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061210: Kunsthalle Wien Power up - Female Pop Art
Kunsthalle Wien
Power up - Female Pop Art
05.11.10 to 20.02.11
Out of the Woodwork
This piece of information has little news value: female artists have always been neglected by the art industry. Linda Nochlin established this fact already in 1971. When her epochal text "Why have there been no great women artists" appeared, one could have hoped for betterment in terms of the fact that now, female gallery owners, curators and critics had been made aware of the all-encompassing exclusion mechanism. But apparently for some unknown reason this never happened.
Otherwise how can one explain that the majority of female artists in the exhibition "Power Up. Female Pop Art" (curator: Angela Stief) in the Kunsthalle Wien, are almost unknown? For instance, Jann Haworth: her soft sculptures which she invented before - or at least at the same time as - Claes Oldenburg, have up until now been withheld from the wider public. Or Christa Dichgans: one is strongly reminded of Jeff Koons' later plastics and paintings when confronted with her gaudily painted inflatable hearts or curious, uncanny looking toys. The extremely fresh-looking plastics of a Marisol have, to date, been at best a theme at female art history seminars, and, similarly, the fomenting placards by Sister Corita Kent or the Happenings of Evelyne Axell have almost disappeared into the woodwork.
Partially, the works of more popular female artists are also cause for surprise: Who knew, for instance, that apart from her heads which are suitable for the art markets, Kiki Kogelnik's oeuvres contain some really gruesome aspects? Her obsessive-erotic drawings in which genitalia are attacked and investigated in a voyeuristic manner are no less stupendous than the kitschy golden altar by Niki de Saint Phalle.
The question only remains as to whether or not the female artists represented here can really be seen as belonging to Pop Art. However, in light of the permeability of this trend, as with every other, it should not be viewed too closely. And that the configuration of the show - with portraits on advertising pillars and objects in shop windows - takes Pop Art into account, although the exhibits themselves are not in the limelight, its meaning is by no means impaired.
By Nina Schedlmayer
Kunsthalle Wien,?1070 Vienna, Museumsplatz 1
Tel: +43 1 521 89-0
Fax: +43 1 521 89-0
http://www.kunsthallewien.at
Opening hours: daily 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
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061210
Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier
1070 Wien, Museumsplatz 1
Tel: +43 1 521 89-0
Email: office@kunsthallewien.at
http://www.kunsthallewien.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-So 10-19, Do 11-21 h
Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier
1070 Wien, Museumsplatz 1
Tel: +43 1 521 89-0
Email: office@kunsthallewien.at
http://www.kunsthallewien.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-So 10-19, Do 11-21 h
