April 28, 2014 The Female Gaze

I don’t often get over to the University of Denver to see shows at the Victoria H. Myhren Gallery in the Schwayder Art Building but ventured over there a week or so ago to see The Female Gaze.  This show is a large and wonderful exhibit of art by women about women from the collection of Linda Lee Alter and on loan from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  Quite a coup for DU, this show is a fine companion to Modern Masters, now on view at the Denver Art Museum.  Not much time left to see it!  The Female Gaze is up until May 4 and open daily from 12-4 PM. 

At the entrance to the exhibit is a large, impressive work by Faith Ringgold.  We Came to America, 1997, is a story quilt, painted on canvas and hand-stitched with minimal stitching inside a pieced fabric border.  I had only seen Ringold’s work in books and on the ‘net previously and this was a great opportunity to see one example in person.

I found Autobiography, 1999, by Judith Schaechter, engaging for its unusual medium, stained glass window.  This piece reminded me of stained glass artworks I had seen last fall in a Rome museum where they depicted the daily activities of various artisans.

Hung Lui is quite well known for her paintings of traditional Chinese women.  She shows regularly at the Michael Carrroll Gallery in Santa Fe.  In a local show at Goodwin Fine Art some time ago, she also had some of her paintings of workers from the Cultural Revolution, work which I found particularly moving for their emotional content.  In this piece, Visage II, 2004, painted in oil on canvas, I was intrigued by the textures created by the paint dripped down over the woman’s face.

I’ll Be A Monkey’s Uncle, 1996, by Kara Walker was a good representative sample of her longstanding depiction of often brutal episodes in the lives of American slaves.  These images are always black silhouettes, many of them much larger than the one in this show, and always confrontational.  Quite recently Walker created a giant Sphinx-like sculpture with a styrofoam base and covered in a thick smooth layer of white sugar, alluding to the role of slavery in sugar production.

Gladys Nilsson, along with her husband, painter, Jim Nutt, were two of the original members of a Chicago group called The Hairy Who in the 1960’s.  Initially painting in oils, Nilsson switched to watercolor and gouache when pregnant in order to avoid turpentine fumes.  Looking Back, 1999, is a typical example of her palette and content.

I was very excited to see Squeak Carnwath represented in this collection with Memory Is Not, 1995.  I first encountered her work in Santa Fe several years ago at her one person show at the Michael Carroll Gallery and liked it so much I bought her book.  She was exhibiting large paintings with large color areas and included in them many personal markings which were quite arresting and mysterious.

At the entrance to the gallery at DU and not part of the above show was an impossible to miss large red sculpture with no identifying tag.  I had to hunt down an employee to ask about the artist.  The signature on the sculpture said Chen Wen Liny, 2005 but the title was in Chinese and had something to do with happiness.  It was pretty irresistible.

April 10, 2014 More Biennale- the Indonesian Pavilion and others

As I’ve mentioned, in addition to the two main venues for the Venice Biennale at the Arsenale and Giardini, there are numerous individual country pavilions situated on the grounds of the Giardini and also around Venice at other locations.

The title and theme of the exhibit at the Indonesian Pavilion was Sakti,, a Sanskrit term connected to primordial cosmic energy and the divine feminine creative power.  The atmosphere created by the different artist contributors to this pavilion was one of deep quiet reverence, agelessness and power.

Just inside the entrance, the work of Entang Wharso (b. 1967) used bronze, graphite and aluminum as well as other materials to create ominous and mysterious life-size figures mixing past and present, in this case, past presidents.

Further inside was the massive installation of Albert Yonathan Setyawan (b.1983) with its repetitive  ceramic forms.

They formed a sort of courtyard or grand entrance or, more fancifully, might have been an audience for Sri Astari’s (b. 1953) installation, Pendopo: Dancing the Wild Seas. Pendopo is a special chamber in an Indonesian house used for welcoming guests and conducting ceremonies.  These particular dancers express Sakti in the power of the South Sea Queen.  Her strength is supposedly behind the Sultan’s power and also resides inside each person.

Back in the main building at the Giardini, I was fascinated by Guo Fengyi’s (b.1942) drawings and life story.  Retiring from her job in a rubber plant at 37 because of severe arthritis, she began the practice of Qigong, a practice supporting wellness through focusing and strengthening energy.  After a vision in 1987 related to her Qigong practice, she began a tremendous outpouring of art in the form of drawings in ink, ball point, pen and pencil, using long Chinese scrolls.