Rosson Crow
Honor Fraser's annual summer group show has been curaed by Emma Gray and spotlights 14 Los Angeles-based women who are all emerging or established artists from roughly the same generation and are bright lights on the local scene. All share a certain maverick outlook and ballsy attitude that distinguishes them at a time when their male counterparts continue to receive the lion's share of the artworld's attention.
A wide range of interdisciplinary work will be on display: painting, sculpture, photography, video and
performance. The works also display a diverse range of attitudes toward female identity politics. Multi-
media artist Andrea Bowers identifies herself as an "angry feminist" while Kirsten Stoltman delivers
straight from the hip, describing herself as a 'self-destructive feminist'. Annie Lapin, who studied
under another of BITNB's featured artists, Cathy Opie, could have her outlook described as 'post-
feminist'. Cathy Akers pees standing up like a man in her pee performances and uses the trope
'hertopia' to describe her dioramas. Rosson Crow often utilizes typically male bastions, like the stock
exchange, butcher shops or oil fields as her subject matter. Other artists avoid the "f"-word altogether.
Thematically, the exhibition was inspired by the Anne Sexton poem Consorting with Angels.
The title of the exhibition was repurposed from a snippet of dialogue from Saturday Night Live that was
broadcast during the 2008 presidential election. Tina Fey celebrates the idea of a woman president
as a "bitch," reasoning that "bitches get stuff done." A few episodes later her cast mate Tracy
Morgan rebutted Fey's statement by saying: "Bitch may be the new black. But black is the new
president, bitch!" Most importantly, the title asserts the artists' shared independent streak. "Bitch Is
The New Black" isn't re-envisioning a new collective feminist consciousness; it is about celebrating
talented artists in the city of Los Angeles who happen to be women -- with attitude.
Artists: Cathy Akers, Kathryn Andrews, Andrea Bowers, Rosson Crow, Krysten Cunningham, Pearl C.
Hsiung, Annie Lapin, Shana Lutker, Ruby Neri, Cathy Opie, Amanda Ross Ho, Anna Sew Hoy, Mindy
Shapero, Kirsten Stoltman
Bitch Is The New Black: Curated by Emma Gray
July 11- August 29, 2009
HONOR FRASER
2622 S La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90034
T+1 310.837.0191
www.honorfraser.com |
