From Remedios VARO to Laurie Simmons, a new exhibition sends a feminist image of the creepy – colossal

Green-tinted woven wood covers the corners and leads to the middle where a woman in an orange cloak made from various wooden objects such as a wagon wheel holds a candle and looks to her right at a man entering into the room from a door. The man is wearing a blue cloak and is also comprised of wooden objects. In his right hand, he holds a white flower. Behind them, a clock hangs on the wall, and in the left corner, a blackbird perches on a chair.

In an essay from 1906, psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch came up with the term ‘Uncanny’, or onheimlichWhat does “disaster” or “not home -like” in German mean. He defined the psychological phenomenon as the experience of something new or unknown that could initially be interpreted negatively.

Austrian neurologist and founder of the Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud made the word popular with the publication of his book The creepy In 1919, which was elaborated on the idea as not only the sensation of the unknown, but also something that is able to bring out other hidden or oppressed elements. He even went so far that he described the creepy as frightening.

A black and white photo of two young twins with dark skin that sits in folding chairs against a forest-like background, opposite the camera with their body in opposite directions. They wear matching cowgirl -outfits, complete with hats, boots and hobby horses.
Mary Ellen Mark, “Tashara and Tanesha Reese, Twins Days Festival, Twinsburg, Ohio” (1998; later printed), gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 inch. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Image © Mary Ellen Mark/The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation

In the 20th century, the surrealists often turned to the concept to build a feeling of mystery or tension in their works. Meret Oppenheim, for example, created a famous tea cup covered with fur, simply entitled “Object” (1936), generally considered an iconic example of the movement.

Oppenheim is one of the more than two dozen artists whose work will appear in the National Museum of Women in The Arts’s exhibition, CreepyWith recent acquisitions and rarely shown pieces in the NMWA collection, plus special loans.

More than 60 works of renowned figures of modern art history such as Louise Bourgeois, Remedios VARO and Leonora Carrington will be shown alongside contemporary artists such as Shahzia Sikander, Laurie Simmons and Gillian. The large -scale presentation is the first to approach the concept by a feminist lens, organizing works on themes of safety and surrealistic imagination.

The show also devotes the phenomenon of the ‘Uncanny Valley’, a term devised by robotics engineer Masahiro Mori in 1970 to describe the fear or discomfort that you feel when you are confronted with something that is almost human, but not entirely, like Videoga characters that seem realistic yet it still seems ‘out’.

See also  Hollie Chastain lands a playful series of UFOs in collage form - colossal
A female Ventriloquistic dummy with light skin with straight black hair smiles in the middle of a circle of six male dummy dolls with brown and dark hair.
Laurie Simmons, “The Music of Regret IV” (1994), Cibachrome Print, 19 1/2 x 19 1/2 inch. © 2019 Laurie Simmons

In Laurie Simmons ‘The Music of Regret IV’ (1994) there is a female Ventriloquistian dummy in the middle of a circle of six male dummy dolls, whose looks were trained on her while she looked into the distance. The central character of Simmons is a medium that is used in the horror morning to introduce a feeling of creep or fear, the central character of Simmons is dramatic, her smile that hinders reality that it is disturbingly enclosed.

Along the theme of safety, or specifically unsafe spaces, the extensive staged photos of Fabiola Jean-Louis tell two stories at the same time. The artist portrays’ seemingly imperative portraits of narrow acquaintances with extensive period costumes that are typical of European from higher class, while disturbing images of racial and sexual violence are hidden in the background or details of a dress that the viewer reminds of the origin of Violence, “says an exhibition statement.

Many work in the show address physical trauma or the body’s relationship with the unknown. The photographic collages of Frida Oupabo, for example, portray black figures that evoke colonial history, criticize historical violence and injustice through a process of fragmenting, distorting and multiplying body parts.

The compositions of Orupabo reflect the surrealist cooperation practice of Cadavre ExquisOr excellent corpse, in which participants add to elements that others have pulled without seeing their work, producing intuitive and peculiar drawings.

A black and white artwork has a duplicated head of a woman with dark skin, one opposite the viewer straight ahead and the other upside down. The faces are stylized and abstract, with a textured appearance, set against a normal white background.
Frida Orupabo, “Two Heads (Detail)” (2022), framed collage with paper pins, 58 1/4 x 41 1/2 inch. © Frida Orupabo, thanks to the artist and gallery Nordenhake Berlin/Stockholm/Mexico City

“The enigmatic, dark humorous and psychologically tense artworks in Creepy Give the form to the powerful expressions of existential uneasures of female artists, “said NMWA -employee curator Orin Zahra, who organized the exhibition. She continues:

Instead of comforting and calming, these spooky and fantastic figures chase the unconscious. Instead of picturesque images, artists offer disturbing spaces that avoid the viewer. By concentrating on the ambiguity between reality and fiction, artists are exploring more and more faded lines between the artificial and creepy man.

Creepy Open 28 February and will take place until 10 August in Washington, DC, which painting, sculpture, photography, working on paper and video made between 1954 and 2022. More information and plan your visit to the museum website.

See also  Italian authorities seize Etruscan antiquities looted by 'clumsy' grave robbers
A woman with a medium-dark skin color in historic clothing with a large striped dress poses indoors. She wears a powder and a small white dog is sitting by her side. A painted background shows a pastoral scene with a vignette of a violent attack.
Fabiola Jean-Louis, “They will say we enjoyed it” from the series ‘Rewriting History’ (2017), Archive pigment print, 33 x 26 inch. © Fabiola Jean-Louis, thanks to the artist and gallery Myrtis
A very realistic mask of a face with light skin with dark brown eyebrows and eyelashes that seem to sleep and mouth are closed and relaxed. The mask hangs on a white wall.
Gillian wears “Sleepmaask (for Parkett, no. 70)” (2004), was reinforced with polymer resin, paint, 8 1/4 x 5 5/8 inch. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Gillian Wearing/Artists Rights Society, New York/DACS, London
In the middle of a mustard yellow Canvas is a small painting of a wooden desk and brown chair. There are several small statues on the desk. A floor lamp and a small bed are on the right. The bed is covered with pillows and an elegantly designed comforter.
Julie Roberts, “Sigmund Freud Study” (1998), oil on acrylic soil on cotton duck, 84 x 72 inches. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Julie Roberts/DACS, London
A woman with light skin wears a realistic mask from another woman with the same skin color. She is posed like the Mona Lisa. She has long dark hair and wears a brown dress. The background behind her shows a cityscape with rivers and clouds.
Gillian wears, “Me ax mona lisa” (2020), chromogenic print, 24 1/4 x 19 1/8 inch. © Gillian, thanks to the artist, Maureen Paley, London, and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York/Los Angeles
A right -hand side profile of a crane figure that reaches its neck forward and has extensive wings. The back of the crane is eroded and comparable to a ship. At the back of the hollowed area and the human figure dressed in a robe with the face of a tap is with a paddle. Three smaller faucets are sitting to the front of the hollowed back as passengers in a ship.
Leonora Carrington, “The Ship of Cranes” (2010), Bronze, 26 x 14 x 42 1/2 inch. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Leonora Carrington/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
A blonde crushed man stands in the corner of a room -walled room with wooden floors. He is confronted with a window and a greenish gray sky looms outside. He lifts his hands to his chest in a rotating movement that circles the earth while turning in a track with the moon hanging above it. In the background there are different models of bulbs that are on a shelf.
Remedios VARO, “Fenómeno de Ingravidez (phenomenon of weightlessness)” (1963), oil on canvas, 29 1/2 x 19 5/8 inch. © 2023 Remedios VARO/Artists Rights Society, New York/Vegap, Madrid
Old -fashioned black bakelite telephone receiver with seven taxi -song chicken heads with open beaks that stopped from the earphone.
Polly Morgan, “Receiver” (2009), Taxidermy quail chicks and bakelite telephone handset, 9 x 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch. Photo by Lee Stalsworth. Artwork © Polly Morgan

Source link