Its all been a bit of a lesson on how to get people to talk to me. [23], In Lick and Lather (1993), Antoni produced fourteen busts of herself, seven cast from chocolate and the other seven from soap. Antoni's work blurs the distinction between performance art and sculpture. . ] Fortunately, we had the image by then. She was the first woman artist to have a retrospective at the MoMA in 1982. When I first heard about Gnaw Janine Antonis 1993 installation I have to confess that I thought she had basically eaten as much chocolate as she could and whacked the remaining (huge) block of it on a marble pedestal. So I turn around, the music swells and Im stuck looking at myself in a floor-to-ceiling mirror, and I want to see what is behind me, and, of course, Im getting in my own way. Somehow she becomes the mother and her gesture, like an umbilical cord, turns me into a fetus. Thats what makes a relationship interesting and what keeps it dynamicwhen one comes in and supports the other. [3] In 1977, she moved to Florida for attending her boarding school. During her graduate career, Antoni began experimenting with the human body, transforming everyday activities into works of art. I was thinking about Duchamps Fountain, of course, and so I first made it in porcelain. Conduit, 2009, copper sculpture with urine verdigris patina, framed digital c-print. I dont know whether to take it as a compliment or a criticism. You have a post-studio practice; things dont evolve out of a daily ritual. Her work is a hybrid of post-'80s ambition and feminist thinking. The double read is an inescapable response. Why does William Hogarth use iconography in The Harlot's Progress? Thats different from how we have traditionally learned to approach a conceptual work of art. Janine Antoni (born January 19, 1964) is a Bahamian-born American artist, who creates contemporary work in performance art, sculpture, and photography. of lard gnawed by the artist; display with 130 lipsticks made with pigment, beeswax, and chewed lard removed from the lard cube; 27 heart-shaped packages made from the chewed chocolate removed from the chocolate cube. Its not entirely clear whether we should regard her as the weaver of her own suspending web, or as a victim caught in the filaments of its harness strings. Read on to find out more! Do you expect to bounce back and forth and keep that open? It always becomes about ones projection. So I will move back and forth between the two. She slept with a blanket which she continued to weave during the day, creating an infinite blanket connected to a loom that she slept with at night. The one thing I know and trust is my own experience. I would say that I start with setting an intention and then pay close attention to what is happening. Ive thought about how these pieces become props for storytelling. Her first solo exhibition was a gnaw toy made of two huge cubes of chocolate and lard. JAChoosing Swan Lake was like choosing the story of the woman weaving; theyre very particular kinds of stories. About Janine Two 600 lb cubes One made of chocolate the other made of lard Used her own mouth to bite out chunks Made chocolate boxes and lipstick tubes Displayed in a mock store front The Meaning Behind It All The Facts about Gnaw Janine Antoni Born January 19, 1964 in Freeport Youve had tremendous opportunities for the work and you have been able to use them to scale up and scale down your practice, which I think is the only way to keep options open and let them feed you. Border Crossings: You tend to ask yourself questions when you work, like what is the material of dreams? SHWhat have you learned from repeatedly showing and performing some of these pieces? All images Janine Antoni. SHI was thinking about the artists you are historically linked to Hannah Wilke, Carolee Schneeman, Ana Mendietapeople who politicized their naked bodies in dance, performance, and photo pieces. One, the idea that you give yourself an experience. That you structure a project around the desire to go through something, to give yourself that which you cant think through entirely to satisfaction. Antoni's Gnaw (1992), is an example of the artist using her body as a tool for sculpture. I wouldnt be able to do anything that I am doing without some key people in my life. The relationship is so dynamic, so full of potential, and much more visually interesting than two flat surfaces. However, it isnt a true transitional object because she replaced my breasts with my belly button, as opposed to a teddy bear or a blanket. It wasnt becoming flat. . When I was a little girl, my brother was reading a book about pirates and it mentioned Anne Bonnet. SHOne of the things that impresses me aboutSwoonis how much in keeping it is with the spirit of your other work. Ive secretly felt that all my art at some level came from that place. [2] A sculpture of a wall with plaster crown moulding, that has two plaster pelvic bones protruding from the wall and is framed by plaster splashed around the objects. nc department of commerce organizational chart; simon goodwin partner Overall dimensions variable. JAFor me, that removal is a generous act, in the sense that it creates a place for the viewer. [2], I Am Fertile Ground (2019) was a site-specific installation in the catacombs of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. I wasnt going to have my face in it. Antoni locates Gnaw in the gap between two movements stretching back to the 1960s, femi-nist performance art and minimalism, which, though contemporary, were opposed in nearly every way. [25] The soap has been interpreted by some as a symbol of the societal expectations placed on women, as they are required to be "clean" in a metaphorical and literal sense. Personally, I want to broaden my audience, and I choose seduction over hostility. Can you imagine some young art student in the future who will have never actually seen your work but will look at photos and be able to use them in some way? Each of the sculptures had undergone different degrees of defacement; the artist had cast herself and was in the process of licking and washing herself away. Conceptually her response was in keeping, and I had to make a decision of whether I should leave her marks. Her tools and her processes are uncommon, from tightrope walking to steam shovels, from using her teeth as a carving tool to re-casting silver in the form of the inside of her mouth. Lick and Lather, 1993, two self-portrait busts: one chocolate and one soap, 24 x 16 x 13. After shaping the cubes, Antoni used the removed material to sculpt two dozen heart shaped chocolate candy boxes . Antoni nibbled the corners to create the image and incorporated it into the piece. 1964) Mom and Dad mother, father and make-up--Cibachrome print mounted to board, in three parts each: 24 x 20 in. The materials used in Janine Antonis gnaw are quite peculiar. You come to understand the work through your own body. In her 1993 work Lick & Lather, Antoni made a . But its one of those pieces likeSwoonin which your trace is not evident, a directorial piece that youre responsible for, but its not so obvious who helped, or how. Janine Antoni (born January 19, 1964) is a Bahamianborn American artist, who creates contemporary work in performance art, sculpture, and photography. Slumberwas the first time I incorporated fairy tales in the work. Like so much of her subsequent work, Loving Care was simultaneously about being in danger and being defiant. When in any of these pieces, did the thing tell you something that you might not have predicted at the get-go? The blanket covers her as she sleeps, dreaming the next days template. Janine Antoni: What were the questions? Richard Serra. Im interested in how stories get passed down. His is the notion of the good enough mother, which Im really interested in. Its hard to know how to take it. When I was looking atSwoon, a guard saw me apparently uncertain as to how to proceed through the piece, so he told me what the breathing was. If youre interested in sculptural art, you might have heard of Janine Antoni, a Bahamian-born American artist who creates contemporary work in sculpture, photography, and performance. My mom told me that when my brother was young they were by the pool at a Holiday Inn, and he walked to the end of the diving board and peed. One after the other until the guards stopped her. WithSwoonI really tried to push that; the viewers experience creates the meaning. View an image of the artwork . What does it do to your sense of failure or risk? SHIn aFlash Artinterview with Laura Cottingham, you said the bite interested you because its both intimate and destructive and it sort of sums up your relationship to art history. While makingLoving Care, I realized that the power was in watching me mop the floor. Gnaw, 1992); the absent body, gender roles, and the oral focus are recurring issues in her work. Instead of sculpting with a knife, Antoni chews the lard and chocolate block, resulting in a unique shape and texture. . minimalist sculptor. Sign up to be the first to know about my online talks, gallery visits and events. Antoni literally then gnawed away at each but, and this disappointed me slightly when I realised, she didnt actually eat the bits that shed managed to extract with her teeth (I was in awe of her eating lard and perhaps a little jealous of the huge block of chocolate). Its a crazy thingto remove in an effort to connectbut Im interested in that fine line between how much information I give and how much information I withhold, and my whole body of work plays with that. [2], Antoni was born January 19, 1964, in Freeport, Bahamas. Im obsessed with the viewer. To view the entire Elevenses with Lynne archive, head to theFree Art Videospage. Its beautiful in its completeness. 500-70 Arthur StreetWinnipeg, MB R3B 1G7, Telephone: (204) 942 5778Toll-free: (866) 825 7165Fax: (204) 949 0793info@bordercrossingsmag.com. SHBecause when I think of performance and installation art from the past 20, 30 years, I think of work that is much more hostile towards the audienceBruce Nauman, Vito Acconcithe desire to push the audience to an extreme. | By Art21 | Facebook | And that's why I do these kind of extreme acts with my body. It consists of two enormous cubes made of lard and chocolate. I try to do that in a lot of different ways, by residue, by touch, by these processes that are basic to all of our lives that people might relate to in terms of process everyday activities--bathing, eating, etc. Antoni's work is in various public museum collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA),[14] National Gallery of Art,[15] the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,[16] The Broad,[17] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[18] among others. A few years ago a friend told me shed found this thing on the market called a Travel Mate. Im not sure the work promises answers but it definitely asks questions. Like any negotiation with history, the understanding of her performance, in which she dipped her long hair in black dye and set about mopping the floor, has been complicated by its initial reception. 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