Les Femmes du Moroque-Reclining Odalisque

Lalla Essaydi’s Les Femmes du Maroc  is a must-see. Today is its last day at the DeCordova Museum, in Lincoln, MA, but it will be soon travelling to the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum in Rutgers, New Jersey.

In her large-format photos of women in chadors, and, sometimes veils,  Moroccan- born Lalla Essaydi presents a beautiful and provocative challenge to  perceptions about Muslim women going back centuries.

The limited palette photographs in henna, black, and gray on white, depict individual or groups of women in chadors and, sometimes, veils, in poses or situations modeled after  paintings by great European masters, reproductions of which accompany most of the photos.

But instead of  emulating the rich color and sexual innuendo of the paintings, Essaydi changes  gestures, replaces men with women, and covers much of the surface area with arabic writing–illegible even to those who know the language.

As described on the DeCordova Web site, These women inhabit a place that is literally and entirely circumscribed by text, written directly on their bodies, apparel, and their surroundings by the artist herself.

In commentary provided through cell-phone dial in (difficult to hear because Lincoln has limited cell service)  Essadi explains that she wants to make clear that the work of male artists of centuries past has done a disservice to Muslim women by objectifying them as sexual objects, often in harems.

She points out that writing was a form reserved for men, and that one of the original  painting is so extraordinarily beautiful that one can easily overlook the subject matter: a naked woman being sold as a slave.

She brings up the difference between private and public space–that painters would never have been allowed into women’s homes, which were considered private space–but thought nothing of bringing women into their studios and showing paintings of them in public spaces–which were ordinarily reserved for men.

Essadyi also provides a complex interpretation of  “the veil”. On the one hand,  its use is sometimes considered a way of subjugating women, of keeping them out of public life, of denying them equality,  full citizenship. On the other hand, she says, she herself sometimes appreciates the veil and finds it freeing–because it protects her and her privacy from a potentially dangerous outside world.

Organized by Senior Curator Nick Capasso, Les Femmes du Maroc will travel to the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, January 30, 2010 – June 6, 2010.

——-Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA. We also publish Harriscomblog and Ithaca Diaries blog.

Karen Davis and Mark Orton–Cantabridigians until this summer–invite all to  a reception and opening celebration for  their new gallery on Saturday, September 12, 5:30 to 7:30  pm at 114 Warren St. in Hudson, NY.  

Called–not surprisingly–the Davis Orton Gallery, it’s located on an architecturally rich street famous for its antique shops, galleries and restaurants. 

 The first Davis Orton exhibition will feature  Meg Birnbaum’s series of black and white photographs of county fairs throughout New England made using a plastic toy camera.

These evocative images with their antique quality and timeless subjects present a wistful look back while revealing clues that remind us of their contemporary origins.

 Birnbaum is an award-winning fine art photographer and graphic designer based in Massachusetts. She has work in the permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the corporate program of the DeCordova Museum and other private and corporate collections. ‘Corn Dogs and Blue Ribbons …’ has recently been exhibited at the Griffin Museum of Photography.

The exhibit will also include  photographs by  Moira Barrett, Karen Davis, Ellen Feldman, Cassandra Goldwater and Frank Tadley.

The Davis Orton Gallery exhibits contemporary photography, mixed media and a growing number of artist-published photobooks, Davis said.  The goal of the gallery is to present mid-career artists and emerging artists whose work deserves a broader audience.

Davis and Orton have taught at Lesley College. While I miss having them close by, I’ve visited them in Hudson and am excited that they’re moving through art into action.

–Anita M. Harris

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.  We also publish HarrisCom blog.

 “Lorne Beach: Fantastical Rock Formations on Australia’s South Coast”
Photos by Anita M. Harris with annotation by Australian Geologist Avi Olshina
 June 5-September 7, 2009                                         Salem Arts Walk Friday-Sunday June 5-7
                                   Reception  3-5 Sunday June 24
                                              Treasures Over Time
                                                139 Washington St.
                                                       Salem, MA
                                                    978-745-2330
                                     www.treasuresovertime.com

 

Ann Carlson and Cow

On a  recent visit to the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA,   I was amused at seeing a toddler sitting on a bench as he watched, with rapt attention, a huge wall-to-wall video of a naked middle-aged woman who was wearing a transparent raincoat partially filled with dollar bills, in a large, hay-filled stall. The woman seemed  to be trying to get the attention of a disinterested cow who did nothing for 8 minutes but chew its cud.  The toddler and the 10 or twelve adults sitting on a long bench opposite the video wall seemed fascinated. My friend Sheila and I were vaguely amused, but on the whole, thought the cow had it right.

Carlson/Strom: New Performance Video is composed of four room-sized video installations–the first major museum presentation of the collaborative work of choreographer and performer Ann Carlson and video instalation artist Mary Ellen Strom.

In what a DeCordova writeup describes as “elegant, sharply executed and humorous”, the artists present recent performance videos that serve as “critical re-evaluations of cultural and historical narratives”  fusing visually spectacular video and the medium’s legacy as a tool for social change. One video– footage of real lawyers mugging it up in front of an elevator,  is relatively funny.

Others, focused on “the moving body within a range of “lasndscapes:” the physical western vista, the economic terrain of late-capitalist America–Guatemalan workers on a beach, seemed sad, even tragic.

No doubt the  artists  are breaking artistic barriers, making important statements in order to get us think about society and our relationships to it. The videos are beautifully done–and maybe I’m being unfair, but I wonder whether, given the reality of life today,  Carlson and Strong might be telling us more about their own removed attitudes than than eliciting new understanding on our part.

The installation, curated by Dina Deitsch, is worth seeing, but Sheila and I  were more taken with”Face to Face, “ presented as a challenge “to our conventional understanding of portraiture by asking us to reevaluate the complexity of the genre and, by extension, representation itself.”

Face-to-Face/ Lebowitz-Young Dyptich

In a diptych, photgraphers  Dick Lebowitz and Tom Young show, in one photo,  three women on a beach; in the other, the photographer who is taking the picture. ” In another photo, “Karl Baden violates the singular ‘I’ by fragmenting his own body. Multiple mouths and eyese suggest that the human subject is a composite rather than a finite whole.”

I agree with curatorial fellow Nina Bozicnik that the images bring up questions of identity, portraiture and representation. But, meaningful as they may be,  most of the photos are actually fun/interesting/pleasing  to look at.

We had a harder time with Tabitha Ververs’ “Narrative Bodies, “ which includes sixty (!)  paintings and sculptures highlighting  ” the artist’s feminist engagement with tradition and myth.

“Knives carved out of bone become the surface on which female perpetrators of violence throughout history are incised using the scrimshaw techniques.”

Work from a  more recent series of meticulous acryllic paintings on canvas challenges  gender roles by depicting women with tails,  “human” creatures with four legs and male and female anatomy, a mermaid with a split tail and the like.

Another series, exploring the relationship of humans to the sea, is painted on shells in an ancient and intricate Japanese tradition.

Vevers’ pale blues, pinks, peaches, and gold prolific are  lovely but the exhibit, curated by Nick Capasso,  is,  ultimately, disturbing–and no doubt, meant to be.

Sheila and I were most  impressed by a retrospective of the work of the late  Boston University  art professor Harold “Red” Tovish, (1921-2008), curated by Bozicnik.

Tovish self portrait-drawing

We especially liked a display of six bronze sculptures showing the artist’s face and head in a range styles including cubism, surrealism and  what the DeCordova describes as “contemporary biomorphic abstraction.”

Our only disappointment was that by late Sunday afternoon,  the cafe had closed so we were too late to sip  peach iced tea on the deCordova’s lovely terrace.

But  the  provocative art, gardens, outdoor sculptures and view on this early spring day were well worth the trip.

The DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park is located at 51 Sandy Pond Rd
Lincoln, MA 01773 781/259-8355. All four exhibits will be up through May 17.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, www.harriscom.com.

A lovely, eclectic show called “Float”  at the Clark Gallery,  145 Lincoln Road, Lincoln, MA, exhibits works on nautical themes by 24 artists.

Pieces range from a model wooden ship, c. 1900 by an unattributed  artist  to  Wendy Jean Hyde’s video installation showing a polar bear swimming back  and forth on a large plasma screen.

A few of my other  favorites included:

Rebecca Kincaid’s  oil, fabric & mixed media painting “Winter Sailor,” Chris Armstrong’s  oil on alumninum  “Whiteout,”

and Patricia Burleson’s Springmelt 6,. It’s an 18″x24″x18″  “boat” composed of wire, lace, bones, shredded tire, vine buttons, found metal and wood including saw blad, barbed wire, springs, strainers, whisk, scissors, sticks spoon and found objects including purse, balls, harmonic, baseball glove, clothes, pins nail clippers and fan.

I was impressed by Rob Napier’s tiny model ships, and  by Jerry Beck’s “The Dreams of Small fish (from his Secret Art of Loon Park, Oaracle Series).

My friend Mark H. noticed the playful spelling of “oaracle,”which makes sense because the work is a floor-to-ceiling=sized  oar (136x15x3″). Its shaft is a 3” clear acryllic tube filled with dried, shellacked fish and mushrooms.

It’s a fun show; I wish I could write up every piece but you can see them at the gallery through April 30 or view more photos online.

AMH

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of  the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

Hatry photo, Menard Gallery Heads and Tales

If Heide Hatry’s provocative photographic show—Heads and Tales–at the Peirre Menard Gallery, (10 Arrow St. in Cambridge) is meant to shock: it does. In fact, for a few moments,  it made me fear for the mental health of the artist, who has (beautifully–even lovingly)  photographed her sculptures portraying female victims of violent death.

Hatry, who grew up in Germany and moved to New York City in 2003,  sculpted life-sized female mannequins from clay and covered them with untreated pigskin (a cold wet sample of which is available in the gallery with the notice: “please touch”). She added raw meat for the lips and fresh pig eyes—and in some cases, flies, safety pins, and other props—creating, according to the gallery writeup, “the illusion of life where there is none”.

Hatry then photographed the mannequins—some enlarged to 20”x 30”, others more life-size, at 12” x 18”.

Viewed from afar, the photographs appear lifelike, but close up, you realize the subjects are constructs—adding physical and intellectual layers to the artist’s statements on the horrifying situations faced by many women—and on photography’s role in bringing the inanimate to life.

Hatry’s “views” are further emphasized by accompanying tales about the “women’s” lives (and deaths) as imagined by 27 writers—some of them well known feminists.

The show is well-conceived and displayed, which makes its subject matter all the more disturbing.

The exhibit, which opened Feb 13, 2009, will run through March 15. It corresponds with the release of Hatry’s book, Heads and Tales, and with readings, book signings and the premiere of a play.

AMH

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.