Being in Dialogue with: Lynda Benglis
Lynda Benglis: 1968-1978, Publication of the Exhibit at University of South Florida, Tampa teaching gallery, FAH 110. March 19-April 27, 1980
- Her works toe the line between being not exactly sculptures, and not exactly paintings.
- She was in the generation of post minimalism, and a part of the "Anti-Tradition Tradition."
- Work toes a line between aggression and delicacy?
- Used materials like plaster, Beeswax, polyurethane foam, aluminum, etc.
- She cast metal versions of foam sculptures
- explores forces of tying, pulling, puffiness, cascading, knotting, pinching, etc
Lynda Benglis: Dual Natures, High Museum of Art, Susan Krane, a retrospective
"Lynda Benglis's art has always stood in oblique opposition to mainstream concerns. Although her work is firmly rooted in the issues of its times, Benglis has rebounded off the popular critical path, preferring a position of contradiction that refuses easy historical typecasting."
She arrived in New York amidst a combination of the explosions of abstract expressionism, pop art, Greenbergian Critical court, and minimal aesthetics that turns attention toward sculpture in a whole new way.
"Her work emerged as a forthright response to this crossroads of possibilities and was fueled by the rebellious social changes of the period, by the burgeoning women's movement and by her predilection for independence and provocation."
She worked empirically, as does a scientist, "she pursued the idiom of abstraction and the possibilities of illusion from the viewpoint of a female working in a distinctly muscular and traditionally male medium - and as a former painter." Her work was incredibly gestural and even expressionistic.
Per Benglis:
"[My work} had to do with the relationship between different kinds of materials, and imbuing those materials and images with certain kinds feelings. Whereas the minimalists were quite proud of the fact that they could go out and order their materials, and conceive of the work totally in advance, I thought of myself even then as being related tot eh expressionists, and although some of my friends were minimal artists, I wanted to go as far away from that as I could."
Many of the artists she was lumped with were trained classically as painters. She deeply believed in a need for TOUCH and AUTHORSHIP. It allows the artist permission to assert emotionalism and spontaneity. To be passionately involved with one's materials.
"Her interests remained primarily perceptual and emotional rather than spiritual in orientation; she strove to convey a heightened sense of the moment - of temporality rather than timelessness.
For Benglis, the self she wished to express through abstraction was not linked to the collective, universal unconscious, as was the case for the previous generation of artists; it was rather a socialized self, seen in relation to the artist's public as well as inner being."
Her work is often grouped in with a group of artists in the late 1960's, early 1970's who are affiliated with an emphasis on materials methods and sculpture as a "displayed act" rather than an object. It seems like now there is more of an emphasis on making stand alone objects in the contemporary art scene, or at least that's what E. Ikeler is striving to do/explain to me.
*She looked at some bodies of works as a series of ironies. She made organic forms with plastics, with plastic being repulsive, but the form being much more organic. The content lied within the irony, as a tongue in cheek dialogue with the material and the artist's intentions. (gargantuan plastic waves)* Pouring, knotting, pleating her sculptural forms in a painterly way. Most of her work is meant to be viewed as a relief, in relation to the floor or wall, establishing a theatrical figure/ground relationship.
She arrived in New York amidst a combination of the explosions of abstract expressionism, pop art, Greenbergian Critical court, and minimal aesthetics that turns attention toward sculpture in a whole new way.
"Her work emerged as a forthright response to this crossroads of possibilities and was fueled by the rebellious social changes of the period, by the burgeoning women's movement and by her predilection for independence and provocation."
She worked empirically, as does a scientist, "she pursued the idiom of abstraction and the possibilities of illusion from the viewpoint of a female working in a distinctly muscular and traditionally male medium - and as a former painter." Her work was incredibly gestural and even expressionistic.
Per Benglis:
"[My work} had to do with the relationship between different kinds of materials, and imbuing those materials and images with certain kinds feelings. Whereas the minimalists were quite proud of the fact that they could go out and order their materials, and conceive of the work totally in advance, I thought of myself even then as being related tot eh expressionists, and although some of my friends were minimal artists, I wanted to go as far away from that as I could."
Many of the artists she was lumped with were trained classically as painters. She deeply believed in a need for TOUCH and AUTHORSHIP. It allows the artist permission to assert emotionalism and spontaneity. To be passionately involved with one's materials.
"Her interests remained primarily perceptual and emotional rather than spiritual in orientation; she strove to convey a heightened sense of the moment - of temporality rather than timelessness.
For Benglis, the self she wished to express through abstraction was not linked to the collective, universal unconscious, as was the case for the previous generation of artists; it was rather a socialized self, seen in relation to the artist's public as well as inner being."
Her work is often grouped in with a group of artists in the late 1960's, early 1970's who are affiliated with an emphasis on materials methods and sculpture as a "displayed act" rather than an object. It seems like now there is more of an emphasis on making stand alone objects in the contemporary art scene, or at least that's what E. Ikeler is striving to do/explain to me.
*She looked at some bodies of works as a series of ironies. She made organic forms with plastics, with plastic being repulsive, but the form being much more organic. The content lied within the irony, as a tongue in cheek dialogue with the material and the artist's intentions. (gargantuan plastic waves)* Pouring, knotting, pleating her sculptural forms in a painterly way. Most of her work is meant to be viewed as a relief, in relation to the floor or wall, establishing a theatrical figure/ground relationship.
Benglis wanted to make an image, and she rejected the categorization of making process art. She didn't care about the process, nor did she want her process to be evident to those who viewed her work. She was a painter, and working within the scope of an end image for her object was of the utmost importance.
Her work alludes to the body, and the word Kinesthetic is thrown around to describe this idea. It's about how the body acts on an object, or how a body made an object, and that sometimes this allusion is unspoken but clear and evident. The idea of the body operating on things directly is all about a relationship towards things and a visceral body response.
She chose to eroticize her sculpture in a way that mocked gender roles/poked fun at them. She too wanted to act as though it was the same for women in the art world at this time as for men, but because it clearly was not it seemed right to make fun of it.
The female body experience is critical to the interpretation of her work. This eroticized abstraction was explored by both Benglis and Eva Hesse. She was angered by Linda Nochlin's 1971 article "Why have there by no great women artists?" and responded with frustration.
Benglis was wildly successful for a woman, especially at her age. Her career really took off, and she looked up to several other artists. One of the biggest was pollock and his pours. She too started off working on the floor a lot. Her pours had a lot more body, but it was still a similar approach. She approached her work as a scientist does. Learning a material's bounds and working to break them.
Lynda Benglis: Cheim and Reid, 2016 exhibition.
"Every Force Evolves a Form," Nancy Princenthal
A more recent body of work is created with handmade paper. This seems to be a new trend, and i'm wondering if it's what's behind some of the MFA's experimentation with this.
**side note: she has a history of working with putting latex over plaster. Maybe i should do this. latex house paint?
Materials and metamorphoses: Benglis pushes the capabilities of any material she utilizes to the limits, testing the laws of gravity and invading space with extraordinary expanding forms. Her intense fascination for materials has led her from paint to wax, metals, glass, ceramics, paper, fabrics, video, and a multitude of plastics. She deliberately chooses not to carve into wood or stone, choosing to work a material from the inside out. A constant exteriorisation of form. her exploration of plasticity within rubber and wax reminded her of death rituals, masks, and skin. She liked their lifelike quality and memory.
A more recent body of work is created with handmade paper. This seems to be a new trend, and i'm wondering if it's what's behind some of the MFA's experimentation with this.
**side note: she has a history of working with putting latex over plaster. Maybe i should do this. latex house paint?
Lynda Benglis: Les Presses du Reél
By Franck GauthreauMaterials and metamorphoses: Benglis pushes the capabilities of any material she utilizes to the limits, testing the laws of gravity and invading space with extraordinary expanding forms. Her intense fascination for materials has led her from paint to wax, metals, glass, ceramics, paper, fabrics, video, and a multitude of plastics. She deliberately chooses not to carve into wood or stone, choosing to work a material from the inside out. A constant exteriorisation of form. her exploration of plasticity within rubber and wax reminded her of death rituals, masks, and skin. She liked their lifelike quality and memory.
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