Brooklyn Museum: Community: feminist.bloggers@brooklynmuseum

Picks (4/24-5/7)

Automythograpy I, a solo exhibition of Mequitta Ahuja’s work, is currently up at BravinLee Programs. Ahuja combines history, myth and personal narrative, giving her African-American/East Indian hair a life of its own in this exhibition of non-traditional self-portraiture. This show closes May 2nd.

(Mequitta Ahuja, Spark, 2009. Waxy chalk on paper, triptych, 50 x 114 inches. Courtesy of BravinLee Programs.)

Aqui Estamos (Here We Are) opens May 1st at Projects Gallery in Philadelphia. Works by Cirenaica Moreira, Marta Maria Perez Bravo, Sandra Ramos and feminist artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, among others, are featured in this exhibition of contemporary Cuban artwork.

(Cirenaica Moreira, “La Libertad es una palabra enorme” (Freedom is a huge word), Gelatin Silver Print. Courtesy of Projects Gallery.)

Ward Shelley’s solo-exhibition Who invented the Avant Garde (and other half-truths) is currently up at Pierogi in Brooklyn. This show continues Shelley’s exploration of timelines and includes the piece Matriliniage, 2008, a celebration of American women painters. Who invented the Avant Garde (and other half-truths) closes May 17th.

(Ward Shelley, Matrilineage, ver. 1, 2008, Oil and toner on mylar, 30 1/16 x 58 inches. Courtesy of Pierogi.)

Global Feminisms artist Elke Krystufek currently has a show up at Galerie Meyer Kainer in Vienna. Elke Krystufek: the female gaze at the male or unmale man closes tomorrow, April 25th, so if you’re in the area, head on over!

(Exhibition announcement for the female gaze at the male or unmale man. Courtesy Galerie Meyer Kainer.)

Mi Vida – From Heaven to Hell is open now at Műcsarnok Kunsthalle in Budapest. The impressive roster of artists includes Pipilotti Rist, Tracey Moffatt, Shirin Neshat and Marina Abramovic, among others, in this exhibition of almost 100 works by thirty-six contemporary artists. This show will be up until May 17th.

(Tracey Moffatt, Scarred For Life, 1999, 10 offset prints. Courtesy Műcsarnok Kunsthalle.)

In Take Care of Yourself, an exhibition currently on view at the Paula Cooper Gallery, Sophie Calle asks 107 women (including one parrot) to respond to a break-up letter she once received. The responses show the range of individual emotion and subtlety of reaction possible in such a situation. Take Care of Yourself closes June 6th.

(Sophie Calle,Take Care of Yourself, Amira Casar, Actress, 2007. Courtesy of the Paula Cooper Gallery.)

The work of Nathania Rubin, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons and Karen Yasinsky is brought together in Surveillance from the Doll House, currently up at Mireille Mosler Ltd. Through both drawing and puppet animation, these four artists will consider identity and the inanimate in this show, on view until May 23rd.

(Laurie Simmons, The Music of Regret, 2005-6. DVD 44:14 min. Edition of 10. Courtesy of Mireille Mosler Ltd.)

Chantal Joffe opens at Cheim & Read on May 7th. Joffe paints directly from sources in which her subjects are objectified–magazine ads, fashion spreads, snapshots–imbuing them with an emotional and psychological intensity that undermines their original portrayal.

(Chantal Joffe, KELSEY, 2009, Oil on board, 84 x 55 inches. Courtesy of Cheim & Read.)

Opening May 1st at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, The Emotional Body includes the work of thirty-seven female artists. Using a variety of different media, these artists explore the intersections between the emotional and physical body in this group exhibition.