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12.21.2009

Fair and Fair Alike: Miami 2009. Bourgeois, Benglis and Wilke

Fair and Fair Alike coverage so far:
. Mano a Mano
. The Pretenders
. Art Miami
. Red Dot
. NADA
. Scope
. Aqua Art
. Pulse
. The Big One, Art Basel Miami Beach
. An Overview Before the Individual Fairs
. Art Bloggers at Art Miami
. Are We Out of the Woods?
. A Little Gossip
. Art? Or Not Art?
. Nosing Around
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Last year at the big fair, in the booth for Carolina Nitsch Gallery, Carolee Schneeman was represented by her Interior Scroll (detail left, encased like a relic) and by black and white photographs from the original performances in 1975 when she pulled that folded scroll from ther vagina. Schneeman's performance even back then was kind of shocking. It was instant feminist art history, widely documented in contemporary feminist journals. It took a while for the artist and her work to become part of the larger overview, but seeing it at the fair, amid the blue-chip offerings, I realized it had been nudged into art history. .
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ABMB: Louise Bourgeois, selection of sculptures; at Cheim & Read, New York
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Louise Bourgeois, with her long life of artmaking, is art history. Lynda Benglis, at least 30 years younger than Bourgeois, has moved into that realm with her ceaseless exploration of materials. And Hannah Wilke (1940-1993), who used her body transgressively to flaunt sexist ideas and taunt sexist thinking, has moved into that realm as well. Indeed, when I first saw the pink labias at the Alison Jacques Gallery at the big fair, I thought, "Some is ripping off Hannah Wilke!" I need not have worried. The gallery dedicated most of the booth to Wilke's work. .

This post is a look at the work, exhibited at the fairs, of those three artists.
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ABMB: Bourgeois, above and below, with images and objects representing the eternal maternal; at Karsten Greve, St. Moritz
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ABMB: Benglis poured latex work, Untitled, 1970; at Cheim & Read, New York
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ABMB: Benglis, Centaurus, 1986, cast aluminum
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Detail below
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ABMB: Approaching the Alison Jacques Gallery, b/w photographs of Hannah Wilke, above and below
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Wilke: Above and below, two views of Untitled (white), 1977; group of 18 white, painted, glazed ceramics

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Wilke: Above and below, Untitled (pink), 1977, group of 38 pink, painted, unglazed ceramics


Next up: House

4 comments:

Lori Buff said...

I love the work of Louise Bourgeois, thanks for showing the work of other artist with similar ideas.

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing these show images. Enjoy the solstice.

Matthew Beall said...

A word that sums up Joanne Mattera at Art Basel Miami = INEXHAUSTIBLE.

Thanks for the well guided tours!

joanne@joannemattera.com said...

Thanks, Matthew, but I have to admit that I'm dragging through these last few posts, even though they're the most enjoyable for me to do. There's one coming up tomorrow, and five more before the ball falls on the 31st.