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100
Broken Clamshells
"The
problem lies not so much with some feminists' concept of what
femininity is, but rather with their misconception -- shared with the
public at large -- of what art is: with the naïve idea that art
is the direct, personal expression of individual emotional
experience, a translation of personal life into visual terms.
Art is almost never that, great art never is."
- Linda
Nochlin
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The broken clamshell (hinged portion of the shell that remains after
seagulls have dashed the clam open to expose its meat) is an image I
have been painting for the past 2 years. It holds a great deal
of resonance for me and embodies elements that I have pursued in my
work (both abstract and figurative) over the years. This
project addresses the relevancy of the feminine, of non-goal directed
activity. It relies on the tenants of journal
keeping, the belief that through discoveries of the self come
discoveries of humanity; through understanding the microcosm, the
macrocosm is revealed. Traditionally we have perceived that
power and transcendence in art lie in a more "masculine" approach
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But when does something stop being personal and begin to be a
metaphor for the human condition? Perhaps we are evolving into
a time where this takes place for a greater number of people. I
admit to spending many years addressing personal issues through my
studio process, but after working so long in this mode I feel I have
emerged with a vocabulary that I employ to evoke and represent
various aspects of the human condition and with a process that is
informed by my past concerns but is in no way dictated by them.
Just as I have experienced the trajectory of my own progress from the
personal into the public domain, I feel comfortable extrapolating
this to the progress of feminist art as a whole.
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This clam shell form has revealed itself to me as having the power to
evoke sexuality, through a visual reference to a part of the female
anatomy that often threatens, creates discomfort and embodies
mystery. The project's impact will hopefully come from a
combination of elements; ranging from the desensitizing power of
repetitive exposure (think Lenny Bruce's "nigger, nigger,
nigger"), to the revelatory nature of spiritual chanting, to the
acceptance of the profoundness inherent in the value of simple every
day chores.
I am honoring the importance of daily practice, meditation, of small
gestures, of the ability of the common place to lead to the type of
revelatory experiences that can only occur through process as opposed
to shock and "sound bites". I am saying that through
the repetitive, through the seemingly insignificant one can enter the
realm of the mysterious and the sublime.
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The images on this page are intended to relate this project visually
to my main body of work. In the flowers and pods that I paint I
find mystery, fertility and a sexuality that is undeniably feminine
and fierce but is yet the mother of us all. This imagery has
always been a cornerstone of my abstract work. I have included
the images of Smudge as a more direct embodiment of the power of the
clamshell image: she is a tough little street cat who, after 4 years
with me, is still jumpy and nervous and somewhat feral. It
touches me deeply that she finds enough security to lay total
exposed, on her back, legs splayed. In this posture I see
confidence, trust and an acceptance of her vulnerability. It
seems akin to what draws me to the hinged pieces of the clamshells,
where all that remains intact, after being dashed apart on the rocks,
is this not so fragile connection exposing an undeniably female form
in which I see strength and resilience.
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