Unbeschreiblich Weiblich

Group Show

RC de Ruimte

IJmuiden – Holland

2007

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Sands Murray-Wassink

Iris Kensmil

Ina van Zyl

Lise Haller Baggesen

Liesbeth Abbenes

Mia Lerssi

Jonas Ohlsson

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The exhibition “Unbeschreiblich Weiblich” shows the work of seven artists who grew up
during the “second feminist wave” in the 1970s. Because these artists grew up with different backgrounds – in the ‘freedom-happiness’ atmosphere of left-wing Scandinavia, at the time of the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa, in the conservative Mid-west of America and in the Netherlands after the pillarization – they also deal differently with this heritage.

They do not recognize themselves in today’s “boho culture” nor in its counterpart: the “new prudishness”, nor in the “aside feminism” of their mother’s generation. As artists, they each try to flesh out the concept of femininity in a personal way. For some, this is expressed in the use of materials, for others in a political statement. Sometimes the sexual gets a political charge, sometimes it is in a purely sensual, eye-catching gesture. While one embraces the legacy of the 1970s and is committed to his personal emancipation as a gay bottom, the other struggles with what he calls “male confusion in the aftermath of feminism.”

What binds these artists is a sense of humor, which runs like a thread through the entire exhibition. Just as the title “Unbeschreiblich Weiblich” is a nod to the punk scene and femininity of the 80s, the work is full of references to cliché views of “femininity and” women’s art “and these are always undermined or turned upside down. Traditional ‘home crafts’ techniques such as glassware, watercolors and embroidery are used to create monumental personal works.

Sexuality and identity play an important role in the work of Sands Murray-Wassink. In his videos, photos, installations, paintings and performances he criticizes the presuppositions and prejudices that exist about ‘the masculine’ and ‘the feminine’. He regularly refers to the work of pioneers of feminist art such as Carolee Schneemann, Adrian Piper and Valie Export.

The emancipation struggle of blacks, especially the NAACP and the Black Panther movement, is used by Iris Kensmil in her work as a memorial image. However, this commemoration is only an element, the work mainly shows a belief in what has been achieved in its visual language with bright colors and image stacks. At this exhibition she shows drawings of women from the ragga scene, in a wall painting, which was made in collaboration with Sands Murray-Wassink.

An apparently small detail from her daily life, enhanced by memories, is usually the breeding ground for Ina van Zyl’s work. Recognizable, specific objects, often part of the human body, are closely examined by her. These objects are painted round and tangibly in glowing, brooding colors or drawn in dark shades of black and gray.

The autobiographical story is also the starting point for the work of Lise Haller Baggesen. In this exhibition she shows watercolors and drawings created around the birth of her two children. The dual identity as mother and artist is paradoxical and difficult, precisely because the mother role is often put forward as the reason why female artists are less successful than male artists. Many female artists strive to keep these two spheres separate, but they are united in the Baggesen universe.

The tapestries by Liesbeth Abbenes initially look graphic. With just a few wires, she manages to depict an object or a space on a piece of black, gray or white felt: a deflated balloon, an air vent on a blank wall, a television set that rustles lonely in a dark room. At the same time, it is striking how detailed Abbenes has worked out certain parts on the canvas. Despite this traditional method, which is often associated with old-fashioned arts and crafts, Abbenes tapestries have a very contemporary look. The overall atmosphere is that of emptiness and desolation.

Craftsmanship also plays an important role in the work of Mia Lerssi. Her objects have an ambiguous appeal, because of the way in which she combines her craftsmanship as a glassblower with a pop-like playfulness. Her candy-colored sculptures of genitals and giant denim turds get titles awarded from the vulgar snake vocabulary such as “butts”, “balls” and “denim shit”.

The same playfulness is characteristic of the work of Jonas Ohlsson. Under the motto “Boredom is counterrevolutionary” he performs an endless stream of drawings, which show the diversity of life and in particular has its own life as an eternal child as a starting point. His work is an attack on the establishment all around him and in particular the dogmas of the Scandinavian 1970s. Feminism that he experienced as oppressive, or as he says: “Why does feminism and the whole left wing movement rely so much on forbidding things and protesting … make your own instead, be creative! ”

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