LOS ANGELES—The first solo exhibition of the late American artist Hannah Wilke (1940–1993) opens from May 23rd to July 7th at Marc Selwyn Fine Art. The show will focus on Wilke’s drawings from the 1960’s and will also include a selection of ceramic sculptures from the 1970’s.
A pioneering figure in feminist art, Wilke explored issues of beauty, gender, and western cultural convention with a diverse approach that included photography, performance, video, sculpture and drawing. Wilke was one of the first artists to take control of the traditional male gaze and transform it into a means of celebration and liberation. In her multi-disciplinary practice, Wilke asserted ownership over her own body thereby associating herself with the women’s movement of the 1960’s. Poignant and arresting, Wilke’s work melded Post-Minimalism, second wave feminism and Abstract Expressionism making her one of the most influential yet under recognized artists of the late 20th century.
Wilke’s works on paper reveal a physicality that is often in dialogue with her sculpture. Rarely exhibited before her death in 1993, drawings were an integral part of her practice beginning in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Exuberant shapes and undulating lines meander between figurative forms and abstracted landscapes. Some works, such asUntitled, circa 1965 (pictured above), have a raw and visceral quality that evokes the immediacy and emotional intensity of Abstract Expressionism. Others are more linear in their depiction of her organic forms.
Hannah Wilke (b. New York, NY, 1940; d. Houston, TX, 1993) trained at Stella Elkins Tyler School of Fine Art, Temple University, Philadelphia. Key solo museum exhibitions during her life included Hannah Wilke: Starification Photographs and Videotapes, Fine Arts Gallery, University of California, Irvine, (1976); and Hannah Wilke: A Retrospective, University of Missouri (1989). Recent solo presentations of her work include Hannah Wilke: Gestures, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York (2008) and a solo gallery at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2011). Wilke has also been included in significant group exhibitions, including: Performing for the Camera, Tate Modern, London (2016);
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