A Discourse on Body, Sexuality and Gender - Carolee Schneemann in Portrait
Carolee Schneemann is a multidisciplinary artist who has pleasure in breaking with traditional taboos and in putting the body of the artist in a dynamic relationship with the social body. Whether in painting, photography, as a performance or installation - Carolee Schneemann creates sustainable political and erotic art. A portrait.
Early on Carolee Schneemann, born in Pennsylvania in 1939, started with painting. In the 50s nude painting was very modern and she was told at that time, she should put away the brush and rather stand model herself. Her examination of the differences in between male and female body perception of the according opposite sex began.
Carolee Schneemann's early paintings act like etudes, honest approximations to the ferocity of the classical avant-garde, but also of the abstract expressionism. There are also many landscapes among the early artworks, but to which the artist later refers as "failed". After Schneemann met Stan Brakhage, she made first experiences with experimental films. In many of the works and texts Schneemann deals with the female body in the historical and social context and examines lust and eroticism from a female perspective. This is particularly evident in her film "Fuses" (1965) that was processed with paint, fire, acid and collagen art. This work was a fundamental contribution to the feminist art movement of the late 60s and 70s. Moreover, the performance "Interior Scroll" (1975/1977) developed by the Fluxus movement caused a stir, in which she pulls a scroll out of her vagina to read it afterwards. In her installation "Up to and Including Her Limits" (1973) Schneemann dedicates herself to form-fitting painting processes. In this context she let her hang on the feet and painted the surrounding walls as well as the floor with crayons, so far it was possible for her force-wise.
Carolee Schneemann exhibits her artworks in the largest museums in the world, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art in New York, etc. Her latest artworks today show a higher degree of multimedia and have become even more political. For example, her installation "More Wrong Things" (2001) shows chaotic scenes with wounded bodies, environmental disasters and political anarchy on video monitors hanging from the ceiling.
We keep our eyes open for you in terms of when and where the next exhibitions of the outstanding artist Carolee Schneemann will take place.
