THE PROTAGONIST

On 17 June 2011 I had the pleasure of sitting face to face with Judy Chicago, one of my favourite artists. Fittingly, the reason for our meeting was to discuss her 2010 publication Frida Kahlo Face to Face in which Chicago and art historian Frances Borzello reassess the work of the iconic painter.[1] When I read the press release before receiving a copy of the book, I thought ‘Why another book on Kahlo and why Chicago as the author?’ The answers were staring me in the face; in my own performance lecture Performance Art Can Change Your Life For The Better I refer to Chicago as ‘my role model with role models’ and show a still of The Dinner Party (1974-9) as evidence of her efforts to find heroines from Western history to identify with and emulate. As she herself articulates in the introduction of the Kahlo book, in the heyday of the second wave Chicago was one of a slew of women who searched the archives to excavate overlooked women who they could take up as mentors and write into a new narrative of art herstory.[2] In other words, writing this book is in tune with Chicago’s lifelong goals, in this case re-examining a woman’s work in ways that have been ignored by patriarchy.

            Back in the 70s at The Women’s Building in Los Angeles, Chicago gave a slide lecture (that she had since forgotten about) which was witnessed by the now chief NY editor for Prestel, Christopher Lyon. That lecture was the first time Lyon was introduced to the work of Frida Kahlo, so it seemed fitting to him that Chicago pen this monograph, the first in a series of books that will have an artist writing about another artist who influenced them. Reviewing this publication has not only provided me with the opportunity to sit face to face with one of my art idols, but also gives me a chance to think about role models more generally and to reflect on the relationship between the personal, the populist and the political.

Dear Tom Johnson and Richard Sainsbury,
I just today received a phone call and an email from Mobena Gilarty stating that Newsfax are refusing to print my publication which was set to go to press on Tuesday 28 June. the refusal to print was on the basis that the operations manager has a problem with the content. Newsfax printed this exact same publication in June 2009. The publication is funded by The Arts Council of England, The Danish Arts Council and London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange. It was originally distributed at Tate Modern free of charge and at Goldsmiths University of London. The publication is not obscene; it is an academic arts newspaper. I cannot believe that a company that takes money for printing newspapers has refused to follow through on the services that you offered as a business. It is extremely unprofessional that you would refuse to reprint and especially at such short notice. 

My mom sent me an article this morning which lead me to click on this relatively recent interview with Gloria Steinem. I was intrigued by the the host Marlo's nose-job and the rinky-dink set-up of this low-fi chat show. Maybe there's a model for 'The O Show' here. Also of interest is Steinem's 1992 book Revolution from Within: A Book of Self Esteem which has "passages that come dangerously close to the banalities and pseudo-spiritualism of the self-help manual". Sounds like a must-read.

Notes:

Denes, M., 2005, 'Feminism? It's hardly begun', The Guardian, 17 January.

Girls! Girls! Girls! in contemporary art

edited by Catherine Grant and Lori Waxman

 Intellect Books, 2011 / ISBN 9781841503486 /  £19.95