The history of exposé, beauty and form are what drives me to create. The focus, in recent years, has been the real-life story of SaartjieBaartman the “Hottentot Venus.” I find Baartman’s life both captivating and horrific; living as a specimen perpetuating the myth of “otherness” that can still be found today fascinates me as a woman and an artist.
Although far removed from my own experience, Baartman’s story is easily identifiable both physiologically and politically. The personal connections of awkwardness as a female growing-up in a society obsessed with attaining beauty result in imagery that depicts this as distorted excess. Malformed and decapitated bodies, with long cornrow braids, un-kept locks, and pigtails, mutations of multiple-mouths, nipples, breasts, and buttocks, create a sense of familiarity, confusion, humor and tension.
Contemporary connections of Baartman’s subjugation are found in references to modern-day strip-club dancers, West-Indian Dancehall performers, cultural stereotypes, Hollywood icons, prostitutes and circus side-show freaks to name a few. These figures are tangled, hogtied and suffocated with props associated with femininity such as thongs, bras, high-heels and jewelry. Some forms are placed on a scallop shell akin to the mythological Birth of Venus story. These drawings allude to the psychology of co- existing in human and animal form as well as forms grotesque and sexualized.
Inspired by natural objects recorded in historical surveys of my native West Indies, in this drawing series I consider myself a visual anthropologist examining these female archetypes. Consciously framing my subjects as specimens, in the survey tradition, the images remain within a border at times. The Modernist grid is employed as a form of story-telling and comparative studies to produce collections of drawings much like those found in a Cabinet of Curiosity or a Wunderkammer. The grids display multiple variations akin to the variations of a butterfly collection that presents the unique evidence of variation and displayed as a single image.
CV
EDUCATION
2003 MFA / Yale University School of Art / New Haven, CT
1995 BFA / The School of the Art Institute of Chicago / Chicago, IL
EXHIBITIONS
2012
Sometimes All of Me is not Enough / Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art / Miami, FL (solo show)
Why I Draw / Front Gallery, ISE Cultural Foundation / New York, NY
What Makes My Hottentot So Hot / Solo(s) Project House / Newark, NJ (solo show)
2011
Drawing Resurfaced / Stewart Center Gallery, Purdue University Galleries / West Lafayette, IN
Spillage: Traces, Evidence and Presence, curated by William Cordova / Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art / Miami, FL
2010
Metro 27 / City Without Walls Gallery / Newark, NJ
Reality + Artifice: NJ Arts Annual Fine Arts / New Jersey State Museum / Trenton, NJ
2009
The Exquisite Corpse: 30th Anniversary Exhibition / Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers / Newark, NJ
Hysteria: Past Yet Present, curated by Anonda Bell /Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers / Newark, NJ
2008
The New Authentics: Artists of the post-Jewish Generation, curated by Staci Boris / Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University / Waltham, MA
National Biennial Exhibition / National Gallery of Jamaica / Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies.
2007
The New Authentics: Artists of the post-Jewish Generation, curated by Staci Boris / Spertus Museum / Chicago, IL
2006
National Biennial Exhibition / National Gallery of Jamaica / Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies.
Working Title / Gallery 51 / Montclair, NJ
2005
New American Talent 18, curated by Dominic Molon / Texas A&M / Commerce, TX
2004
5x7: On the Road / Art House at Jones Center Contemporary Art / Austin, TX
2003
Art Basel Miami Beach / Ambrosino Gallery / Miami, FL
Summer Jam, curated by Franklin Sirmans / Roebling Hall, Satellite Gallery / New York, NY
Gilligan’s Island / Ambrosino Gallery / Miami, FL
New American Talent 18, curated by Dominic Molon /Arthouse Jones Center for Contemporary Art / Austin, TX
HONORS / RESIDENCIES / AWARDS
2003
Carol Schlosberg Memorial Prize / Yale University, Yale School of Art / New Haven, CT
2002
Gamblin Art Award / Yale University, Yale School of Art / New Haven, CT
Norfolk Teaching Residency / Yale Summer School of Art / Norfolk, CT
PUBLICATIONS / REVIEWS
2012
newarknj.patch.com, “A Hot Exhibit” , Paul Milo, February 15, 2012
2011
Drawing Resurfaced / Stewart Center Gallery, Purdue University Galleries, exhibition catalogue
Knightarts.org / Traces of What Was and What Makes Us Who We Are / Anne Tschida / March 30
NBCMiami.com / NiteTalk / John Hood / March 17
2010
Star-Ledger / Metro 27 exhibition review / Dan Bischoff / Nov. 7
Reality + Artifice: NJ Arts Annual Fine Arts / New Jersey State Museum exhibition catalogue
2009
Star-Ledger / “Exquisite chaos Robeson Galleries mark 30 years with sprawling art project” / John Zeaman / Nov. 23
The Exquisite Corpse: 30th Anniversary Exhibition / Paul Robeson Galleries / Rutgers exhibition catalogue
Hysteria: Past Yet Present / Paul Robeson Galleries / Rutgers exhibition catalogue
2008
National Gallery of Jamaica: National Biennial Exhibition 2008 exhibition catalogue
Frieze Magazine / The New Authentics Review, /Jason Foumberg /August 8
Nextbook.org / “Cultural Evolution” / Stephen Vider, / July 2
Zeek, Winter/Spring 2008
2007
Chicago Tribune / The New Authentics Art Review, Tempo Section / Alan G. Artner / December 6
New City / “Authentically Yours” / Dan Gunn / December 6
Time Out Chicago / “Art stars of David” / Lauren Weinberg / Nov 29-Dec5
The New Authentics: Artists of the post-Jewish Generation Spertus Museum catalogue
2006
National Gallery of Jamaica: National Biennial Exhibition 2006 exhibition catalogue
2003
New American Talent 18 exhibition catalogue / Arthouse at the Jones Center / Austin, TX
1996
Shape-Shifting: Transformation in the Art of the Book /University of Northern Colorado / Greeley, CO
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
MFA Slide Archive / Yale School of Art / New Haven, CT
Book Arts Slide/CD ROM Archive / University of Northern Colorado / Greeley, CO
Art Scholar Slide Archive / Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation / Colorado Springs, CO
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