Protest art alive and relevant at group show response to Trump words on women
The group show—curated by Maureen Nollette for Women’s History Month and in response to President Trump’s boasts about sexually assaulting women—is thoughtful, clever, and direct.
“Gilding The P- - ,” a show created “in reaction to the Republican President’s blatantly sexist comments regarding women,” opened this past First Friday at the 337 Project Space and Studio 341, side-by-side connected galleries on South Division Avenue.
Seven artists have taken this now infamous quote “grab them by the p- -” and used those words as a starting point for their theme in this small, intimate setting.
“Given Trump’s propensity to surround himself with gold (in color and in mineral), grabbing has been substituted with gilding. Gilding is the process of applying gold leaf or gold paint to a surface. Each artist in the space has created a response to reclaim those deeply offensive words: a personal response for each artist to the president, ‘grabbing them by the p- -,’” reads the show statement.
All of the work selected by Maureen Nollette, curator, is extremely well crafted. Several mediums and approaches are in the show, including photography, sculpture, video, and mixed media. Artists mostly limited themselves to a subdued palate, creating a sense of formal unity within the group show. Elements of gold medium added reinforce the concept.
Alynn Guerra’s print “Upward Fish” displays bold symbolism with delicate lines and movement, finding room for intricate mark-making and pattern even with such a strong subject matter.
Kim Cridler’s sculpture “Death to the Living, Long Life to the Killers” somehow weaves together steel, bronze, beeswax, garnet gemstones, and gilding. This composition could have become overly busy or unresolved, but Cridler pulls a composition together that creates clarity and resolve.
Kate Silvio’s work, “You Can Never Go Home Again,” utilizes contrast of materials: both found and carved wood, gold leaf, and steel tacks. She juxtaposes the unrefined and refined as a commentary on the female self. The tacks are a hidden gem in this work, being concealed to the casual viewer. Close inspection reveals layers of sharp metal attached to the underside of the hard-edged wood.
Anna Campbell’s patinated bronze sculptures, a series of fig-leaf-codpieces, are hung close to eye level. Multiple and unique in form, the repetition is a nod to the dominating male narrative.
“State of Mind,” Jette Ellgaard Kristensen’s video installation, features the traditional craft of crochet. The handmade crocheted design coils and uncoils on a continuous reel. Standing in this experience, with its constant and repeated construction and deconstruction and added sound, left me with chills.
In the tradition of art as protest, curator Nollette’s contribution, a mixed media work titled “01/20/2017,” uses the image of the American flag upside down, a posture officially recognized as an act of distress.
According to the United States Flag Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” Nollette borrows this narrative as she painstakingly reproduces the dimensions and proportions of the flag on the paper. With gold thread, she hand stitches the stars and stripes with precision. The ornate gold thread contrasts against the dark murk and saturation of the brown and black India ink. This ink has been applied layer upon dried layer, filling the negative space with a uniform consistency. The edge of the flag, where black meets white in the image, is allowed to bleed into and across the imposed boundary of the picture plane.
As a work of art, the image is bound to be controversial in nature. But Nollette approaches it with the sincerity of a patriot.
In Lauren Kalman’s inkjet print, “But If the Crime is Beautiful…Composition with Ornament and Object,” the artist uses a stark white background to focus the viewers’ attention on the female figure. The torso and upper body is wrapped in a gold fitted cloth, a reference to a body suit, with her legs crouched. Perched on a chair, her legs spread wide, her inner thighs and genitalia are covered in a gilded gold substance. In contrast, her body creates a reference to male genitalia.
Kalman includes another piece: “But If the Crime is Beautiful…Monstrance.” This may be the most powerful and nuanced piece included in the exhibition. The image, connected in concept to the previous work, is a close up, full frontal image of female genitalia covered in a gilded gold substance. In this work, Kalman continues to triumph in her formal skill: in detail, scale, and structure.
The image is steeped in vulnerability. This vulnerability is where the artist gives the creation its power. A monstrance is a vessel used in Catholic and Anglican churches as a way to conveniently transport the “Host,” the bread or wafer used in Holy Communion to represent the body of Christ. When the monstrance, or vessel, contains the Host, the priest will not touch it with his bare hands. Out of respect, he holds it with a humeral veil, a wide band of cloth that covers his shoulders and has pleats on the inside in which he places his hands.
Kalman’s work can be viewed as a commentary of the Catholic Church, an institution still steeped in a long tradition of patriarchy. But I think it goes much deeper than that. I see Kalman participating in the long tradition of reclaiming the Sacred Feminine. In referencing a vessel that is known to be untouchable, she addresses forcibly the president’s words and rejects them thoroughly. You will not grab this precious vessel, she says.
Kalman reclaims the space within us that aches for justice, equality, and truth in their purest forms. She eloquently and forcibly expresses visually that longing for every women’s voice to be heard and respected.
337 Project Space and Studio 341 are located at 337 and 341 South Division Avenue, respectively. “Gilding the P- -” is open to the public Saturdays and Sundays in the month of March from 1–5 p.m.
