 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
21st Century Queer Women
21st Century Queer Women: 3 Lesbian Perspectives opens at The Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation on Tuesday, May 17 and continues through June 25, 2005. The exhibition is a sequel to 21st Century Queer Men: 3 Artists on the Edge presented earlier this year (Jan. 11 through Feb. 26.) The exhibition curated by the staff of Leslie\Lohman features the work Susan Synarski, Lorell Butler and Lorraine Inzalaco. A range of visual images presents three lesbian perspectives at the beginning of this century. Although artists from across the US and Europe were investigated for this exhibition these three artists were selected to position the exhibition to appeal to both lesbians and gay men and all work reflects the Foundation’s history of presenting primarily figurative art. The curatorial team uncovered many lesbian artists working in installation as well as traditional flat media with themes ranging from women’s roles and gender, commercialism, disease and memory. At the dawn of the 21st century amidst a glut of images and information the women in this exhibition, as the 3 men shown in 21CQM, have found their own visual vocabulary relevant to themselves, and each has pursued it compulsively. —Tom Saettel |
|
Lorell A. V. Butler—The Lesley Gore Series The Lesley Gore series originated in January of 1999 and reached a total of sixty 18'' X 24'' mixed media pieces on paper or wood by the end of the year 2000. In September of 2000, a new installment began entitled, Lesley Gore 2 Go. The 2 Go works are individually numbered, and they are also mixed media including acrylic paint, powdered macaroni cheese, Pepto-Bismol and photographs on 4'' X 6'' canvas or wood. On June 12th, 2004, I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Gore, who is now 58, for the first time, at an autograph signing after her concert in Peoria, IL. She has three of my Lesley Gore 2 Go’s in her possession. Two days after our brief meeting, Lesley personally telephoned me at home to thank me for my artwork and to let me know she LOVES the powdered macaroni cheese art of her, which she has hanging over her desk. What an honor to hear this from the person who has inspired me as an artist! I see my hard-core Gore collection continuing beyond the 550 plus pieces produced as of this date. The year 2003 marked the 40th anniversary of the songs It’s My Party and You Don’t Own Me. And I’m going to (continue to) party like it’s 1963! We’ll start the party again! Twenty-five years after The Beatles’ arrival and five years after finishing my BFA in painting at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MFA in painting and drawing at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, I moved to Chicago. I have shown paintings throughout the US, including a total of six one-person exhibitions in the past eighteen years. My work is a challenge to the mainstream art world’s limited scope of the lesbian gaze in the visual arts.
|
|
Lorraine Inzalaco— Why We Need Lesbian Imagery in Art In our world of image and language, silence is oppression. For values and creativity to flourish for Lesbians, there must be ‘out’ Lesbian art: Lesbian images, the works of Lesbian hands, along with the right to decide for ourselves what those images are to be and what they stand for. Lesbian artists need other Lesbian artists, both past and present to provide a dialogue and a sense of history. There is no doubt that Lesbians have been making art, poetry and music since the beginning of time. There was no real gap from Sappho to you and me. So what has happened to all the Lesbian art throughout history? More importantly, how has this repression and sense of absence affected our creative energy, both personally and collectively? I strongly believe that these long periods of suppression and erasure have minimized our creativity before it has had a chance to take shape. Lesbians, like every other artistic group, need continuity to become strong, prolific, and visible. Although there have been many Lesbian artists through history, most of them were erased by religious beliefs, homophobic and misogynistic art historians and museums, and more recently, galleries and art critics. Sadly, the few who are mentioned in history books and seminars are portrayed as women artists only, not as Lesbians. Looking at the art produced by some of these women, while examining the style, subject matter, and emotional tenor of their works, and at the same time reading between the lines of their biographies and autobiographical statements, I suspect that many great artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Rosa Bonheur, Cecilia Beaux, and Mary Cassatt, to mention only a few, were passionate Lesbian artists drawing from their personal loves and sensibilities. It is important to know the whole truth about the art and its maker to help keep the creative energy flowing from generation to generation. It is vital to engage in conversations with Lesbian artists of the past, and across cultures as well. I can think of no better way to grow and thrive as a collective than to reproduce our art and have it shown, so that other Lesbians can discover their relations, and feel elation. Thus we can fill that void and establish an art community. Part of creating a sense of community is encountering role models. Several times I have been invited to present my art to Lesbian youth groups. I know how very important it would have been for me, when I was a teen, to see and meet an ‘out’ Lesbian artist. It is still important to me. And there is yet another reason that opportunities such as this are meaningful. I once heard a gay teen speak on the importance of teachers and public figures being ‘out’, saying “I want to see ‘out’ gays...we have plenty of good closeted role models.” We do have quite enough closeted role models, and that is one reason why I am proud to paint my life’s experience of women loving women. By bringing these images of Lesbian love out into the air, a conversation can begin in society and in the art world. It is essential for everyone, not just Lesbians, to see beautiful images of women loving each other through Lesbians’ eyes. It is through such images and conversations that we begin to see ourselves as members of the world beyond our own enclaves, and that others begin to appreciate our beauty and dignity. I am very honored to be invited to exhibit my art at The Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation and to share the venue with two wonderful Lesbian artists, Susan Synarski and Lorell Butler. And thank you to LLGAF for this opportunity for my art to be visible for a change. Curator’s Note: Although with “too much schooling” Lorraine feels “they’re all in there”—the boys Matisse, Dufy, Avery—it’s the women artists she sought out and drew the most inspiration from. Susan Valadon’s rich, gusty real women; Cecilia Beaux’s wet into wet paint and lush surfaces; and of course Mary Cassatt’ soft subjects touching each other so tenderly and lovingly. Lorraine’s work goes undated, rejecting the patriarchal system—“the work is all just me.” |
|
|
Susan Synarski—Nice Girl’s Don’t Susan is an artist and illustrator. As an illustrator she recently had the perfect job dropped into her lap Booty: Pirate Girls on the High Seas by Sara Lorimer. The client Chronicle Books was seeking a fun, accessible, unusual approach to this book. The book covers real girl pirates from 1500 through the late 19th century. Most of the women dressed and lived as men. Three Asian women ran a fleet of pirate ships; Rachel Ward was the last woman hanged in Massachusetts in 1789. Susan’s favorite is Sadie the Goat. But Sadie never even went out on the high seas; she wanted to. Sadie read about pirates and emulated them as best she could. Her name comes from her MO of butting victims in the stomach with her head after which her band of male thugs would frisk the victims. Sadie housed her band of pirates in lower Manhattan’s “bloody” 4th Ward. At night they would steal on to ships and burglarize them. After years of illustrating other people’s concepts, Susan realized that she had drifted away from her own free associated, non verbal concept work. A friend recommended Art and Fear, a book encouraging quantity over quality: quality is bound to come. And as is seen from Susan’s meticulous, detail-oriented work this obsessive artist never misses a beat on quality. Huge canvases being intimidating and time consuming, Susan turned to small gouache paintings. She paints intuitively without sketching first, a welcome relief from rounds of preliminary sketches submitted to art directors through the years. Susan found herself creating little portraits. Burglar is a perfect example of exploring the forbidden, the bad girl, the “other” through a lovely The analogy of Susan’s paintings and Indian miniatures is not lost on Susan. She is attracted to the iconic nature of tiny formal portraits and goddess paintings but adding her own twist. Scarlet and Mrs. Jones are good examples. Scarlet with her gold jewelry, evening dress and chandelier, is accompanied by a scarlet letter “A”—speaking of bad girls. In Blue Bird As per the philosophies of the east she appreciates the pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses as a means of representing complex and repressive concepts—Kali is a favorite—but she is most attached to Buddhism although not a practicing Buddhist. Pictorially she enjoys the peaceful pose of Buddha, adding her own unexpected twists as in Green Buddha and Volcano. But mostly she enjoys Buddhism’s instruction to reconcile the terrible, the challenges of life, fear and find peace. And this is exactly what she explores in her paintings. Susan lives with her partner of 15 years in Oak;land, CA. website: www.synarski.com |
Comments? Questions? Requests? E-mail us: The Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation