“06880” culture correspondent Robin Moyer Chung says:
MoCA\CT’s latest exhibit, “Enough Already: Women Artists from the Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell Collection,” composed of highlights from the collection of 2 women from Cincinnati, is described as “politically charged.”
I don’t see it that way.
Perhaps because I arrived carrying the weight of a 4-hour antisemitism presentation, or perhaps because every day’s cursory review of the news bristles with negative rhetoric vying for our trepidation.
Instead, it felt exuberant. If the ebullient mood at the opening is any indication, I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Admiring “Picnic on Wine,” by Sandy Skoglund, at MoCA\CT.
On the wall in the last room of the exhibit is a question for viewers: “What have you had enough of?”
Scrawled on numerous papers are the words “patriarchy,” “politics,” “judgment.” On one paper is written: “Having to make a delicious dinner EVERY. DAMN. NIGHT OF MY LIFE.”
First, solidarity. Second, this struck me as an apt description of this exhibit. It’s less about “enough already,” and more about “I can make a delicious meal every night.”
There are things we have to do, everyday life stuff like cooking dinner every night. We can (well, many of us can) choose to make it delicious or not. Artists can choose to illustrate their everyday life as stuff worth living, or not. In this case, many chose the former.
When they embraced mundane challenges of womanhood, I saw power, one that is independent of beauty, money or influence.
And I think that’s the point. The overarching politicality of being a woman has been successfully addressed in art, and now women are free to granulize their lives without fear (or care) of denigration.
MAGE: S’manga, Amsterdam, 2016, 2016 © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson, New York.
Whether it’s their bodies, their illnesses or their sexualization, they own and appreciate what belongs exclusively to them as individuals. They’re owning the male narrative, and re-shaping it.
Though the title alludes to exasperation, named after a neon sign by Deborah Kass, I found the exhibit, with a few violent exceptions, more celebratory than defiant. Kass’s sign itself is colorful and flamboyant, belying frustration and signaling optimistic decisiveness.
One of the most dynamic pieces is a large photo of a nude female statue raising her left arm, a scar where her left breast used to be (“Intra-Venus.” Marina Vargas, 2021).
She may be raising her arm to offer a full view of her mastectomy, but it seems more an expression of jubilance; she’s a breast cancer survivor, not a woman with a perceived imperfection.
A small marble stool (“Survival Series, 1983-1985,” Jenny Holzer) includes an inscription “It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.” Motherly, womanly, advice for children and loved ones, fingers crossed they’ll follow it. Yet the weight and immobility of the marble indicates its substance — this is spelled out in a nurturing tone for palatability, but its hardcore prophetic, as is most delicately relayed motherly advice.
The Vance Wadells began purchasing these works 20 years ago, intentionally mixing acclaimed artists (Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Yoko Ono) with emerging artists to amplify lesser known voices.
Ironically, Yoko Ono’s felt like the least impactful work (“Touch Me,” 2008) — a primed canvas, 12 x 12, with a cross section cut in the center. Its message is either histrionically obvious or lost on me.
Important question, though. What have you had enough of, and what can you do with that energy?
(The exhibit runs through February 15. It includes nudity and violence. Click here for more information.)
(“06880” covers the arts scene in Westport, in all shapes and forms. If you enjoy this — or anything else in our hyper-local blog — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Thank You. Excellent!!