“Five Women Artists in 1970s Los Angeles” By Betty Ann Brown
In 1983, American critic Craig Owens wrote “The Discourse of Others: Feminists and Postmodernism,” an essay in which he asserted that the feminist critique of patriarchy not only preceded but also served as foundation for the Postmodern embrace of plurality. The exhibition “Five Women Artists in 1970s Los Angeles” documents how Southern California feminists were grappling with identity and difference well before Owens’ (dare I say “seminal”?) article.
Each of the five artists included in the As-Is Gallery exhibition—Nancy Buchanan, Hildegarde Duane, Susan Modul, Susan Singer, and Nancy Youdelman—is represented by several works, most of which were created in the 1970s. The works range from fairly straight-forward, documentary-like photographs, to prescriptive texts and artists’ books, to a large earth mound serving as a symbolic tomb. That tomb, it turns out, is actually a self-portrait of the artist Nancy Youdelman as the Shakespearian character Ophelia. The pile of dirt is festooned with dozens of white flowers, which will wither and die, turning brown, as the exhibition progresses. Youdelman also exhibits two series of low-res black and white photographs of herself appearing as a tailed character from one of her dreams. All three of her works address the changeability of the Postmodern self. Much like the photographs of Postmodern superstar Cindy Sherman, Youdelman’s artworks challenge us to inquire what cultural tropes we’ve incorporated to build our sense of self. Are they figures from literature and the mass media? Messages from our parents or siblings? Our teachers? Our faith leaders?
Susan Singer explores our images of self. Living in Southern California, she is aware of our cultural focus on appearance. More than 18% of the world’s cosmetic surgeries are performed in the US. Of that, California is the state with the highest number of facelifts. In 1978, Singer did a series of works about noses. She created profile images of her friends with a Polaroid, then inserted each portrait into a shallow box containing a spinning wheel. Around the perimeter of the wheel were tiny images of celebrity noses. As the wheel turns over her friend’s images, they appear to get new “celebrity-worthy” noses. Playing the artist’s nose job game was silly on one level, but it also highlighted the fact that capitalist culture runs on making people feel they are lacking something–unless they go out and buy it.
Susan Mogul also address celebrity in her oeuvre. In 1977, she created a photo-collage (or as German Dadaist Hannah Hoch would have said, a “photomontage”) of herself as a modern female Moses parting the Hollywood Hills (rather than the Red Sea). Many feminist readers will be reminded of the institutionalized sexism in most religions, including Judaism. And some will recall that sexism has always been a big component of the workings of Hollywood. More recently, the gray-haired Mogul “became” a film legend like Bette Davis or Lauren Bacall, posing nude except for a long mink coat. In doing so, she echoed Robert Avedon’s famous ad campaign for the Great Lakes Mink Association. Of course, viewers are attracted to images of beautiful women in “sexy” fur coats, but such images are fraught. Not only do they offend supporters of Animal Rights, but they also remind us of the ageism in the film industry. Feminist will remember that Lucy Lippard once asserted, “All art is political.” That is certainly true of the feminist art in 1970s Los Angeles.
Both Nancy Buchanan and Hildegarde Duane use photography to document various aspects of their lives as artists. Buchanan presents her “explanatory notes” for four performances in the mid-1970s. The performances dealt with race, the media, consumerism, and personal appearance. Performance is, of course, a time-based art form; its ephemeral events can only be preserved with photographs, films and/or texts.
While Buchanan deals with the transitory nature of some artforms, Duane comments on the temporality of life itself. She began her “My Dead Friends” in the 1970s, and has continued building it into the current moment. For each friend, she pairs a photograph and an explanatory text. Noted Chicana filmmaker Loudres Portillo is memorialized by photograph of her speaking at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Next to it is the following text:
LOURDES PORTILLO Beloved filmmaker, nominated for an Academy Award, Chicana role model, mentor, friend. So sudden after all these years. Little did we know When we met for lunch in Old Jerusalem Café. We were already saying goodbye.
One of the women attending the exhibition opening was renowned performance artist Barbara T. Smith. She’s yet another of the Los Angeles feminists and she’s 93 years old. To paraphrase Duane, we are already saying goodbye to our 20th century feminist leaders. I am grateful that As-Is gallerist Tom Jimmerson is committed to showing—indeed to re-vitalizing—this important work.
On view through August 10th https://www.as-is.la/
Photos by Kristine Schomaker and Betty Ann Brown