Lynn Hershman Leeson's exhibition Found Objects updates and recreates Edouard Manet’s Olympia with a life-size sex doll reclined on an ivory chaise, elbow propped with pearl-ringed neck and flowers bedecking her hair.  If the allusion is not evident enough, Leeson has slide-projected the infamous 1865 painting directly onto the doll, confounding readymade and artifice. In addition to the arresting Olympia, there is a continuation of uncannily life-like photographs of sex mannequins hung around the gallery's petite second room, depicting the dolls in real-world situations, “emotionally involved with pre-destined narratives.”

The San-Francisco-based artist has been working for over 35 years on new media work that combines feminist issues (she was included in the recent Wack! exhibition at PS1) with art installation, artificial intelligence, film, performance, and technology.  Also worth exploring are the available artist’s monographs that describe Leeson's decade long performance pieces and more recent film projects – she is currently chronicling the rise of feminist art in a full-length documentary.  As with the exhibition, a little time spent with these books will be rewarded with great delight.

*Images: Warning (2007), Lambda print, 42 x 64 inches; Olympia: Fictive Projections and the Myth of the Real Doll (2007-8), silicone RealDoll, chaise lounge, 35mm slide projector, fabric, curtain rod installation dimensions variable. Images courtesy Bitforms Gallery.