McDermott & McGough’s ‘Boys in a Bedroom, 2am,’ 2007, Carbo print, 23.75 by 18 inches. Below: Dona Nelson’s ‘My Home IV.01,’ cheesecloth and acrylic mediums on canva, 90 by 60 inches.
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By Rafael Risemberg
Friday, April 25, 2008
All of the artists whose exhibits are described below are gay or lesbian.
Dona Nelson
A 35-year survey of Dona Nelson’s paintings at Thomas Erben Gallery in Chelsea shows how far this artist has come. Her earlier works on display, from as far back as 1973, are more or less standard abstractions and one figurative female portrait. Nelson’s breakthrough seems to have occurred around 1992, as represented by one painting of hands constructed from canvas strips that are glued to the supporting canvas. Subsequent experiments with texture include two lively paintings incorporating cheesecloth and one using modeling paste. But Nelson’s most innovative piece is her most recent: a double-sided work from 2008 in which acrylic paint was applied to the back and then forced through the canvas using a water hose. Utilizing canvas as membrane is an imaginative and vigorous extension of action painting. 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until May 31, at Thomas Erben Gallery: 526 W. 26th St., No. 412, thomaserben.com, 212-645-8701.
McDermott & McGough
Known mainly for incorporating homoerotic subtext in their paintings of different historical eras, David McDermott and Peter McGough turn their attention to the year 1958 in their current exhibit of staged photographs, shot on location at The Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. The staid 1950s suburbs were the time and place these artists came of age, and their photos intimate sexual repression and ennui, even within the security of the nuclear family. “Boys in a Bedroom, 2 am,” for example, shows one teen staring longingly at another boy as they lounge in a blandly decorated bedroom. In “Delay,” a boy at the cusp of adulthood leans near a door that reads “Ladies.” And in “Roadside Cabin, 1 am,” a boy in boxer shorts and slicked-back hair carefully examines his appearance in the mirror. In all of these works, the unspeakable reverberates the most. 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Sat., until May 17, at Nicholas Robinson Gallery, 535 W. 20th St. near 10th Ave., nrgallery.com, 212-560-9075.
Fierce Pussy
It’s a welcome—and timely—jolt from the past. The now-defunct lesbian art collective Fierce Pussy has just released a spiral-bound compilation of their wheat-pasted works on paper, available at Printed Matter, Inc., in conjunction with an exhibition of their posters at this arty bookstore. “I AM A stone butch androgyne femme tomboy girlfriend sapphic deviant AND PROUD,” reads one such work, photocopies of which the collective’s members plastered all over downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn in the early 1990s. “She had recurring dreams about the girl next door” is the caption of another work, underneath a photo of a couple of three- or four-year-old girls (baby pictures of some of the artists themselves). Identity politics in art peaked at about the time these women carried out their guerilla operations. In this so-called “post-gay” era, it’s refreshing to revisit our arts-related activist roots. 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Tues.–Wed., 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Thur.–Sat., until May 24, Printed Matter, 195 10th Ave. near 22nd St., printedmatter.org, 212-925-0325.
“WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution”
“WACK!”—arriving in Queens from its Los Angeles debut—shows feminist artworks from 1965-1980. Needless to say, several of the artists are lesbian. Louise Fishman’s 27 works on paper, titled “Angry Bertha,” “Angry Phyllis,” etc., full of her characteristic abstract expressionist strokes, take up almost an entire wall. A Joan Snyder acrylic painting sports flock (a fuzzy pink material) at the navel of her abstracted female figure. “An Oral Herstory of Lesbianism,” by Arienne Ravin, consists of 50 slides of a women’s performance art piece from 1979. Tee Corinne’s “Cunt Coloring Book” is a set of explicit illustrations from 1975 (unfortunately, the book is closed, so we see only samples). Most compelling to me are Barbara Hammer’s six video works that include “Superdyke” (1975), in which 10 women carrying Amazon shields race through town rescuing ladies in distress. Noon–6 p.m., Thur.–Mon., until May 12, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center: 22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave., Long Island City, ps1.org, 718-784-2084.
Rafael Risemberg, Ph.D., leads gay & lesbian art gallery tours through New York Gallery Tours: nygallerytours.com, 212-946-1548. The final two GLBT gallery tours of the season start 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10 and June 21, at 526 W. 26th St. near 10th Ave.
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