uncle, and brother as young adults or adolescents.

Beyond Identity, Towards affiliation

What are the circumstances that shape ones identity? Richard Meyer states that in its "contemporary usage the term "identity" suggests that individuals recognize themselves through a shared condition or quality, be it race, reliogion, gender, sexuality, or cultural orgin." This defintion implies a sense of fixity and giveness, suggesting that identity is "simply acheived." It is true that there are a set of historical conditions that we are born with that attempt to ground our identity, however they do not shape who or what we are. In "Postethnic America," David A. Hollinger, states" the term identity is more psychological than social, and hides the extent to which the acheivment of identity is a social process by which a person becomes affiliated with one or more acculturating cohorts." The idea of affiliation suggests a greater measure of flexibilty and is performative, while the term identity is something that is. Therefore a postethnic perspective favors voluntary over involuntary affiliations. Judith Butler writes, "the body is a set of possibilites that are not predetermined by some manner of interior essence, and suggests that identity/gender is performative rather than natural. "Gender is an act," and it is real only to the extent that it is performed." I beleive that identity is not fixed, and is always changing as we play out our lives.