#PussyPower

About

DAVID&SCHWEITZER Contemporary is proud to announce the upcoming exhibition #PUSSYPOWER, a group show of more than forty women artists.  #PUSSYPOWER is a show of women using explicit, body-based, and politically activist imagery, as well as more abstract interpretations of these themes.  The exhibition is designed to function as a large group statement of resistance and feminism.

The exhibition was inspired by seeing the work and words of women artists, in galleries and on social media, in the lead-up to Election Day, and after.  For co-curator Jennifer Samet, it was inspiring and provided comfort to see work by women that dealt with the body, after a campaign filled with rhetoric of body-shaming and brags of sexual assault, and an election night that revealed the depths of misogyny.  The concept for the exhibition grew out of that sentiment, as she and Michael David began collaborating to envision and co-curate this large group show.

The exhibition is a reminder that visual art can play an essential role in ensuring that women’s issues, and women’s bodies (as imaged by women themselves), are not rendered invisible.  In this spirit, a percentage of proceeds from sales will be donated to Planned Parenthood.  The opening night will include a silent auction component, to encourage the sale of work to benefit Planned Parenthood.

The title of the exhibition was inspired by protest responses to Trump’s use of the word “pussy,” in the context of sexually predatory behavior. At the October “Pussy Power Protest at Trump Tower,” women wore feline-themed costumes, dressed as giant vulvas, created a human wall, and carried signs with slogans like “Pussy Grabs Back” and “Hands off my Cuntry.” It was a reclaiming of the language and imagery by women, which this exhibition is designed to echo and reflect.  The announcement card image for the exhibition is a documentary photograph of the protest, by Brooklyn photographer Sai Mokhtari.

The exhibition will include work across the media of painting, photography, sculpture, audio and video work.

The #PUSSYPOWER exhibition references the history of feminist art from the 1970s to today, showing that “pussy power” imagery is not new. Included in the exhibition are pioneer feminist artists such as Carolee Schneeman, with a film piece, “Mysteries of the Pussies,” and Yoko Ono, with “Sound Piece for Trump” (2016).

It also includes mid-career and powerful art world figures such as Marilyn Minter, Angela Dufresne, Jane Dickson, Kyle Staver, and Katherine Bradford, with her painting “Supreme,” referencing female Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.

Younger, emerging artists are also represented: including Giordanne Salley, GaHee Park, and Rebecca Morgan. In different ways, these artists play with self-portraiture and explicit imagery to mirror and reflect societal and political issues, and the representation of women’s bodies in today’s larger visual culture.

Handmade protest signs, on the theme of pussy power, and used at Anti-Trump demonstrations, will be displayed along with the visual art.