WOMAN ON WOMAN
1 May – 24 May 2003
Curated by Claire Jervert

White Box is pleased to present Woman On Woman, a group exhibition of work that looks at the surprisingly under-explored territory of contemporary women painters who are creating images of the nude female body, both their own and others. While the work of female photographers who are working along similar lines has recently been extensively examined, this will be the first survey of the remarkable range of work being created by women who’s subject is women.

Lisa Yuskavage is represented by a groundbreaking work from the early '90s, one of her earliest oils depicting the female body. Delia Brown’s paintings of wealthy young women sensuously enjoying themselves include representations of herself. An ethereal delicacy infuses Sissel Kardel’s fairytale-like renderings of women in nature. Utilizing an old master technique, Julie Heffernan employs her self-image, placing it in allegorical settings that elude explication. Alexis Karl paints nude portraits of close friends juxtaposed against monochrome backgrounds often holding objects that carry particular symbolic meanings. Su-en Wong’s self-representations reveal the contradictions and tensions inherent in her life as a young artist in the US and her Asian cultural heritage. Old master paintings are re-imagined from a contemporary perspective in the work of Kathleen Gilje, who here removes the elaborate, restrictive period clothing to reveal both the flesh beneath and the inherent psychological complexity of the sitter. Finally, Joan Semmel is represented by some of her pioneering work from the 1970’s, images of her body painted from her own point of view as she gazes down upon it, work that looks astonishingly contemporary and fresh.

A panel discussion will take place Wednesday, May 7th, at 7:30. Panelists include Grady T. Turner, Joan Semmel, Sissel Kardel, and Su-en Wong. Woman On Woman will be the subject of a White Box catalogue with essays by Grady T. Turner, Ana Finel Honigman and Manon Slome.