Extreme!!!!

Check it out! This artist fights tigers! If that isn't extreme, I'm not sure what is...

(found this cartoon on facebook)

Some feminist extreme art...

I found some interesting artists, some are culturally making a statement as well as in terms of female body.. is culture something we want to approach? ex, Renee Cox comments on the stereotypes and assumptions of african american woman in society

Renee Cox--African American artist--works include themes on religion, African stereotypes, women's place in society, sexuality and race...photography, self-portraitures

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/renee_cox.php?v=1898

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache%3Av2a4mSmDHDUJ%3Awww.reneecox.org%2Fpress%2Fmamaartist.pdf+renee+cox+critic&hl=en&gl=ca&sig=AHIEtbQuUmjNNtnk17g2iWrgl60CeAwVPQ



Mary Coble--works focus on themes like lesbianism, gay rights, homosexual restrictions,--self-harm, performance art. tattooing.

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/mary_coble.php?i=2308

http://thenewgay.net/2008/04/artist-profile-mary-coble.html


Wangechi Mutu--race, sexuality, vaginal references...collage work, magazines, dismembered bodies

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/wangechi_mutu.php?i=1595


Regina Jose Galindo--Guatemalan, political, abuse of women, rights of women. performance art, photography

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/reginajose.php?

Hannah Wilke--female iconography, video performance, body art, performance art, photography, self portraits



http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/hannah_wilke.php

meeting with joan

Men & feminist art: the topic is good, but it's too broad. let's pick something we're really curious about and committed to.

Options:
-extreme feminist art (Orlan & Co.)
-cultural feminist art (Chitra Ganesh)
-focus on a particular artist (Ana Mendieta, Louise Bourgeois, etc.)
-compare & contrast two feminist artists

Local feminist art is also too big and not realistic with the time that we have...

So far nobody is focusing on just one or two artists...

Other groups are doing Barbie art, graffiti art...

What kind of contribution can we make to the class? This isn't just a project; it should open up some doors for us & our own interests.

Maybe pick three different artists over a distinct period of time that take things into different directions and developments? Developing a lineage of feminist art, and how artists have been influenced by each other?

Joan suggests we focus on a particular artist or group of artists, or extreme feminists in art. Between these two, there's probably enough to choose from for a presentation even though we have other ideas. These are really solid and manageable and can be carved into distinct units for each group member while still leaving room for depth, complexity, and criticality.

Katie is interested in the evolution of the self portrait; Cassie in extreme feminist art/shock factor/carrying a message; Emma is thinking; Leah is ok with either two but Joan thinks we should eliminate one tonight.

Consensus: find max. four extreme feminist artists to focus on & synthesize into a presentation

What does extreme feminist art mean to each of us?

Emma: The body scroll (1970s) Kara-Lee Schneeman (sp?) Internal/external; hidden; risk; performative; nudity; gutsy, with an audience. Not just extreme in a spectacular way but extreme in a way of pushing the boundaries to push your point. Giving birth to something? Taboos around vaginal imagery and referencing the body and the interiority and biology etc. fear of essentialism...but this was a very successful piece. Why? What is its currency still?
Cassie: Orlan
Joan suggests Linda Benglas with the strap-on. In "Art Forum" as an ad. Think about the time period and the daringness.
Leah: where art-making becomes extreme in that it is harmful (cutting artist)
Joan: So far we're all talking about EXTREME BODY ART.
Emma: woman living for 48 hours naked in a glass box like a house (performance art)
Katie: Joan suggests to Google and look up "extreme body art"
Emma: Are we ready to look at the images that come along with this territory?
Leah: Each pick a topic/artist to focus on something within our comfort level?
Cassie: Extreme can be a number of things; sexual, etc.

Joan: "Out of Step: Cathy Sisler's Risky Deviations" video
alcohol & drug addiction, fear of speaking in public, etc.
extreme story in public view
Our notion of extreme as we go along might get more focused; we might drop the notion or find subcategories. It is a useful notion to start with though! Artists who are pushing the limits.

Emma: Would men's versions of extreme body art be entirely different?
Cassie: The sperm tree :)
Joan: Lisa Streifler, U of R

post-class topic vote

majority in favour of further exploring "can art be unintentionally feminist?"

survey says yes.

Meeting Summary

OK!

Upon approaching our meeting today I was really distraught due to a few burning and circular questions. These included:

What is feminism?

What is the difference between pro-feminist and feminist in terms of male involvement?

(for a short definition of pro-feminist see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-feminism)

Can art be unintentionally feminist in nature?

What is feminist art?

What is pro-feminist art? and,

Art and perspective? ah? eh?

During discussion of these issues and the conflicts arising from them, we stumbled across the notion of appropriation. With talks of appropriation we also started to talk about postmodernism, and how that type of cultural borrowing/ appropriation may be a different thing entirely in that it is trying to create something that is different from a source by referencing and mixing rather than copying. For example, a cowboy wearing a punk collar (or punk wearing a cowboy hat) is different from both cowboy and punk.

Under the lose heading of negative appropriation we talked about the example of the Oil of Olay Commercail type media. In this something that is designed and scripted by a man is represented as the perspective of a woman speaking to women. This would be a woman appropriating a masculine dialogue, as well as a man appropriating a woman's dialogue, but subverting the outright contradiction of this by having it represented through a woman.

Acting and the performative dialogue may become a useful tool in trying to untangle the obstacles we are facing to this problem.

Speaking about the Oil of Olay reference has me thinking about your example, Leah, where you were talking about how you admired the spoken word style of a poet who's perspective and context highly differ from yours and that you would feel silly trying to create yourself. Consider this- if you wanted to appropriate, technically you could write this style of poetry, and have someone else read it who you thought fit into the context of narrating your piece. That would be a style of sneaky appropriation yes?

Next on topic became a discussion on how we could define for ourselves what feminist/women's art could be conceived from.

We asked ourselves:

- Is it the material?

If so, how does Patrick Trayer explore this?

-how does he employ the material? Is he appropriating or providing a contextual dialogue? How is his use of the material interpreted by others and by himself?
- Is it in the action? Or, in a different manner of speaking, performative?

If so, how does Adrien Stimson explore this?

Also, along with the notions of appropriation, how does he confront appropriation's ties with a colonialist style discourse?

Performative representation, cross dressing, style of cultural dress

-Is it in how the figure is represented?

If so, could Cassie's example of William Blake be used in discussion?

-Is it a specific manner of dialogue?

This needs more thought... ideas please!

Other Thoughts:

-subjectivity and personal perspective as pro-feminist notions

-cultural politics, exclusion and inclusion, and their relation to feminism

-Madonna and her constantly changing image- where the simulation of the real becomes more real than the real itself.

-Is feminist art simply the challenging of dominant themes and oppressive context?

-how deconstructivism and postmodernism apply to feminist art. Can the current meanings of traditionally female materials be not changed but placed in a conflicting conjunction/context in order to disrupt their contemporary or stereotyped read. Perhaps an example of this could be some of Vivienne Westwood's work.

Other interesting thoughts that may or may not relate to our topic:

Is there feminist architecture?

Why is the sky blue?

Thanks for reading folks. Enjoy the brain fodder. And just a reminder to post any and all thoughts to the blog, as well as update your facebook status with your location when you are on campus to enjoy some great company studying as well as increase the chance of random thought collision for this project.

Over and Out.

questions from research meeting #2

Emma: What is the difference between pro-feminist and feminist?
Can something that is unintentionally feminist be feminist? Does it count if it is unintentional? YES...
Men & feminist art: promoting & connecting similar views as feminism but from their individual perspectives. Building bridges but not trying to self-represent for someone else, because that would be false.
 
Katie: What exactly is feminist art?

Leah: will look into the concept of voice appropriation

Emma suggested a meeting with Joan to sort out some of our concepts. We've got a really good conceptual framework, but let's get some examples to fill it in. In the next week or so, think about looking for examples of male artists who either are feminist/pro-feminist OR can be interpreted as representing some of the research questions we've been asking.

ra ra ra

"Feminist art is not some tiny creek running off the great river of real art. It is not some crack in an otherwise flawless stone. It is, quite spectacularly I think, art which is not based on the subjugation of one half of the species. It is art which will take the great human themes — love, death, heroism, suffering, history itself — and render them fully human. It may also, although our imaginations are so mutilated now that we are incapable of the ambition, introduce a new theme, one as great and rich as those others — should we call it 'joy'?"
Andrea Dworkin, "Feminism, Art, and My Mother Sylvia," in a speech, April 16, 1974, at Smith College, Northampton, Mass

^ quote we might be able to build off of? (for proving -male-feminist-art can be possible?)

Also, discovered one of the old masters of art, William Blake, was indeed a feminist--was friends with Mary Wollstonecraft-- however i don't know if his feminism is expressly portrayed in his art...would he be a good example? or maybe not?

here's one of his paintings... he did a lot of mythological and biblical references, yet, when he did such controversial goddesses as this one (Hecate--when roman times hit, they labeled her as a monster [bringer of death etc...]) they are not shown as such. but i'll keep researching him, I've just skimmed his paintings so far, maybe i can find some that apply better.

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