Another Movie of Interest

"Our City Dreams"

Filmmaker Chiara Clemente, daughter of renowned Italian painter Francesco Clemente, tracks the journeys of five female artists whose stories are tied to New York City in this biographic portrait shot over the course of two years. The documentary spotlights the work of Egyptian artist Ghada Amer, Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic, American artist Kiki Smith, Big Apple street artist Swoon, and American artist and activist Nancy Spero.

Who Does She Think She Is? THEATRICAL TRAILER

Marina Abramovic - nytimes.com/video

Thread Sketches

For more information take a look at Jaime Lyerly's blog:

http://www.jaimelyerly.blogspot.com/

Julie Mehretu tells the story of her art

After our discussion on presenting our work and telling our story, I thought this would be a good addition to the debate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k04kA7hJ8x8

Member at large Mary Conway

We had an invigorating discussion at our monthly seminar group of abstract painters. We discussed the artists and their work between World Wars I and II. One person, an art historian and artist, led the discussion with three others who did research on individual artists. It was great.

Who is Eva Hesse...?

How about redefining art history from a female perspective? VanGogh, Monet, Picasso, Polluck, Brancusi, Marks, etc. are great artists, but what about the gals? Here is an interesting woman artist who battled the demons of artistic worth and a hard life to create sublime pieces of art. The letter from Sol LeWitt (see next entry) is direct and little harsh and nasty but to the point. Quit wasting time and get to work!

Eve Hesse's art is often viewed in light of all the painful struggles of her life including escaping the Nazis, her parents' divorce, the suicide of her mother when she was ten, her failed marriage and the death of her father. Danto describes her as "cop[ing] with emotional chaos by reinventing sculpture through aesthetic insubordination, playing with worthless material amid the industrial ruins of a defeated nation that, only two decades earlier, would have murdered her without a second thought." She also always felt she was fighting for recognition in a male dominated art world.
Hesse is one of a few artists who led the move from Minimalism to Postminimalism. Danto distinguishes it from minimalism by its "mirth and jokiness" and "unmistakable whiff of eroticism", its "nonmechanical repetition". She was influenced by, and in turn influenced, many famous artists of the 1960s through today. Eva Hesse was for many artists and friends who knew her so charismatic that her memory remains simply unforgettable to this day.
Want more? Read this:
Eva Hesse. 1976 New York; New York University Press / 1992 Da Capo Press, Inc. Lucy R. Lippard. illus. Trade Paper. 251p.