Community: feminist.bloggers@brooklynmuseum

(Catherine Lee, Diminutive, Grey, 1977. Courtesy of Gallery Lelong.)

Early paintings by Catherine Lee will be on view through January 26, 2008 in The Mark Paintings 1977-79 at Galerie Lelong. Lee’s grid-like drawings maintains the formal language of Minimalism. However, her body of work is differentiated from Minimalism by the painstaking repetition of calligraphic markings on the grid, while the hand-crafty quality of her works suggests the historic tenacity of women’s domestic labor.

(Do-ho Suh, Reflection, 2007, nylon and stainless steel tube, Courtesy Lehmann Maupin.)

When we speak of female sensitivity in repetitive and accumulative work, we automatically think of embroidery and stitch work. Artist Do-ho Suh explores the universal human experiences of displacement through his laborious stitch work. The stunning fabric replica of an arch gate at his childhood house in Korea is on view through February 2 2008 at Lehmann Mauphin’s second gallery in the Bowery.

(Jenny Holzer, Exhibition View of PROJECTIONS at MASS MoCA, 2007. Courtesy of MASS MoCA)

Prominent artist Jenny Holzer uses text in many of her sculptural installations, which often discuss sociological aspects of female experiences. The public dimension is integral to the delivery of her work, since language is about communication and sharing. Projection, her first U.S. installation of interior light projections along with recent series of paintings at MASS MoCA, will be a perfect chance for museum-goers to experience her work. PROJECTIONS will be on display until fall 2008.

(Louise Bourgeois, Hours of the Day (cover), 2006. Courtesy of artist (Carolina Nitsch Project Room)

Carolina Nitsch Project Room presents Louise Bourgeois: Hours of the Day from December 2007 through January 2008. Louise Bourgeois is widely considered to be a living legend of Feminist art, and her biography is a must for anyone interested in her work. This installation comprises a series of printed fabric diptychs and a fabric book, in which Bourgeois juxtaposes visual representation of memories with text written by her.

(Miwa Yanagi. Ayumi from the My Grandmothers series, 2001. Photograph courtesy of the artist.)

Global Feminisms artist Miwa Yanagi is having a show at Byblos Art Gallery in Verona, Italy. Yanagi’s photographs depict the role of women in the context of Japanese society, yet reflect the universal concerns of women across cultures. Congratulations to Miwa Yanagi!

(Ruth Asawa, Untitled S.075 (Hanging open form), 1960’s. Photo Credit: Laurence Cuneo. Courtesy of Rena Bransten Gallery.)

A show for the feminist blog readers in the Bay Area! Rena Bransten Gallery is presenting Ruth Asawa: SHAPES AND FORMS until January 12, 2008. In the sixties, Asawa subverted traditions of sculpture-making by selecting webs of wires to create her works which then hung from the ceiling as if suspended in mid-air. This was in opposition to the long convention of creating pedestaled works of stone or bronze. Asawa’s sculpture beautifully challenges notions that associate art with masculinity and craft with femininity.

Another exhibition in California! Please Be Seated, a video installation by Nicole Cohen is on display at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

(Please Be Seated: A Video Installation, 2007. Installation view at the Getty Center, Los Angeles.)

Nicole Cohen’s work deals with the relationship among reality, fantasy, and culturally constructed space. In this work, video allows Cohen to play upon its intrinsic capacities to manipulate time, distort environment, and overlay imagery. The chairs that the viewers are invited to sit on while participating in the video project are inspired by the Getty Center’s French decorative art collection, which play up the juxtaposition of classical and contemporary in the scene.

(Last Riot: The Tank and Waterfall, AES+F, 2007. courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery)

Last Riot 2 by AES+F is at the Claire Oliver Gallery this month. AES+F consists of four Russian-born artists: Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky, and Vladimir Fridkes. In a series of photographs, the artists show female models playing the roles of heroines in futuristic-looking war. They explain that the last riot is “where all are fighting against all and against themselves, where no difference exists any longer between victim and aggressor, male and female. This world celebrates the end of ideology, history and ethics.” Hurry! The last day of the show is December 29^th.

**Many thanks to Angela Oh for helping to compile this week’s picks!**