In a recent ARTnews essay, Wangechi Mutu -- the artist of the work above -- implored her fellow feminists to not only think deeply about the amount of women artists active in the contemporary art world, but also the way women are portrayed in artworks themselves.
“How often do women appear in art, and how do they sit and perform in the works?" she asks. "Is the figure always represented as docile, inactive, sexualized, or subordinate? Does she have an inferior role in a larger narrative that emphasizes the superiority of the male protagonist? Is her appearance stereotypical in terms of weight, skin color, hair texture, and facial expression?"
Do you know what Mutu's talking about here? Shall we take a five-second tour through art history to refresh our memories?
Anonymous, Venus of Willendorf, 28,000 BCE
Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (1486)
Cool.
Leonardo da Vinci, Lady with an Ermine (1490)
Yup.
Edouard Manet, Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1863)
For sure.
Paul Gauguin, Two Tahitian Women (1899)
Oh, come on.
In part inspired by Mutu's words, Rhia Hurt and Mary Negro, directors of Trestle Gallery, set out to exhibit a show that puts the nonconforming body on display. Bodies of color, queer bodies, bodies with disabilities, bodies that don't conform to societal norms and conventions.
To curate the exhibit, titled "Body Utopia," they enlisted queer, feminist Brooklyn-based painter Clarity Haynes. Haynes, who has worked continuously on "The Breast Portrait Project" since the 1990s, focuses her practice on fondly visualizing the beautiful figures that are so often rendered invisible by mainstream culture. In Haynes' words: "I think of my portraits as a cultural intervention -- 'before' pictures lovingly drawn and painted, meditative descriptions of specific bodies that need no correction."
For Haynes, it was crucial to include both a diverse array of artists and a wide range of represented subjects. "Often we think about the nonconforming body as being represented from the outside, an external view," she explained in an email to The Huffington Post. "And that is important. But I’m also interested in how we (and by we, I mean all human beings) experience embodiment in an internal, felt way."
"As Mutu points out, prejudices and constrictions regarding the kinds of bodies we’re allowed to see and create are strongly entrenched in the art world, just as in society at large," Haynes continued. "I believe we need imagery and artwork about the nonconforming body because it expresses a totality -- a depth -- a truthfulness in our experience, that patriarchal mandates do not permit us."
So, she selected five artists to join her in displaying their body positive work, projecting their own images the ways they want them to be seen. The following six artists, merging the personal and political, render bodies that are willful, active, and dominant. Superior. Nonconformist. Free.
Get to know the artists, with introductions provided by Haynes, below.
Riva Lehrer
Nadina LaSpina, charcoal on paper 2008
"Riva Lehrer’s work is directly about representation, disability and autonomy. Her work in the show is a representational drawing of Nadina LaSpina, a well-known NYC-based disability rights activist. LaSpina is represented in her wheelchair, and Lehrer renders the entirety of her (clothed) body with love and attention. It’s a very compelling portrait."
Constantina Zavitsanos
Self Portrait (EMDR), one years sleep on memory foam, wood, 2009-10
"Constantina Zavitsanos’ work is intimate and conceptual. 'Self Portrait (EMDR)' is a sculpture made from memory foam, which bulges out from a wooden frame in a simple, classical, yet sensual way. The form was created by Zavisanos’ own body during one year of sleep."
Pinar Yolacan
Boro, Lambda print, Ed. of 50 10AP, April edition of ARTIST OF THE MONTH CLUB, 2009, Courtesy of the artist and INVISIBLE-EXPORTS
"Pinar Yolaçan’s photographs of nonconforming bodies are fantastical, creative, beautiful, and sometimes disturbing."
Sondra Perry
42 Black Panther Balloons on 125th Street, (Performance Documentation), 2014
"Sondra Perry’s video work is humorous and moving. In '42 Black Panther Balloons on 125th Street,' a cluster of enigmatic, politically charged balloons form a kind of awkward, symbolic body in a public space."
Black Girl As A Landscape, HD single channel video projection, color, silent; TRT: 10:04 2010
"In 'Black Girl As A Landscape,' the camera pans slowly and obsessively back and forth across a horizontally framed figure (performed by Dionne Lee) who seems to be reclining or floating sideways. The patterns in her dress, her subtle movements, her breathing, and her blinking eyes are all tremendous events in this black and white silent video, which is as much a digital abstraction at times as it is representational. (Perry has said that she explores the possibilities of abstraction as a way of creating dimensionality and autonomy for marginalized bodies.)"
Chitra Ganesh
Her Hanging Remains, dimensions variable, from Broken Spell, a two part mixed media installation at Wave Hill, NY, 2004
"Chitra Ganesh’s work often invokes a kind of monstrous, witchy, goddess energy. 'Her Hanging Remains' is a photograph of an enormous fabric sculpture installation -- a 25-foot wide pair of red underpants, hanging from a tree. The long, trailing ropes form a kind of intentional, looping pattern on the ground that seems to spell out some kind of magic or ritual."
Clarity Haynes
Leonora, oil on linen, 58â x 74â, 2015
"My own interest in the nonconforming body stems from my coming-of-age in the ‘90s in the context of lesbian feminist culture and activism. In the queer spaces I inhabited, diverse bodies were generally embraced. There was a completely different aesthetic value system than in mainstream, straight culture. 'Leonora,' my piece in 'BODY UTOPIA,' represents the monumental nude torso of an older butch lesbian who posed for me over a period of a few years. She is very unapologetic and beautiful as well. The image is rendered in oil paint. The scale makes a statement: this body is taking up space in a culture that tells women they don’t deserve it."
BODY UTOPIA runs from September 25- October 30, 2015 at Trestle Gallery in New York.
Art History's Most Erotic Artworks
Francisco de Goya's "The Nude Maja"(01 of13)
Open Image ModalThis circa 1800 painting will go down in history as "the first totally profane life-size female nude in Western art -- thought to be at least one of the first explicit depictions of female pubic hair. At the time of its creation, the Catholic Church banned the display of artistic nudes, so Goya's nude woman and its more modest counterpart, "The Clothed Maja," were never exhibited publicly during the artist's lifetime.
Katsushika Hokusai's "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife"(02 of13)
Open Image ModalThere's almost no ambiguity regarding the erotic nature of this painting. The print -- a perfect example of Japanese shunga art -- depicts a fisherman's wife deriving pleasure from a rather unique encounter with an octopus. But do you recognize the artist's name? Yes, the man behind "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" had more than landscape likenesses up his sleeve.
Hieronymus Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights"(03 of13)
Open Image ModalOk, so you may associate "The Garden of Earthly Delights" with its array of terrifying, otherworldly creatures, but the painting has its fair share of sensual details. Dating from between 1490 and 1510, the work plays host to a whole carnival of sins, including the acts in the image above, in which nude men and women are seen frolicking with each other, horses, birds, mermaids, plants... you name it. Writer Laurinda S. Dixon described it as teeming with "a certain adolescent sexual curiosity."
Paul Cezanne's "Seven Bathers"(04 of13)
Open Image ModalCezanne is well known for his various images of nude bathers, many of whom were women. "Seven bathers," however, portrays the figures of nude men -- though some are rather androgynously rendered. This scene of beautifully crafted male bodies is surely not the most erotic of subject matter, but the ways in which the artist toyed with classical representations of the body and the relationship between the viewer's gaze and nakedness makes for a borderline erotic aesthetic. It is assumed that Cezanne, due to a lack of available models, painted this from memory or imagination.
Titian's "Venus of Urbino"(05 of13)
Open Image ModalMark Twain once called Titian's Venus "the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses." With her unabashed nudity and strong gaze into the viewers' eyes, the nude female in this 1538 work of art is undeniably erotic.
Gustav Klimt's "Frau bei der Selbstbefriedigung"(06 of13)
Open Image ModalKlimt, the Austrian symbolist painter with a penchant for gilded canvases, brought you uber-famous works like "The Kiss" and his portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. While those images, not to mention the many nude figures that populate his other paintings, exude sensuality, there's nothing quite as erotic as "Frau bei der Selbstbefriedigung."
Peter Paul Rubens's copy of Michelangelo's "Leda and the Swan"(07 of13)
Open Image ModalFor early 17th century audiences, it was likely more acceptable for a woman to be shown engaging in explicit acts with a bird than with an actual human being. Hence, "Leda and the Swan," based on the Greek myth in which Zeus takes the form of a swan and "seduces" a woman named Leda. Artists like Cesare da Sesto and Paul Cezanna also chose the crude story as inspiration for paintings.
Miyagawa Isshō's "Spring Pastimes"(08 of13)
Open Image ModalCreated in 1750, this shunga scroll depicts a tryst between two men, one likely a samurai and the other a kabuki actor taking on a sexualized female role.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard's "The Swing"(09 of13)
Open Image ModalThis Rococo masterpiece from 1767 is full of symbolism, all of which centers on a young woman's extramarital affair. See that man hidden in the bushes on the left side of the canvas? He's not only on the receiving end of that kicked-off shoe, he's also getting quite a peek up the woman's dress. Erotic? Maybe. We'd settle for 18th century creepy.
Pablo Picasso's "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon)"(10 of13)
Open Image ModalPicasso's famous Primitivist painting portrays five nude prostitutes allegedly from a brothel in Barcelona. With their unconventional female forms and relentless gazes, the image is a proto-Cubist version of erotica.
Egon Schiele's "Friendship"(11 of13)
Open Image ModalDespite the title, there's a underlying sense of sexuality in Schiele's depiction of two naked individuals, embracing in a twist of line and form reminiscent of the great Austrian painter's intense figurative works.
Diego Velázquez's "Rokeby Venus"(12 of13)
Open Image Modal Gustave Courbet's "L'Origine du monde (The Origin of the World)"(13 of13)
Open Image ModalNeed we say more?
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