Art Lies, Volume 31, Summer 2001 Page: 80
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Other posters feature the faces of
feminist contemporaries inserted into
classic paintings to point out historical
biases privileging the patriarchy. Made
decades before Photoshop's "cut-n-
paste" technology, Edelson's posters
painstakingly match the scale and per-
spective of her cropped photographs to
the size and direction of painted, histor-
ical poses. In Happy Birthday America,
critics Linda Nochlin and Lucy Lippard
repopulate The Turkish Bath (1859-62)
by Ingres; numerous artists stand "in sol-
idarity with their harem sisters." The
poster text describes the painting as
"female coin passed from man to man"
and critiques its exclusive delectation of
female sensuality as "portrayed by a male
artist for a male audience."
Bringing Home the Evolution is
based on Gustaf Cederstr6m's Bringing
Home the Body of Charles XII (1878) and
shows a grinning Louise Bourgeois in
military garb. She leads a column of
feminist soldiers who carry placards for
progressive causes, while bearing the
dead monarch on a stretcher. This revo-
lutionary humor is also directed at hier-
archies within feminist ranks in a hilari-
ous work entitled O'Kevelson. Beating
Cindy Sherman to the punch, Edelson
pays homage to Louise Nevelson and
Georgia O'Keefe, the grandes dames of
art history, by making herself up in their
image and then altering these masquer-
ade images with painting and drawing.
While the posters communicate
large historical narratives from one col-
lective sensibility to another, opposing
one, Edelson's photographic series shot
in secluded natural settings are personal
stories that position a solitary woman
within the framework of an inherited
myth. In one series, a naked Edelson
strikes the raised-arm pose of the
Minoan Snake Goddess. This image is
repeated four times, serving as a base
reference for drawings and collage.
Edelson's body is a host for Sheela-na-
gigs, Baubo, Kali and other ancient god-
desses, as well as "eye breasts" and a "TVhead." Feminist artists of the seventies
chose goddess iconography as archetyp-
al symbols of female empowerment. The
TV and eyes suggest a heightened
scrutiny of media manipulation and "the
male gaze," issues newly voiced in the
1970s. By photographing herself and
then drawing on the images, Edelson
conflates media with a host of mythic
and contemporary issues, always using
her own body as interlocutor.
Other, more ritualistic works are
staged for or documented by the camera.
The Trans-formation series employed a
"ring of fire," a device constructed by the
artist with copper tubing and natural
gas. Staged in Edelson's New York City
studio, the series focused on personal-
ized ritual Edelson developed from the
artist's broad mandate to "visualize
women in ways that our culture did not
encourage." Photographs of Edelson's
artistic rituals were again elaborated
with collage, and marked by hand to
compose symbolic images of internal,
spiritual transformation.
The Body Performance series moves
beyond documentation and symbolic
rendering to postulate a stunning evoca-
tion of spirit caught in dense, visual form.
The Sacred Manic Goddess Makes Tracks,
Cliff Hanger, and Shaking the Grass catch
the evanescent shimmer of moving
objects that only the slow eye of a long
exposure can see. These series tell simple
stories over three or four successive
images; their uncanny gaze is always fix-
ated on a sexless, netherworldly figure,
partially obscured by shadow and a
swirling cape. In Bifurcation Point, two
feet are squarely planted on the sloping
edge of a river rock. Legs rise up into
nothing, into mist, while the dangerous
water, photographed to appear as flowing
dust, rushes past. Like the process that
made them, these photographs are stories
about the points where the passing of
time intersects with the physical world.
Also included in the exhibition are
the Story Gathering Boxes, Edelson's
ongoing project that invites gallery visi-tors to contribute their own personal
narratives. On note cards, participants
respond to such questions as "What did
your mother teach you about men?
What did your father teach you about
women?" The responses range from
parental platitudes and "old wives' tales"
to bitter anecdotes. Whether reading the
stories of others or writing one's own,
this piece provokes a jarring encounter
with collective notions about gendered
sex roles.
Through the eighties and nineties,
Edelson concentrated on towering chif-
fon panels and smaller collaged draw-
ings featuring women from popular cin-
ema. Barbara Stanwyck, Sigourney
Weaver, and Mae West are a few of the
many actresses the artist has reposi-
tioned from role-playing actor into sym-
bols of female empowerment. Judy
Garland plays basketball and boxes;
Marilyn Monroe is a poster-carrying
activist. A gun-toting Peggy Castle
offers a stinging psychoanalytic response
to Freud's question, "What does woman
want?" Though unstated, thoughts of
Jung linger here, too, particularly his
soul-image theory of the male "anima."
Though compelling for women,
Edelson's bed sculpture with an
appropriated image of Gena Rowlands
is perhaps even stronger for men.
Aligning a pointed gun with Rowlands'
magnetic gaze, the stylized image speaks
directly to the male unconscious, as do
all great cinematic actresses. The ulti-
mate power of Edelson's carefully lay-
ered feminist stories is their knowing
inclusiveness.80 ARTL!ES Summer 2001
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Kalil, Susie. Art Lies, Volume 31, Summer 2001, periodical, 2001; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228061/m1/82/?q=%221964~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .