Community: feminist.bloggers@brooklynmuseum

re.act.feminism: performance art of the 1960s and 70s today just opened at Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Looking back to the 1960’s and 70’s, but also exploring how feminist art has made a resurgence today, this show features a video archive, an exhibition, and live performances by an international group of artists. If you are in the area, make sure to check this one out before it closes February 8th.

(Boryana Rossa and Ultrafuturo, SZ-ZS Performance, 2005. Courtesy of Akademie der Künste.)

Located in the bedroom of artist Blanka Amezkua, Bronx Blue Room Project has shown one artist per month in this non-traditional art space. This month, Jessica Lagunas shows her installation, “Días Especiales” (Special Days), which consists of a full size sheet fitted to Blanka’s bed with a collection of biopsy images of different days in a woman’s menstrual cycle. Menstruation, so often seen as something dirty that is to be hidden, will be represented positively in Amezkua’s bedroom until December 29th.

(Jessica Lagunas, “Días especiales” (Special Days), New York, 2007-8, Print on Fabric: Etching, Image Size: 6.25” x 6”, Full fitted sheet: 54” x 76” x 13”. Courtesy of the artist.)

This Saturday, December 20th, will mark the last day of Geoffrey Chadsey’s solo-exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery in Manhattan. Chadsey offers up a collection of watercolor and pencil portraits of gay men based on self-portrait photographs he discovered on the internet in this intriguing show. Get on over there before its too late!

(Geoffrey Chadsey, Mirror Barbasol, Watercolor pencil on mylar, 68 x 42 inches. Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery.)

Comfort Women Wanted is still up around town in this final weekend before the holidays. This project was launched earlier this month by artist Chang-Jin Lee in an attempt to raise awareness of sexual violence towards women in times of war, and also to honor the memory of the thousands of women who were exploited in Asia during World War II. Keep a lookout for the advertising style posters created by Lee that can still be seen all over the city.

(Chang-Jin Lee, Poster from Comfort Women Wanted, 2008. Courtesy of the artist.)

The legendary Cindy Sherman has a solo-exhibition in its final days at Metro Pictures in Manhattan. This show features Sherman’s most recent work, an exploration of how the self perception and ideas of beauty distort as we age. This exhibition closes December 23rd.

(Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 2008, color photograph, 70 x 63.5 inches (frame). Courtesy of Metro Pictures.)

In her second exhibition at Zach Feuer Gallery, Nathalie Djurberg presents a sculptural installation and a new stop-animation film. The film features a claymation ballerina dancing through a handmade Neo-Baroque tea set in this exploration of racism, sex, and the macabre. Eventually overpowered by the objects themselves, the ballerina drowns tragically in dripping candle wax. This show will be up until January 24th.

(Nathalie Djurberg, Still from I found myself alone, 2008. Clay animation, digital video. Music by Hans Berg. Courtesy of Zach Feuer Gallery.)

OPENING…

Our own The Fertile Goddess, co-curated by Maura Reilly, founding curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, and Madeleine Cody, Research Associate in Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art, Brooklyn Museum, opened TODAY in the Herstory Gallery! Visit the blog next week for more on this show!

Behavior, a new solo exhibition by artist Nayland Blake just opened at Location One in Manhattan. This 25 year retrospective of Blake’s work was put together by Maura Reilly, founding curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. One of Blake’s pieces, Untitled, 2003, is also on view right now as part of Burning Down the House: Building a Feminist Art Collection. This show will be up until February 14th. Don’t miss it!

(Nayland Blake, Heavenly Bunny Suit, 2004. Courtesy of Location One.)

Over Thanksgiving break, I had the opportunity to see Fantastical Fables: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints by Amy Cutler at the Bowdoin Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine. One of Cutler’s prints was featured in Global Feminisms in 2007 here at the museum, and this new exhibition is a great opportunity to see a large amount of her work. This exhibition is only up until January 11th, but it is definitely worth the trip!

(Amy Cutler, Dinner Party, 2002, Gouache on paper, 44 x 50 1/2 inches. Courtesy of Brown University.)

Brooklyn Block Party opened earlier this month at Ad Hoc Art in Bushwick. This exhibition features carved wood and lino blocks alongside their corresponding prints by artist Swoon, among others. Don’t miss this interesting show, which closes January 4th.

(Promotional Image, Courtesy of Ad Hoc Gallery.)

As part of their Iran: New Voices series, Barbican of London is presenting three short films and a question and answer session with artist Shirin Neshat. Click here for more feminist Iranian film events from this past weekend at Barbican.

(Shirin Neshat, Faezeh, 2008, Film still from a video/sound installation. Courtesy of Barbican.)

The Way Things Go is in its final weeks at the Inglett Gallery in Manhattan. Feminist video and installation artist Mika Rottenberg is among the artists featured in this group show that explores the functioning (and misfunctioning) of constructed mechanisms. Check it out before it closes January 20th.

(Mika Rottenberg, 3 (for W), 2008, C-print. Courtesy of Inglett Gallery.)

Feminist artist Sophie Calle and Felix González-Torres along with Hiraki Sawa, Ange Leccia, Anri Sala, Michal Heiman, Ran Slavin, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Mark Wallinger, Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, Duane Michals, Annette Messager, and Melanie Manchot are currently featured in Insomnia at the Petach-Tikva Museum in Israel. The exhibition includes a 151 minute film, Sleeper, alongside Andy Warhol’s Sleep, 1963, as part of this examination of time and the nocturnal. This exhibition will be up until March 7, 2009.

(Mark Wallinger, Sleeper, 2004, Video. Courtesy of Petach Tikva Museum of Art.)

dress for Today opened last week at A.I.R. Gallery. This exhibition features the work of A.I.R.’s fellowship artist Ari Tabei, whose intricate dress constructions sometimes take on a life of their own, consuming the artist to become more than simply a garment. As part of dress for Today, Tabei will be performing Dress for Today #6 from 3-6pm December 6th, 13th and 20th. This exhibition will be up until January 4th.

(Ari Tabei, From dress for Today. Courtesy of A.I.R. Gallery.)

The Empire Trilogy recently opened at Luxe Gallery, featuring the work of artist Heather Bennett. Bennett’s unnerving triumvirate of a fifties-esque housewife, a female lumberjack, and a wicked witch of sorts are presented to the viewer as video portraits accompanied by a droning soundtrack. Definitely not for the faint of heart, this exhibition will be open until December 23rd .

(Heather Bennett, Locks & Hocks, 2008, production still. Courtesy of Luxe Gallery.)

Opening last month at Flomenhaft Gallery, Sonia Benjamin’s solo exhibition, Lilith in the New World is a combination of Indian comics, Persian miniatures, illuminated manuscripts, and lore. Benjamin pulls from multiple faiths to create the contemporary Lilith, a woman asking still for freedom, justice, and equality. This exhibition will be on view until December 6th.

(Siona Benjamin, Directions on How to Wear an Indian Jewish Sari, 2005, etching, aquatint and digital print on paper. Courtesy of Flomenhaft Gallery.)

Following the veil throughout history and it’s various contexts, Union Art Gallery at the University of Milwaukee presents The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces. Curated by Jennifer Heath, this group exhibition features the work of twenty-nine different artists and several interesting events. Check it out if you are in the area before it closes December 12th.

(Anita Kunz, Girls Will Be Girls, 2007. Courtesy of Union Art Gallery.)

Ernesto Pujol: Inheriting Salt opened just last week at Ramis Barquet. Influenced by feminist art and theory, Pujol explores themes of loss and brokenness in this current exhibition. Pujol has invited three women artists, Stephanie Diamond, Rosemarie Padovano, and Joy Whalen, to share their photography and video work in conjunction with this exhibition. Inheriting Salt closes December 23rd.

(Ernesto Pujol, from Inheriting Salt exhibition. Courtesy of Ramis Barquet.)

Burning Down the House artist and good friend of the Brooklyn Museum,Joyce Kozloff’s most recent solo exhibition opened last month at Trout Gallery in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Kozloff has been involved in the feminist art movement since the seventies, and this new exhibition, Co+Ordinates, focuses on cartography and borders which serve as a metaphor for other divisions in culture, the mental, and the physical. This show will be on view until January 10th.

(Joyce Kozloff, Targets (detail), 2000, acrylic on canvas over wood. Courtesy of the Trout Gallery.)

The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art is CCS Bard Galleries and Hessel Museum of Art in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. This show features a wide variety of feminist artists including such greats as Valie Export, Nan Goldin, Ana Mendieta, Mona Hatoum, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, Cindy Sherman, Martha Rosler, Mary Kelley…the list really goes on and on. Head on over before this gem closes on February 1st.

(Installation view of The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art. Courtesy of CSS Bard.)

Zoë Charlton: Family opens November 14th at Connor Contemporary Art in Washington, D.C. Chalton’s large format drawings of her nude Floridian cousins address issues of the body and questions where inspiration is drawn from in the construction of self. This exhibition will be up until January 3rd.

(Zoë Charlton, Weeds, 2007, graphite and goache on paper, 52 x 91 inches. Courtesy of Connor Contemporary Art.)

Catya Plate’s artist book, Clothespin Tarot has been included in a selection of artists books from the collection on the second floor of the Museum. The Queen of Buttons, Queen of Thimbles, and Queen of Hatpins are included amongst Plate’s feminist interpretation of the minor and major arcana. The installation of the books coincided with the recent Contemporary Artist’s Book Conference and will be on display until the end of December, 2008.

(Catya Plate, Queen of Darners from Clothespin Tarot, 2007, artist’s book, 11″ x 7¼”, watercolor and color pencil on paper. Courtesy of the artist.)

Apocalyptic Pop, curated by Kathy Goncharov, opens November 16th at Dorsky Gallery in Long Island City. The show will include works by Jody Culkin, D. Dominick Lombardi, Laura Prnes, TODT, Michael Zansky, and feminist artist Chitra Ganesh. Two of Ganesh’s digital collages will be on view, showing the comic-book inspired segment of this innovative artist’s work. This exhibition will be up until January 25th.

(Chitra Ganesh, Fingerprints, 2007, 40 x 72 inches, digital print, edition of 5. Courtesy of the artist.)

The Dairy in London is opening a new group exhibition on November 10th. demons, yarns & tales: Tapestries by Contemporary Artists should prove to be an exciting show with an all-star line up that includes Kara Walker, Grayson Perry, Beartrz Milhazes, Fred Tomaselli, Ghada Amer & Reza Farkondeh, Gavin Turk, Jaime Gili, avaf, Paul Noble, Julie Verhoeven, Gary Hume, Franchesca Lowe, Shahzia Sikander, and Peter Blake. Amer and Farkondeh recently spoke here at the Center about their collaborative works, and we can’t wait to see what they’ve come up with for this one! This exhibition is curated by BANNERS of PERSUASION and will be only be up until November 22nd. If you are in the area, this show is a must see!

(Kara Walker, A Warm Summer Evening in 1863, tapestry (detail), 2008. 1.68 x 2.5m. Exhibition announcement image.)

My First Love, a solo exhibition of the work of Alessandra Exposito opens November 13th at Mixed Greens. Through the use of domesticated animals and decorative elements, Exposito’s intriguing work is given a feminist take on the stereotypically masculine practice of mounting hunted animal heads on the wall of one’s home. This time, Exposito focuses exclusively on the horse, an animal beloved by both the masculine and feminine among us. Check out My First Love before it closes on December 22nd!

(Alessandra Exposito, Queenie, 2006, 22 x 37 x 28 inches, mixed media on horse skull. Courtesy of Mixed Greens.)

There is a new monograph worthy of note that just came out on the video work of Ursula Biemann from 1998-2008. Ursula Biemann Mission Reports: Artistic Practice in the Field, Video Works 1998-2008, includes feminist readings by Angela Dimitrakaki and Wendy S. Hesford. A complete description of this monograph’s contents can be found here.

(Cover of Ursula Biemann Mission Reports: Artistic Practice in the Field, Video Works 1998-2008. Courtesy of the artist.)

Thomas Woodruff’s Solar System (The Turning Heads) just opened at P.P.O.W. in Manhattan. I decided to give the artist a call to learn more about his take on this very playful and evocative show. Woodruff was very cordial and sincere, saying, “I’ve always been a sort of outsider to the “highbrow” art world. Even in lowbrow circles, which can sometimes be a bit macho, as a gay male artist, my work wasn’t really accepted. My aesthetic is based on things that have an equation to the feminist, combining knarly tattoo inspired imagery with decorative high art nouveau [a sentiment which is echoed in the combination of both masculine and feminine features on the Heads as well]. In this topsy-turvy age, the idea of looking at issues of gender, race, and country seems so important, and doing so in a nurturing, community oriented way is what I try to do with my work.” The show will be up until November 15th. Don’t miss this one, folks!

(Thomas Woodruff, Venus, The object of affection/ The demon of lust , 2007-2008, acrylic on black silk velvet with motor, 40 x 40 inches. Courtesy of P.P.O.W.)

This Saturday, October 18th, Postmasters Gallery will be opening Summertale, a new video and series of photographs by artist, Katarzyna Kozyra. This exhibition is the last segment of Kozyra’s In Art Dreams Come True project which has combined music, video, photography, and performance in its examination of gender stereotypes and taboos. Check out this exhibition before it closes on November 15th.

(Katarzyna Kozyra, Image from Summertale. Courtesy of Postmasters Gallery.)

Penetralia just opened at Sadie Coles HQ in London. This exhibition features the sculpture of artist Sarah Lucas. Open for viewing until November 15th, Penetralia combines plaster casts of flint and penises, using this marriage to reference stone tools and the origins of power.

(Sarah Lucas, Image from Penetralia. Courtesy of Sadie Coles HQ.)

The Daneyal Mahmood Gallery in Manhattan just opened Meat after Meat Joy, including works by Sheffy Bleier, Lauren Bockow, Adam Brandejs, Tania Bruguera, Nezaket Ekici, Anthony Fisher, Betty Hirst, Zhang Huan, Tamara Kostianovsky, Simone Racheli, David Raymond, Dieter Roth, Carolee Schneemann, Stephen J. Shanabrook, Jana Sterbak, Jenny Walton, and Pinar Yolacan. This exhibition, named after Carolee Schneemann’s 1964 performance, Meat Joy, considers how meat as a medium is perceived by today’s viewer, in today’s world. This exhibition will be open until November 15th.

(Jana Sterbak, Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic, 1987-2006. Flank steak, mannequin, salt, thread, color photograph on paper. Dress size: 38. Courtesy of the artist.)

Berlinde De Bruyckere just opened at Yvon Lambert in Manhattan. In this exhibition, Bruyckere’s incredible sculpture is simultaneously beautiful and abject, conveying the essence of bodily form and gender. This is Bruyckere’s first solo exhibition in the United States and it will be on view until November 15th.

(Berlinde De Bruyckere, Pieta, 2008, wax epoxy metal wood. 238 inches high x 64 inches in diameter. Courtesy of Yvon Lambert Gallery.)

As part of our public programs this week, Sonia Ossorio, President of the National Organization of Women, will be giving a talk this Sunday, October 19th. Check out the event info here!

CLOSING this week…
Its your last chance to catch Ghada Amer: Love Has No End in the main galleries of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art before it closes this Sunday! Stay tuned for some post-exhibition reflections from the artist on the blog next week.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art just opened a new photography exhibition on Tuesday, featuring artist Shigeyuki Kihara. Similarly to artist Yasumasa Morimura, Kihara puts herslf into various roles in her self-porature, often blurring the lines of gender. Kihara was born in Samoa, where it she is considered Fa’a fafine, the official third gender. Fa’a fafine means “in the manner of a woman” in Samoan and is specific to children born male who later take up the gender roles of women. The exhibition, Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs, will be on view at the Met until February 1st.

(Shigeyuki Kihara, Fa’a fafine: In the Manner of a Woman, 2004-05, C-type photograph, edition of, 5, 80 x 60 cm, photograph: coylehall, post production: coylehall & Bronga Rhind Eglese. Courtesy of Sherman Galleries.)
Assemblage opens this Saturday, October 11th, at Galerie Laurent Godin in Paris. The show will feature the work of Scoli Acosta, Lamarche et Ovize, Corinne Marchetti, Vincent Olinet, and Hsia-Fei Chang. Hsia-Fei Chang contributed a performance titled Strawberry Wine to Global Feminisms here at the Brooklyn Museum in 2007. This feminist performance artist also does photography and installation, so if you happen to be around in the next month, Assemblage will be up until November 15th!

(Hsia-Fei Chang, Strawberry Wine, Performance at the Brooklyn Museum, March 25, 2007, for Global Feminisms. Image courtesy of the artist.)

Surface Library in Easthampton, New York, just opened Figuratively Speaking, a group exhibition featuring the work of Abby Abrams, Ann Brandeis, Eunice Golden, Barbara Groot, Richard MacDonald, Jerry Schwabe, and Thomas J. Shelford. This dedicated feminist artist and activist was a founder of Soho20, a women artist-run gallery here in New York in 1973. Her body-landscape painting was quite controversial at that time, shunned by many museums and galleries. This exhibition will be on view until November 2nd.

(Eunice Golden. CRUCIFIXION #1, 1969. Courtesy of the artist.)

MANEATER just opened at Deitch Projects on Grand Street in Manhattan. This solo exhibition by Aurel Schmidt takes some of the more abject elements in nature, as well as society’s waste, and uses them to transform Grecian busts, portraits, and Modernist works. This exhibition will be up until November 1st. Also, at Deitch Projects in Long Island City tonight, there will be a talk with Swoon, Ann Messner and Kiki Smith, moderated by Carlo McCormick. The talk will be from 7-9pm, and will cover Swoon’s current exhibition, Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea and Todd Chandler’s upcoming film FLOOD, shot from Swoon’s sculptural boats.

(Aurel Schmidt, Medusa, 2007, Pencil on paper, 18 x 28 inches. Courtesy of Deitch Projects.)

Paula Wilson’s first solo exhibition in New York opens today at Bellwether Gallery. The Stained Glass Ceiling features Wilson’s work over the past three years, during which time she used printmaking, painting, and collage to question the role of the decorative in the lives of women and art. The Stained Glass Ceiling will be up until November 15th.

(Paula Wilson, Lady, 2008, 120 x 72 inches, Mixed media on paper mounted to canvas with wood slats. Courtesy of Bellwether Galley.)

Don’t forget feminist artist and author Sabra Moore is giving a talk in the Forum this Saturday from 2-4pm! She will be discussing her new book, ON THE MOVE: A Memoir of the Women’s Art Movement, in conjunction with the exhibition, Migrate, that she just organized for Gallery 128 in Manhattan. Click here for more info!

Never Has She Ever: Renée Cox just opened last week at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library Galleries at Rutgers. This unflappable feminist artist sparked controversy in 2001, when her photograph, Yo Mama’s Last Supper was shown here at the Brooklyn Museum. Today, Cox continues to use self-portraiture in her artwork to reclaim the African-American body, and invert stereotypes of women. This show runs until December 8th.

(Renée Cox, Lolivya (BW), from the series, Queen Nanny of the Maroons, 2004. 
Digital ink-jet print on watercolor paper, 53 x 43″. Courtesy of the artist.)

A retrospective of the work of Audrey Flack is in it’s last weeks at LewAllen Contemporary. Audrey Flack: Abstract Expressionist to Photo-Realist includes works by the artist from 1949 to 1977. This lone female pioneer of the photo-realist movement has spent recent years creating monumental statues of female goddesses with the hope of offsetting the overabundance of male monumental statuary. Audrey Flack: Abstract Expressionist to Photo-Realist closes October 12th.

(Audrey Flack , Matzo Meal, 1962. Oil On Canvas, 14.5 in x 18.5 in. Courtesy of LewAllen Contemporary.)

NOISE: New Works by Marilyn Henrion opened yesterday at Noho Gallery. This artist’s dedication to textile art is exemplified in her quilted artworks of the past. Henrion continues her commitment with this exhibition, taking up rug hooking as her new media. This show runs until October 25th.

(Marilyn Henrion, Cornerstone, 2008. Courtesy of the Artist.)

Overflow opens at Laconia Gallery in Boston on October 3rd. This exibition features artists Sara Hairston-Medice, Mary O’Malley, and Resa Blateman. These three women embrace nature and the decorative in their artwork, at times using reproductive imagery and embracing stereotypically feminine mediums in their work. If you’re in the area, mosey on over before this one closes on November 22.

(Mary O’Malley, Untitled, 2008, ink on paper, (detail). Courtesy of Laconia Gallery.)

Catherine Opie: American Photographer just opened at the Guggenheim. This exhibition features artwork by this feminist artist from the 1990’s through today. Opie’s photography deals with queer politics and the American landscape, and her work was show as part of Global Feminisms here at the Center. Catherine Opie: American Photographer will be on view until January 7th.

(Catherine Opie, Justin Bond, 1993. Chromogenic print, edition of 8, 20 x 16 inches. Courtesy of the Guggenheim.)

Cecily Brown’s solo exhibition just opened this weekend at the Gagosian Gallery. Brown combines the figurative and abstract to create her paintings, which often contain a sexual subtext. This show features a series of paintings much smaller than Brown’s usually large scale and will be on view until October 25th.

(Cecily Brown, Untitled (#38), 2007. Oil on linen, 12-1/2 x 17 inches. Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery.)

The first part of A.I.R Gallery: The History Show, just opened last week at the Tracey/Barry Gallery at NYU’s Bobst Library. This multi-part exhibition features artwork and archival materials from A.I.R.’s opening in 1972 to present, and will include October and November openings at the A.I.R Gallery’s new location on Front Street in DUMBO. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the first artist-run, not-for-profit art gallery for women artists in the United States.

(Image from A.I.R. Gallery: The History Show. Courtesy of A.I.R Gallery.)

The Myth of Loneliness, featuring artist Amy Wilson, just opened at BravinLee Programs in Manhattan. With a style that is reminiscent of a long forgotten childhood methodology, Wilson uses watercolor and text bubbles to unfold her narratives. This exhibition will be open to the public until October 18th.

(Amy Wilson, It was harder for girls, I think, 2007. 5 1/2 x 7 inches, watercolor on paper. Courtesy of the artist.)

PASSWORDS 5. Our Bodies, Our Selves, an exhibition whose title references the 1970’s health book written by feminist activists, just opened at Centro Cultural Montehermoso in Vitoria-Gastiez, Spain. This group show includes the artwork of Trisha Baga, Pauline Boudry & Nao Bustamante, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Leah Gilliam, K8 Hardy & Wynne Greenwood, Marriage (Math Bass & Wu Ingrid Tsang), Alex McQuilkin. The 8 videos featured in this exhibition will be up until February 1st, so if you’re in the area between now and then, definitely add this one to your docket!

(Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Uh-Ohtopia, 2007. Courtesy of Montehermoso .)

Patricia Barube: Paintings, Drawings and Monoprints will be closing this week at Soho20 Gallery. Barube uses the human figure to investigate familial relationships and events in her paintings, and even creates a portrait of an ancient Greek fertility goddess in the work pictured below.

(Patricia Barube, Ancient Greek Doll, 2008, Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Soho20 Gallery.)

Steve DeFrank: Mirror, Mirror, currently on view at Margaret Thatcher Projects, is deceptively playful as it confronts stereotypes about homosexuality. DeFrank has embraced his new medium of casein, rather than the lite-brite, which he used so often in the past, to create both sculptural and graffiti-like works. Check this show out before it closes on October 18th!

(Steve DeFrank, Fairy Nice, 2007. Casein on panel, 48″ x 48″. Courtesy of Thatcher Projects.)

Echo just opened Tuesday at Cheim and Reid and features recent work by the unparalleled feminist artist, Louise Bourgeois. This exhibition features a collection of her recent sculptural work, cast from discarded clothing, and also a series of wet on wet goaches that depict the processes of motherhood. Echo will be open to the public until November 1st.

(Louise Bourgeois, Installation view of Echo, 2008. Courtesy of Cheim and Reid.)

The Guerilla Girls and Brainstormers invaded Chelsea this past weekend!!! A veritable street action for feminists and anti-feminists alike, participants were invited to fill out postcards mad lib style and distribute them to all galleries showing mostly male art. Anyone who thinks that feminist art exhibitions have become too plentiful and are a sign of discrimination against male artists were invited to join the picket line of the newly formed protest group MAN (Male Art Now). Did you participate in the Guerrilla Girls/Brainstormers action? If so, we want to hear about it! Please share your comments with us below!

(Mad libs and picket signs for the invasion of Chelsea. Image courtesy of Kathe Kallowitz.)

This Tuesday, September 16th, NYU’s Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality will be hosting a talk titled (Un)Patriot Acts: Art, Activism and State Power from the ‘Culture Wars’ to the ‘War on Terror’. Artists Karen Finley, Chitra Ganesh, Miriam Ghani, Steve Kurtz, and Rebecca Schneider and moderator Karen Shimakawa will discuss the politics of art and art-making in a post-9/11 society. This event is open to the public and will begin at 7pm at Jurow Hall, Silver Center, at 31 Washington Place on the first floor.

(Chitra Ganesh. The Awakening, 2004. Courtesy of the artist.)

Nalini Malani’s latest exhibition Listening to the Shades opens this Thursday, September 18th at the Arario Gallery in Manhattan. This exhibition features Malani’s recent work, forty-two new paintings and a sound installation based on the Greek myth of Cassandra, a symbol for the unfinished business of the feminist movement.

(Nalini Malani, Medea III, 2006, Acrylic and enamel reverse painting on acrylic sheet. Courtesy of Arario Gallery.)

New Blood, an exhibition including the art of Nao Bustamante, opened at Vertex List in Greenpoint, Brooklyn this past Saturday. Bustamante is a performance and video artist, and in the past has collaborated with the likes of legendary performance artist Coco Fusco. At the opening, Bustamante kept the packed gallery mesmerized with her piece, “Given Over to Want,” a twenty minute solo that explored issues of waste, consumption, and gender. The work of artists Sasha Dela, Sergio De La Torre, Double Happiness, Sujin Lee, Jeanne Verdoux and Lance Wakeling will also be featured in this exhibition which will be up until Sunday, October 12th.

(Nao Bustamante, Given Over to Want, 2008, performance, 20 min. Courtesy of Vertex List.)

(Joan Snyder, A Girl’s Life, 2008. acrylic, herbs, rosebuds, velvet, on burlap, 36 inches x 48 inches.)

Prominent feminist artist Joan Snyder has an exhibition of her political paintings on view at the Danforth Museum in Farmingham, MA through November 23rd, and will be giving an artist’s talk this Sunday, September 21 at noon. Check out the Museum’s website for more info!

Erika Rothenberg has a solo exhibition opening on Friday, September 5th at the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago. Rothenberg uses humor in her artwork to get her political views across, sometimes photographing existing historical markers selected for their oddly inhumane inscriptions. This exhibition will be on view until October 11th.

(Erika Rothenberg, Los Alamos, 2005. Courtesy of the Artist.)

Swoon’s solo exhibition, Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea, will be opening at Deitch Projects in Long Island City this Sunday, September 7th. In conjunction with the exhibition, swoon will be docking of a fleet of handmade sculptural ships at the waterfront adjacent to Deitch Projects, which will mark the exhibition’s opening in the early evening on the 7th. The opening will mark the end of the ships’ journey down the Hudson River from Troy, New York, where they were launched earlier this month.

(A collaborative exhibition by SWOON, Allison Corrie and Solovei, La Boca Del Lobo, installation at Blackfloor Gallery, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 2006. Photo by Tod Seelie, courtesy of Deitch Projects.)

SOHO20 Gallery is opening a group exhibition this Thursday, September 4th. Six Chix will include artists Patricia Berube, Elizabeth Bisbing, Darla Bjork, Lucy Hodgson, Nelleke Nix and Madelaine Shellaby who explore the use of organic structures and female archetypes in this all woman show.

(Nelleke Nix, detail of Hair Wire installation, assembled 200. Mixed media: watercolor and stain on paper. 9 x 12 inches. Courtesy of SOHO20 Gallery.)

Artist Berni Searle, who’s work graced both Global Feminisms and Global Feminisms Remix here at the Center, has a solo exhibition opening at Michael Stevenson Gallery on September 4th. Bearni Searle, Recent Work will be up until the 11th of October and features three new videos shot in South Africa, Norway, and the Canary Islands.

(Berni Searle, Still from Alibama, 2008. Courtesy of Michael Stevenson Gallery.)

Hailing from Sweden, Annika Larsson is one of her home country’s most noteworthy artists. Using video to investigate the gaze and control in her work, Larsson’s most recent video, DOLLS continues along this same theme. DOLLS, currently on view at Andréhn-Schiptjenko Gallery in Stockholm, will be up until September 21st.

(Annika Larsson, Still from DOLLS, 2008. Courtesy of Andréhn-Schiptjenko Gallery.)

Heart Wall, by feminist artist Nancy Azara is in its final months! This 24ft sculpture installation can be viewed in the lobby at 340 Madison Avenue through October.

(Heart Wall, (6ft x 24ft x 3ft) carved and painted wood with gold and aluminum leaf and encaustic. Courtesy of the artist.)