Painter, video-artist, sculptor, and photographer, American-born artist Lynda Benglis's (born in Louisiana in 1941) first solo exhibition in Europe, opened at Dublin's Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) on November 4th this year and runs until January 24th 2010. In a struggling Irish economy, this hard hitting exhibition draws a crowd. Benglis's ‘Fallen Paintings', pleated metal forms, towering wax ‘Graces', metal knots, intimate videos, and spectacular cantilevered sculptures form an exhibition without the usual straight lines established by paintings, frames and glass boxes. The result is relief. The viewer weaves through corridors of art that look sturdy enough to be touched, if it were allowed. The established rigidity of The Museum is abandoned as the visitor walks around, and through the works. It is immediately intimate and engaging.
The extensive creative output by Benglis can, to some extent, be broken down chronologically; her early wax reliefs and poured latex sculptures of the 1960s; cantilevered installations, videos, advertisements, and other photo media pieces of the 1970s; metallic pleats of the 1980s and 90s; followed by more large-scale and notably ambitious pieces such as her organic fountains and ‘Hot Spots' series in the 2000s.
By 1964, when Bengalis moved to New York and began reacting to the current art scene that was dominated by the likes of Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Frank Stella, she was 23 years of age. It was during these years that Benglis's utter disregard for the constraints of painting enabled her to push the boundaries of form when she developed her groundbreaking ‘Fallen Paintings'. ‘Blatt' (1969) a piece consisting of multi-coloured latex poured directly onto the ground, and ‘Untitled' (c.1970) brightly coloured polyurethane foam that oozes sensuality, both broke free from the established labels within the art forms, combining painting with sculpture. The artist's indomitable attitude challenged giants like Jackson Pollock of whom Benglis said: "Pollock had the need to get off the canvas, off the wall, on the floor, onto the ceiling, to wrestle with the paint". (Interview with Lynda Benglis by Ned Rifkin in ‘Early Work', The New Museum, New York, 1982).
FREE OF COMPROMISES
It might be concluded that these achievements - that questioned not only the content of great and very much established art, but how art was being developed - could only have come from a young and gutsy artist who had not yet acknowledged what she or he was ‘expected' to do.
Drawing from fifty odd years of creation, and still working, Benglis's work in this retrospective represents the last five decades of artistic movements, and she therefore draws crowds from all age groups. Specifically, it is noticeable at this exhibition that other working artists are interested in her work. Of her early work, it is hard not to draw parallels between the young Benglis and the young Irish art students who view her creations, imagining that their approach and attitudes might be similar to that of Benglis when she took on the art establishment.
Irish Art students are a readily identifiable group of people at major exhibitions like these: hair is often dyed a primary colour, footwear is usually bright, flimsy and always casual, skirts are billowy and trousers are too short, both of which reveal brightly coloured, clashing stockings. Tops are retro 80's T-shirts and jumpers, quite often rejuvenated from a pre-existing 1980s child's wardrobe. They are distinguishable for their relaxed and generally content nature and are all still relatively confident and happy about their future artistic careers having just come from encouraging tutorial sessions. These artists are quite often full of energy and they wear their heart on their multi-coloured sleeves. Their work is unique; it is free of the pressures of a deeply compromising, financially-driven artistic world. Like Benglis's belief that paintings could drop like melted forms from the walls upon which they are supposed to hang, some of these artists will break new ground in artistic development.
SELF MOCKERY
From 1972 -1976, Benglis developed ‘Sexual Mockeries', a series of photographic gestures and videos with the artist in various self-mocking sexual poses, in a cheeky attempt to advertise her work in a male-dominated art world. The most famous of these was advertised in a centre fold in the magazine ‘Artform' in 1974, where Benglis posed naked, her body greased up, wearing only a pair of sun glasses and holding an over-sized plastic dildo between her legs. At this stage in her career, Benglis was fully aware of and perhaps bruised by the ‘soliciting' that emerges in the commercial art world. Her exaggerated display of machismo combined with the overly suggestive naked female body, demonstrated a disdain for the male-dominated art world as well as the idea that an artist would sell, in any way, to promote their work. By placing herself as the central figure, this was all entirely self-mocking but received by many as insulting to women and artists, crass and common and even resulted in the resignation of several of ‘Artform's' associate editors. Whatever the interpretation of this much debated piece, Benglis, then aged 33, was undoubtedly disillusioned, hurt, and angry with the compromising nature of the commercial art sector. That said, her images continued to rock the art world.
The ‘Sexual Mockeries' creations represent a distinctly different artist from the one who merged painting and sculpture. She was older, and certainly more cynical. If art students can associate with her early work, maybe Fine Art Graduates can claim this tougher, self-deprecating era. Irish art graduates quite often use exhibition opening nights to catch up with each other. Less hopeful and innocent, they've hardened somewhat, having experienced some of the reality that many artists face trying to make a living through creation. However, Ireland, the land of great writers and artists, relies on various levels of misery to develop dark and beautiful work. Like Benglis, these graduates might be developing works that will incite the world, if ever they see the light of day.
MATURITY
In the 1980s and through to the 90s, Benglis displayed the full extent of her talents as a sculptor, and her knowledge of materials and their tactile abilities was unequalled in the art world. Pieces displayed at IMMA such as ‘Panhard' (1989) and ‘Raptor' (1995 - 6) display a level of maturity, and growth. Named her ‘Pleat' series, these creations refer to the car manufacturing industry and fighter jets. Benglis made complicated folds, pleats and shapes in stainless steel meshes which she then sprayed with bronze and gold toned metals. Though the pieces are heavy and metallic the result is graceful and incredibly light. The viewer is reminded of elaborate cuffs and collars that might have adorned a royal cloak, or delicate sea creatures with shells, as opposed to the industrial materials these pieces are created from. These works are that of a mature and well established artist. By this stage she was recognized throughout the art world - conceptual American-born artist John Baldessari said: "I consider Benglis to be one of the most innovative living sculptors in the United States". (Lynda Benglis, IMMA, 2009)
Benglis's most recent works, from her ‘Hot Spots' series are often produced in groups of 3 or a series. ‘Ghost Shadows I, II and III' developed in 2007, when Benglis was 66 years of age, display a deeply explorative and inquisitive side of the artist's creative talents. While she still focuses intently on the form of her pieces and the process involved in their creation, they derive from notions of reproduction, birth, and growth, and therefore paradoxically she cannot avoid questioning her own mortality. ‘Ghost Shadows' are very dark in contrast to Benglis's usual vibrantly coloured pieces. Using grey rubberized foam over chicken wire she twists these three ‘Ghosts' into forms that remind the viewer of floating DNA strands or coral reefs deep in the sea. Though they are dark and twisty they are strongly suggestive of the potentials of the circle of life. ‘Chiron' (2009) in contrast pulsates like a beating heart from the wall. Deep, blood-red it could be an egg or a germ throbbing in front of the viewer, ready to multiply in front of our eyes. With worm-like forms stretched across its surface it is both repulsive and mesmerizing.
This retrospective fantastically spans the life of an artist that rose up in the 60s as a young provocative woman and ends with contemplative series addressing the age-old debate: birth, life, and death. There is nothing more satisfying than noticing the development of an artist's work, especially a famous artist's work, from youthful expression to older more worldly experienced work. It reminds us of that naive exuberance and enthusiasm we were all guilty of and viewing this in a major art museum is utterly charming.
MORY CUNNINGHAM
is a critic and writer and currently lives in Jordan