I like this a lot. Tell me about it
Spero is known for reinterpreting ancient imagery, especially ancient images of women, to tell a story of empowerment. She studied ancient Egyptian art at museums in Chicago.
One of her favorite figures from Egyptian mythology is the goddess Nut who you see printed repeatedly at the top of this banner. The form you see also incorporates the multi-breasted element from the Capitoline wolf, the wolf who raised Romulus and Remus in the Roman foundational myth.
Spero viewed each of these figures as maternal, nurturing, and deeply archaic. One of her goals as an artist was to create what she called a "simultaneity of women."
Tell me more.
"Disarm" is the third series of works that Reyes has created from weapons. The Disarm works are musical instruments that the artist constructed out of firearms confiscated by the Mexican government---firearms that were slated to be destroyed. He said: "I believe that the purpose of art is to come up with ways to transform the most negative instincts into creative instincts"
His first weapons-based project was called Palas por Pistolas (Shovels for Guns). Residents of Culiacán, Mexico were allowed to turn in weapons in exchange for coupons to local stores. Reyes melted down all 1527 of these weapons to produce 1527 shovels that were then used to plant 1527 trees.
Is this work by Stacy Lynn Waddell related to the exhibition “We Wanted a Revolution”?
Yes! The woman depicted is the artist Maren Hassinger whose sculpture "Leaning" was featured in “We Wanted a Revolution” here at the Brooklyn Museum. Of course, she is also wearing a commemorative t-shirt.
Waddell decided to create an image of Hassinger when they were both doing an artist's residency in New Orleans.
Very interesting!
I’d love to know more about this piece’s context!
his is an interesting one! This work appropriates details from two paintings by 19th-century American painter Thomas Eakins, and the text addresses a controversial event during his career.
Eakins had risen to the position of director of the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1886, women were enrolled in the Academy, but were not allowed in the studio with nude, male models (thus the title, “Barred from the Studio”). Eakins, a firm believer in the study of anatomy in art, invited the female students in, but was subsequently asked to resign.
Dottie Attie is bringing attention the struggles that women artists have faced and championing Eakins's decision despite its consequences.
Can you tell me about the context of this piece?
One of the most important things to consider when viewing Vito Acconci's work is his own feelings: he identified as a feminist, but struggled to rectify that with his own identity as a straight, white male.
In this series of photos, which depict oral sex, he directly confronts the explicit implications of the phrase "Why Don’t You Come Up and See Mine Sometime?" by presenting it literally. You could also read the title as a question asked by one artist to another about coming up to their studio to see their work. If the power dynamic between the two parties are skewed, the piece intertwines sex and the expectation of sex with access and power.
He said in 1991: "My early work came out of a context of feminism, and depended on that context. Performance in the early seventies was inherently feminist art. I, as a male doing performance, was probably colonizing it."
What is the Rhoplex listed in the materials?
It's a brand of acrylic binder that can be used as a paint primer or glue for collage techniques. It's likely one of the materials Hammond used to treat the wooden supports and/or the fabrics.
Why does Laurie Simmons use dolls?
The choice to photograph dolls stemmed from an interest in the ability to create her own environments and get away from reality. They are also an exploration of nostalgia and the archetypes that Simmons grew up around, like the 1950s housewife. The dolls are surrogates for her own experience that can go anywhere and do anything.
Tell me more.
During the 1980s, Barbara Kruger perfected her signature style, using cropped, black-and-white images with text printed in a bold typeface.
Her work often calls attention to the role of advertising in shaping public opinion and her early years as a graphic designer heavily influenced her aesthetic.
The “change of address” text may be a reference to the gentrification of SoHo in the mid-1980s, when many artists lost their loft spaces due to increased rent. The use of chains around the feet could also be a reference to slavery with the accompanying text becoming a comment on violent forced displacement.
What does it mean?
This work by Marilyn Minter features a model/dancer's feet, which have been tightly crammed into bejeweled heels.
The model slowly and ominously destroys a glass pane separating the subject from the viewer as silver rain falls from above.
Minter is known for critiquing the seeming perfection of the fashion industry. She gets almost uncomfortably close to her subjects, showing the point at which things start to break down---in this case, perhaps literally “shattering” an illusion. There are also more broad implications such as breaking glass ceilings and smashing the patriarchy!
I had no idea that the Lefferts House had such a sad history.
Many people do not and that is just what Faustine is hoping to draw attention to. "Isabelle," referenced in the title of that photograph, was the name of one of the Lefferts' slaves.
I love it. Thank you!
