Many folks in the art community will undoubtedly agree that Lynda Benglis is one of the most celebrated and one of the most daring female artists to push notions of feminism in a once male-dominated society, especially as it pertains to the artistic community. Active since the 1960s, the Louisiana-born, Greek-American painter and sculptor garnered the most attention appearing in a print ad for ArtForum Magazine in 1974 looking rather butch as she poses nude wearing sunglasses and holding out a double-dildo at the height of the feminist movement.
Early in her career, she emulated Jackson Pollack’s style of splattering paint with a piece known as Fallen Painting where she covered the floor of a Soho gallery with paint to illustrate a woman who had lost her was and ‘fallen’ and was waiting to be rescued by a male figure.
Most notably, Benglis has always had an affinity for freestyle forms that come through in her poured latex and foam sculptures.
However, in more recent years, her signature works have a new element—handmade paper. This latest series of works reflect the feeling of the atmosphere of Santa Fe, New Mexico where Benglis has a residence.
And with this latest show, she uses the handmade paper to wrap around chicken wire and paints over the sandy texture of the paper with vibrant energetic colors like pink or electric blue contrasted with strokes of coal-based black, such as with paintings like Lurewhile other paintings like Curtains she leaves the paper at its natural white color.
Many of these installations are meant to represent living with the paper represent skin that’s being shed (like the skin of a snake or the hide of an animal) with the wire representing the skeleton of such creatures. The wires are exposed and have holes to convey the idea of air being let in. One intriguing piece titled Little Silver Spirit depicts the slender body of a woman, from her bust down to her toes, constructed in such a way that offers the illusion of her being a free spirit enjoying life. The circular forms in which these pieces are constructed also suggest notions of male and female sexuality and desire for power and dominance that Benglis often touches on with the shapes resembling vaginas and erect penises.
In addition to the pieces of handmade paper, the show features two separate installations. One of these is The Fall Caught, a 14-foot tall aluminum sculpture depicting a giant, muscular figure standing with his legs apart as he arches his back with his elbow against the wall, looking up at the ceiling.
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| The Fall Caught (2016) by Lynda Benglis |
The other special installation in the show is Elephant Necklace, consisting of 37 handmade, medium-scale, uniquely shaped, black ceramic pieces laid out in a large circle on the gallery floor.
Benglis’ work can be found in numerous museums around the world including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York and also the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Benglis splits her time between New York City, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kastelorizo, Greece; and Ahmedabad, India.
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