ARChiTeCTURe, DISPATCHES ART, MUsiC, ARChiTeCTURe, FilM, shoPPing, neWs AnD Things To MAKe AnD Do… ART, MUsiC, ARChiTeCTURe, FilM, shoPPing, neWs AnD Things To MAKe AnD Do…
UnDeR The inFlUenCe
RAChel FeinsTein on sCUlPTURe
portrait leigh Johnson
So much haS changed in the laSt Six
yearS of my life that i have felt loSt
on and off for a while now. september 11
happened when i was in the final stages
of finishing my big rococo debut at
Marianne boesky’s gallery in new York.
To go back to work two days later and
finish all those happy coloured prancing
pieces seemed almost pointless. i watched
that hole smoulder so close to home for
many weeks to come. The experience created
so many mixed emotions, and one of those
was, weirdly, the need to have children.
My husband and i now have two young boys,
both under the age of four.
The roles of mother and artist don’t go
hand in hand. There is a reason why there
are not many great artists who are mothers:
a serious artist must be extremely selfish.
The world rewards artists who are selfish.
You must block out your family, friends,
politics, and the entire world to decide
what you want to make and want to see. With
present world events on a grand scale, and
daily life with family on a small scale,
i am finding it difficult to be an artist.
African sculpture is speaking to me for
the first time. it reflects how i feel
and what i want to see at the moment.
The aggressive, dark, jagged shapes and
frightening, brutish grimaces reiterate
my post-9/11, post-children leanings.
The message these images carry is Mother
nature’s clarity in a time of fear and
uncertainty. The expressionless woman is
represented by her conical breasts, round
belly, children and cleft-like vagina;
the man is shown as a savage warrior: his
penis is displayed as a weapon alongside
his sword.
The stagnant, straight-up-and-down
formality of African sculpture is difficult
for me to appreciate after years of
following the swirls and curves of the
baroque and rococo. i want my source
material to be difficult for me now.
i don’t want to please in the way that the
rainbow pieces did. When we are in a time
of such uncertainty and fear, i understand
the calm and reassurance one feels from
these primal images. Woman as artist,
mother, wife and homemaker seems one other
impossible goal to achieve in a time so
full of unfulfilled goals and expectations.
RAChel FeinsTein is An ARTisT living in neW YoRK. heR nexT solo shoW
Will be AT MARiAnne boesKY gAlleRY in neW YoRK in MAY 2008
Artreview 36
Dispatches_Feinstein.indd 2 10/8/07 18:38:23
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150