A compact exhibition with a massive presence, Giant women in New York At the James Fuentes gallery takes its name from a series of drawings and collages by Anita Steckel. In the works of Steckel, dating from 1969 to 1974, female skyscrapers exceed New York, their voluptuous curves contesting the authority of phallic buildings.
The seven artists of the show, each represented by a single exceptional work, were all part of the landscape of feminist artists of the city in the 1960s and 70s. And all their renderings of women – here, naked, in moments of intimacy and discomfort – serve as delusions for the invisibility of artists in a world of art dominated by men.
Each work of this show of a play could be in a museum, and all artists are heavy goods vehicles (Alice Neel, Louise Bourgeois, Nancy Spero) or should be (Joan Semmel, Martha Edelheit, Juanita McNeely and Steckel). It is therefore all the more poignant as primordial sensitivities seem to be discomfort, melancholy and anxiety.
In “Ruth Nude” by Neel (1964), a blonde woman sits with her open legs, exposing her vagina, but any sexual charge is broadcast by her lateral and apparently concerned look. In a online speech About painting, Helen Molesworth notes that “it's not the male look” at work here. At the same time, the relationship between the artist and the subject clearly did not translate into the solid and anchored visual space of idealized feminism; Neel paints Ruth in an abstract sphere, his hands stretched in search of something to grasp in the swamp.
“Window Shadow: Chameleon on Woman's Face” by McNeely (1975) takes up anxiety. A naked woman is suspended upside down, an arm stretching her hand, a painful expression on her face and a chameleon sitting on her mouth. The diagonal and dark backdrop remembers the film Noir, except that the shadows are lilac instead of the black, suggesting a female domesticity (underlined by the shapes of pots in pots). It is a terrifying image of a woman reduced to silence and not moored.
Even the art responsible for Joan Semmel is strangely cold here. Two criminal bodies intertwined, bulging the space are bordered by a moist turquoise. Three women are sketched at the top of the main image, all in the air, as if we are witnessing the old sexual encounter.
In the collage of Steckel photos “Giant Women on New York (Coney Island)” (1973), an almost caricatural drawing of a naked woman in the face of the artist is located through the beach of Coney Island while people go about their business, ignorant. Steckel, who regularly integrated humor and sexuality into his work, was among the most provocative feminist artists of his time. The importance of his messaging is just starting to take root. Here, she adopts a different attitude towards the exclusion of women in the art world, and beyond: because no one is interested in her, she can do what she wants, so she takes control of the whole beach. Maybe Steckel's strategy can be a lesson for all of us today.
Giant women in New York Continue to James Fuentes Gallery (52 White Street, Tribeca, Manhattan) until April 19. The exhibition was organized by Laura Brown.
