I admit it: I am a fan of the brief season when art looked like an avenue for women to reclaim their own bodies. But perhaps we expected too much of artistic expression, and we didn’t get feminism quite right either, seeing how fragile all our conquests have turned out to be.
Still, I celebrate when I come across whimsical crafts like these, reminding me of that season (photos courtesy of the Serpica Naro fashion collective in Milan, Italy).
May 29, 2008 at 9:58 pm
So O’Keeffe
May 30, 2008 at 4:07 am
I was thinking more about Judy Chicago, actually.
May 31, 2008 at 3:43 pm
And you’re right: O’Keeffe had nothing to do with militant feminism. Still, when I saw this post, I couldn’t help thinking about her monster flowers (http://www.globalgallery.com/enlarge/018-21460/).
I didn’t know Judy Chicago at all (which says more about my ignorance than about her relevance). I’ve just seen a few pictures of her work: well, not exactly the kind of images I’d put on the screensaver of my dayjob pc, though I appreciate their subversive strength. Thanks for having mentioned her.
June 1, 2008 at 2:56 pm
[...] artists in Milan have produced a collection of needlepoint and fabric vaginas (yes, you read that right) which appear to be wearable art. An added bonus of the original Italian [...]
July 7, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Hooray for the whimsical — the presence of humor is far too absence from modern art! It is good to see a new generation of Judy Chicago and Georgia O’Keefe inspired artists.
Having said that — I am compelled to comment on the title of this blog: Women’s Creativity.
I rebel at the notion that sexuality drives a woman’s creativity.
Some of the most beautiful abstract images I have seen are a result of a childish (< 5 years of age) impulse. While the German Expressionists reveled in the notion that the best art is unconscious, I do not put much stock in those Manifestos.
The act of consistently creating anything of quality (whether deemed creative by most conventional metrics or not) is not randomness. It takes some degree of conscious effort.
I do not believe that sexuality and the traditional notions of sexual productivity is in any way conscious. I’ve birthed 3 children and there is nothing conscious about my body’s activity around that.
Shy of a\ dramatic, unnatural act, the process was entirely on auto-pilot and my brain (the source of where I allocate my creativeness and best productivity) was a back-seat passenger….simply watching.
So, for me, sexuality may influence my creative impulses but I really do not believe it has anything to do with its kernal nor refinement.