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Since my early days as an undergraduate, I have been interested in studying Feminist artists. Linda Nochlin’s famous essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” has persisted to remain in my mind throughout my career. The intensity, the fervor, and the determination of these amazing women artists has been unmatched by their male counterparts. I felt that it was my duty as an art dealer and curator to create a fitting tribute to Women’s History Month. I have curated a selection of work by artist, feminist, humanist, educator and author Judy Chicago, in addition to a some of our up-and-coming Feminist artists.
Ico Gallery is owned by an extraordinary woman Dalia Chako, who emerged from a class that was beneath the poor, a class that was invisible largely due to parental circumstance that was extreme and extraordinary. There are many like her, who are forgotten ones of the shadow lands and their spirits will always hang heavy as lanterns in mist and storm glowing. Ico Gallery was founded in 2004 with the mission to unite artists and collectors, to make art viable once again by offering a platform, a unique and exciting venue that attracts and engages the most prominent names in the New York art world today.
From my early studies to finally having the opportunity to see “The Dinner Party” when it went on permanent display at the Brooklyn Museum in 2004, I’ve learned that it takes astounding women to create social change, as well as change in the contemporary art world. For “Velvet Waltz,” I wanted to feature an established Feminist artist to help “give birth” to the careers of my emerging Feminist artists. A large part of Ico Gallery’s intent is establish emerging artists into the current art market. The goal of “Velvet Waltz” is to emphasize women’s role in history, politics and art, and I believe that featuring works from Chicago’s entire career was the proper direction to take. We are exhibiting pieces from her early Feminist work, “Birth Project” and “Powerplay” series, in addition to one of her recent “Chicago in Glass” sculptures. I have drawn heavily from her Birth Project series because artists are in tune with giving birth and rebirth to the ideals of the Feminist movement that unquestionably took off during the second-wave in the 1960’s. From the “Chicago in Glass” series, I have chosen “Snake Arm,” which features a raised fist that is the iconic symbol of power and revolution. “Snake Arm” is the modern epitome of the Feminist movement.
Last but not least, I shall leave you a passage from Linda Nochlin:
The question “Why have there been no great women artists?” has led us to the conclusion, so far, that art is not a free, autonomous activity of a super-endowed individual, “Influenced” by previous artists, and, more vaguely and superficially, by “social forces,” but rather, that the total situation of art making, both in terms of the development of the art maker and in the nature and quality of the work of art itself, occur in a social situation, are integral elements of this social structure, and are mediated and determined by specific and definable social institutions, be they art academies, systems of patronage, mythologies of the divine creator, artist as he-man or social outcast.
Robert Berry
Curator
Ico Gallery
Velvet Waltz takes place from March 4th – 27th, 2010 and the opening reception is on Friday, March 12th @ 8pm. Ico Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 11am – 6pm, Saturday from 12-5pm, and by appointment.
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