Lynda Benglis
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lynda Benglis (born
October 25, 1941 in Lake Charles, Louisiana) is an American sculptor
known for her wax paintings and poured latex sculptures. Benglis'
work is noted for an unusual blend of organic imagery and
confrontation with newer media incorporating influences such as
Barnett Newman and Andy Warhol. Her early work used materials such
as beeswax before moving on large polyurethane pieces in the 1970s
and later to gold-leaf, zinc, and aluminum. The validity of much of
her work was questioned until the 1980s due to its use of sensuality
and physicality.
Like other artists
such as Yves Klein, Benglis' mimicked Jackson Pollock's flinging and
dripping methods of painting. However, unlike the male artists who
imitated the techniques of Pollock, Benglis' work gains a feminist
slant with her works such as Fallen Painting (1968). For this work,
Benglis smeared Day-Glo paint across the gallery floor invoking "the
depravity of the 'fallen' woman" or, from a feminist perspective, a
"prone victim of phallic male desire". These brightly colored
organic floor pieces were intended to disrupt the male-dominated
minimalism movement with their suggestiveness and openness. In 1971,
Benglis began to collaborate with Robert Morris, creating Benglis'
video Mumble (1972) and Morris' Exchange (1973).
Benglis felt underrepresented in the male-run artistic community and
so confronted the "male ethos" in a series of magazine
advertisements satirizing pin-up girls and Hollywood actresses.
Benglis chose the medium of magazine advertisements as it allowed
her complete control of an image rather than allowing it to be run
through critical commentary. This series culminated with a
particularly controversial one in the November 1974 issue of
Artforum featuring Benglis aggressively posed with a giant latex
dildo and wearing only a pair of sunglasses promoting an upcoming
exhibition of hers at the Paula Cooper Gallery. One of her original
ideas for the advertisement had been for her and collaborative
partner Robert Morris to work together as a double pin-up, but
eventually found that using a double dildo was sufficient as she
found it to be "both male and female". Morris, too, put out an
advertisement for his work in that month's Artforum which featured
himself in full "butch" S&M regalia. Artist Barbara Wagner claims
that Benglis shows that even with the appropriation of the phallus
as a Freudian sign of power, it does not cover her female identity
and still emphasizes a female inferiority. Rosalind Krauss and other
Artforum personnel attacked Benglis' work in the following month's
issue of Artforum describing the advertisement as "exploitative" and
"brutalizing". Critic Cindy Nemser of The Feminist Art Journal
dismissed the advertisement as well, claiming that the picture
showed that Benglis had "so little confidence in her art that she
had to resort to kinky cheesecake to push herself over the top."
Morris' advertisement, however, generated little commentary,
providing evidence for Benglis' view that male artists were
encouraged to promote themselves, whereas women were chastised for
doing so.
