A large number of feminist artists from the early 1970's adopted aspects of self performance to unhinge the alignment of certain codes of objectification with the female body. On display are five films, bringing artists together from different generations and backgrounds, grouped around the idea of the masquerade. Featured artist: Eleanor Antin, Joan Jonas, Manon, Ursula Mayer, Cindy Sherman, Hannah Wilke. Curated by Gianni Jetzer.
Curated by Gianni Jetzer
Eleanor Antin, Joan Jonas, Manon, Ursula Mayer, Cindy Sherman, Hannah Wilke
A large number of feminist artists from the early 1970’s adopted aspects of self performance
and masquerade to unhinge the alignment of certain codes of objectification with the female
body, as Amelia Jones remarks in her essay Manon and Masquerade – Gender as Counter-
Transference.
In conjunction with Manon’s first show in the U.S., five films from female artists are added
as an additional layer to her exhibition, bringing artists together from different generations
and backgrounds, grouped around the idea of the masquerade.
In her filmic performance The King (1972), Eleanor Antin applies hair to her face. She moves
through a variety of bearded faces seeking the identity most appropriate to her facial
structure and satisfying to her aspirations. Antin transforms herself into a man and adopts
one of her recurring performance personae, "The King."
In Cindy Sherman's Doll Clothes (1975), a paper doll comes to life, trying on outfits as proxy
alter-egos before being stripped and put away by her owner. Stuck in a two-dimensional reality
and ultimately subject to the desires of another, the doll is portrayed equally through her
rebellion and vanity, which seasons the social criticism with healthy doses of humor and play.
In The Lunch in Fur / Le Déjeuner en Fourrure (2008), Ursula Mayer presents a fictional
meeting between three historical personalities in their later years: the artist Meret
Oppenheim, the singer Josephine Baker and the photographer Dora Maar. These women, in a state
of contemplation, recall different events in their lives. Like the film images, the spoken
text also follows a woven, ritualized movement, which in turn broaches the question of the
psychological constitution of memories.
Hannah Wilke’s Through the Large Glass (1976) documents the artists seminal deadpan
performance. Wilke, dressed in a fedora and a white suit, performs at the Philadelphia Museum
of Art, behind Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors. Seen through the glass of
the Duchamp sculpture, the artist strikes a series of fashion poses then proceeds to strip. In
dramatizing the often absurdist postures of a model, Wilke willfully uses her own image and
her sexuality to confront the erotic representation of women in art history and popular
culture.
Based on the 1972 performance of the same name, Organic Honey’s Visual Telepathy, a film by
Joan Jonas, is an enigmatic ritual of identity. In this performance, Jonas plays both herself
and her masked double Organic Honey. This alter ego, whose guise is a frozen doll’s face
adorned in feathered headdress and costumes, embodies artifice, masquerade and narcissism.
The film examines female gestures and archetypes, both personal and cultural. In using
disguise and masquerade to examine the self, the film of Jonas inquires into the subjectivity
and objectivity of personal identity.
Image: Cindy Sherman, still from Doll Clothes, 1975.Courtesy Metro Pictures Gallery.
For additional information please contact Gianni Jetzer: jet@swissinstitute.net
Opening june 30th 2009, 6-8 PM
Swiss Institute
495 Broadway - New York
Gallery Opening Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11 am - 6 pm
Free entry