Ronnie Crutchfield's comments on Martha Wilson exhibition

(Ronnie's comments)

Looking at Martha Wilson’s earlier works was simply extraordinary. I enjoyed the way she played with her subject matter, making them into some sort of a new reality. Her interest of transformative change was clearly evident as she, in my opinion, adds a little sarcasm to age, gender, and social identities. Personas were important to her, they became a medium for her, so to speak. Works like her enactments of the wives of former Presidents George W. H. Bush and Ronald Reagan  said to be pushing the boundaries of exhibition and display practice.  The displays of the work of some of the artists she worked with at the time says a lot too. These people were people who understood her mindset and made me feel like her work was meant for her time. It was radical, and Wilson had so much appreciation for the parody, humor and irony behind personality. In her most recent works, Wilson  moves to a very in-depth political ground where she allows ‘time’ to become a factor. Role Playing and self-portraiture was a great way for Martha’s work to go. Now one see’s her continuing to be the subject of her own subjectivity. In was intrigued and pleased with Wilson’s project Growing Old. For me , it shows that we as individuals  may pay so much attention to our identity that we are blind to the spaces between ourselves and others, which triggers irony, judgment , and miscommunication.

Margaret Halquist on Martha Wilson

[Margaret wasn't able to post this, for some reason, so I'm doing it for her.]

Martha Wilson had an interesting less obvious idea of awareness as an undertone of her artwork. While it noticeably displayed her opinions towards feminism and identity there was a constant question of dedication of character. It was humorous when she said she dressed up as a guy and got kicked out of the men’s bathroom there seemed to be a wanting of something more. She dipped into each character, dressing up as each individual a woman is expected to be and plays the part. For example in her performance where she is stretching and doing “yoga” she says she want to be unaware of her unawareness. This is extremely ironic because even though yoga works as a meditative state for a lot of people, it takes some practice to get there. In the beginning it is just uncomfortable. And I think she learned that through all of her experiences, making herself uncomfortable by going to each extreme and having nothing fit.

 She gives other people extreme exposure of her physical appearance and issues of the ego. She took pictures of herself and conducted different experiences of how people perceive her and what she personally has become. A lot of people probably look up to her without any body modifications and say “wow! She has accepted her aging process! Not many people can do that.” But I don’t think she has, I think she’s obviously used to it in a way but her displaying her vulnerability would only be as powerful if she continued to feel vulnerable.

Overall I think the exhibit was a success. Her use of character and awareness of societies expectations played through in the beginning of her work and then you could tell she gave up on it further through, and just trying to be just something other then what she has become.

Martha Wilson

Martha Wilson's work deals with identity in a way I've rarely seen before. As I was lucky enough to be able to experience both her current work, as well as the work she made in her youth, I was interested in the change of direction. Her investigation began as somebody else, utilizing costume and performance to examine other people. Later in life, as she aged, she seems to turn the investigation on herself, exploring her appearance and her insecurities. Her content is extremely relatable, as everybody deals with these issues but it's rare that they are addressed in the brave way that she addresses them.

Martha Wilson

When I first came into the gallery space at Inova, I wasn't really sure where to start and just started from left to right. This started me off at the archive of works from Franklin Furnace and I was really confused on how this was Wilson's work until I realized that she was just the director of this and chose these specific pieces to go side by side her own show. I didn't get to piece that together until I finally made my way around the entire thing and ended up at the beginning as my last stop. I thought it was interesting to piece everything together after I had seen it all, not knowing what I was looking at or the content of her work. Left to my own thoughts, I couldn't find a general theme because the variety of media used was so large and I couldn't quite pinpoint one solid idea underlying each piece. I had to accept it as what it was in front of me, which even then, I couldn't quite understand what the back story was. It wasn't until after reading the description of the show and learning a bit more about her and her views that I was able to gain somewhat of an understanding on the content that she was addressing and dealing with. It may have been because I had no idea what it was about until after seeing all of the work and talking about it at the Portrait Society, but I felt that there was somewhat of a disconnect in the two gallery shows. I felt a barrier between the work and I at Inova, whereas at the Portrait Society, I felt like I was able to come to a complete understanding of what she was really saying and that I was able to engage and connect with her work. I'm not sure, however, that I would have came to the same conclusion had we not discussed it in such depth, which is neither here nor there, but something to take note of.

Martha Wilson

First off, sorry this is so late!!!!!!!

Anyways I enjoyed the exhibition. I didn't really fully understand what was going on with all of the works on display but I enjoyed what I did understand. I personally preferred her works at Portrait Society over at Inova. It may be because I personally am not a big fan of performance art. I really loved her piece at the Portrait Society of her with text over saying something to the effect of I have become what I feared most. I really feel as though she is embracing how she has aged and accepted what she has become.

So what I loved about Martha Wilson is that she used hummer in much of her stuff. I would be sitting there watching her videos when she impersonated people giggling. It was great getting to see her stuff from the past and prescient as well she kept her sense of hummer as she got older. She changed some of her stuff through and went with a more raw excretion. she didnt dress up as much. Her image with the legs are the last to go was so funny. She was creative and interesting and I very much enjoyed her stuff.

Martha Wilson thoughts

   To me, Martha Wilson is a very courageous women. Not many women (or men for that matter), will be brave enough to show the world exactly who they are, what they are or what they have become. Very few artists can give a sense of "who they are" just by the show they provide to a gallery. Martha did.  Taking in all of her works, from the start of her career to her latest series, was a opportunity many don't get to do when viewing an artist. This opportunity really allowed for me to get a sense of who she is as a women and as an artist. To me, Martha Wilson came off as a very comedic, political and courageous person.  I think the most powerful piece that I saw of her's was the video/photo of her "becoming her own worst fear" at Portrait Society. This piece really shows the younger Martha's thinking of herself becoming older and how becoming older is in the back of everyone's mind, even if we don't like to think about it. Martha really brings this idea to the light and allows herself to be subjected to discussions of getting older (and maybe uglier) as her life goes on.

My favorite part of this piece was not in the "I have become my own worst fear" but in the large smile she is presenting. I thought of this as almost reassurance that it will be okay to get older. Yes, we may be scared of getting older, wrinklier, and grayer but you are still yourself.

My opinion on Martha Wilson.

Martha Wilson, in her younger years, made a point in her art of asking the audience to cooperate with her. She wanted them to allow her to spread her message, not only to them but beyond them. She had strong social motivations and feminist views and wanted to raise awareness of this, but more importantly it would see she wanted to explore her motivations on a personal level. She used herself in a lot of her art, her own body. One of her older pieces that really called to me was her Women Without Labels self portraits. She tried to fit into every modern position as a women she could in an exploration of her femininity and feminist nature. From lesbian raging against men and their system to contemporary house wife or sought after goddess. Yet what I believe she truly found is that none of those labels or images could contain her. Later in her life she appears to have began to express to her audience in herself again. She puts us in positions where we are forced to see her, not just a facade but actually see her. 

Martha Wilson

Martha Wilson is an artist that handles the topics that no woman (or man either) wants to touch, but everyone has to face - becoming their worst enemy while simultaneously doing away with that enemy through her art. Her fearless approach to age and gender roles makes one think about the piece with a smile on their face thanks to her lighthearted sense of humor. It is this sense of humor seen in her portraits and live performances that allows the viewer to connect with her work and eases the blow of the themes of her work, most of which have to do with appearances. We are all uncomfortable with our appearances at times, especially the aspect of age, but with her pieces like "I make up the image of my perfection/I make up the image of my deformity" and "I have become my own worst fear" she fearlessly exaggerates the truths that come with age and shows all - something that the majority of people in general do not have the courage to do. She also has a large role in political work with her impersonations of Barbara Bush with which she humorously makes political statements that bring up important thoughts in addition to just being wonderfully entertaining.

Martha Wilson

I was talking to Mark briefly in front of Inova saying that I felt as if the work/conversation of Martha Wilson's work seemed a bit dated.  I had seen this work before and also heard her speak.  I do think it is important to revisit history and see how much our culture has shifted since then.  I think what was important about the work is that it covered several areas as far as being a female in different contexts - especially as a female artist talking about female artists.

It was interesting seeing Martha's newer work at the Portrait Society.  I do think that she was able to remain in the same vein as her older work, and keep it relevant to contemporary times.  A specific example of what I am talking about is hearing Debra talk about her observations of those who viewed the show.  The fact that these older women who were trying to defy their age in their appearance shows that Martha is saying something relevant.  I think that I still do believe that what Martha was addressing in the 70's in NOW dated (not then)  and that she was able to still be the same artist now and be just as thought provoking.

Martha Wilson's piece "A Portfolio of Models" was my favorite piece of hers. The approach she took to create the work that made it appear to be light-hearted, such as throwing the wig on a little crooked, or the costumes looked like they were dug out of a thrift store, gave the piece good humor, as if she was humoring herself as a woman and all the roles we have been handed to play. The fact that we can be so many different things today makes me proud.  I was more interested in her background work vs. her work today.  The current work was more of a cohesive  self-portrait, where her past work dealt with current political and cultural issues.

Martha wilson

I think it’s always interesting and insightful to see or hear what people think about themselves. In the video of Martha applying makeup, she showed insecurity while applying age.

Martha talked about not wanting to show her teeth and at one point says what she’s doing is embarrassing. Now in her present work, “She has become her own worse nightmare” but obviously from her work she is in acceptance. This acceptance of change and insecurities doesn’t just happen.

 Her documentation of her hair graying after dying it, caused me to wish to see the same documentation of her acceptance into age. I want to know what she looked like, her thoughts, and the many different things that pushed her towards acceptance. I’m curious as to if Martha foresaw the possible concentration in her videos content or realized it much further down the road. I would like to see the gap of time between the two ages depicted filled with content.

On the other hand, we all saw humor in her work, and perhaps that’s where she finds acceptance of being, “Her own worse nightmare.” I just want to see more.

Martha Wilson

After seeing exhibitions of Martha Wilson I was intrigued by all of her ideas and concepts that she conveyed through performance & photography as well as combining the two medias.  One particular piece that stood out to me was at the Portrait Society where she made a film of herself applying makeup to her face, making her appear older as she assumed she would look around the age of 30-35.  The after effect and final conclusion was a photograph taken years later when she came of the age that she was attempting to forecast within the video.

The video itself remind me of common youtube videos posted by frequent females attempting to show their various styles of applying makeup to make your eyes look larger, or just to make yourself appear more beautiful than you actually are.  So it was also interesting in the aspect that she attempts to make herself appear uglier than she actually is at a young age, doing the opposite move that most people do today.  It was also interesting that she made this video when she did and how it existed years before people even began attempting to share their tutorials online everyday through the internet and youtube.

Her work deals with the idea of image obviously and became this experiment in a way of testing what we think vs. what actually ends up happening. Sort of like a time capsule, preserving her old image throughout time vs. trying to stay and appear young forever. Isn't this what most people want?

I would love to have more of her work explained by her, because in all honesty I couldn't conjure up a decent reply in class to my thoughts. She does these series of experiments with before and after effects in pictures throughout her other work as well and honestly the time in between pictures that she would display is what interested me the most. Yet there is not always evidence of what occurred between photos.

Martha Wilson ; Observations and Thoughts

Artist Martha Wilson is one powerful lady. 

Each of her works addresses the issues of society's point of view on feminism as well as gender, identity and roles that go along with this. The way she portrays female subjectivity is alluring and hilarious at the same time. I think my favorite piece from her early works is the piece, A Portfolio of  Models. I also think that since this was the very first piece that I saw from the INOVA gallery, it kind of introduced me to what she was all about. The different roles each woman portrays with different kind of outfit she wears, it was a little troubling to really take in all the reminders of what women have to go through as of today. 

As for her organization, Franklin Furnace, I believe this is another strong move towards improving the society. Looking and reading at what kind of art was displayed there, it seems like it was how art should really be managing. 

The two gallery exhibitions of Martha Wilson... It really made me search within myself and just take in all the BS women still needs to go through-- about our worth in body image, what we do and all the little choices that we make throughout the day determines how we are perceived as a person. I think the overall experience of learning about her and viewing her transformation throughout the years was really encouraging and discouraging at the same time. Encouraging because there are pioneers that came before me that has established a common ground for the future generation and discouraging that it wasn't even that long ago that this problem still occurs in 2013. 

--

This isn't related to Martha Wilson, but speaking of feminism... Check out "Cambridge Needs Feminism"

Not necessarily art related but Ai Wei Wei wrote this article on the current NSA surveillance going on in the US.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/11/nsa-surveillance-us-behaving-like-china

Helena Goldwater

http://www.veniceperformanceart.org/index.php?page=14&lang=en

more on Ai Weiwei at Venice Biennale

Local critic Mary Louise Schumacher just returned from the Venice Biennale.

Here is her article about Ai Weiwei's exhibitions in Venice.

click me

Ai Wei Wei in Venice Beinnale

I wanted to post this the other day but I forgot to until Mark said something in class

http://www.complex.com/art-design/2013/06/ai-weiwei-150-ton-installation-kids-died-2008-wenchuan-earthquake-straight

He also apparently likes to give people haircuts.

http://www.complex.com/art-design/2013/05/artist-ai-weiwei-apparently-also-gives-people-haircuts

Just Seeds

An interesting socially cooperative artist group that uses grass root advertising and design techniques.
"Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative is a decentralized network of 24 artists committed to making print and design work that reflects a radical social, environmental, and political stance. With members working from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, Justseeds operates both as a unified collaboration of similarly minded printmakers and as a loose collection of creative individuals with unique viewpoints and working methods."

http://justseeds.org/about/who_we_are.html