Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1465756
IN THEIR OWN WORDS "WOMEN PAINTING WOMEN," THE LATEST EXHIBITION AT THE MODERN ART MUSEUM OF FORT WORTH, GIVES FEMALE ARTISTS AND SUBJECTS POWER OVER THEIR OWN IMAGE. By Dani Grande I nside the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, an exploration of the female subject is taking place — one that spans six decades, with approximately 60 portraits by 46 artists, all female. "Women Painting Women," opening May 15 (through September 25), is a navigation of both the self and the gendered, sexualized, and racialized identities thrust onto the self. Works by early trailblazers including Alice Neel are alongside emerging artists such as Ania Hobson, making palpable the evolving role of women in society. The exhibition, conceived by chief curator Andrea Karnes, is about embracing feminine archetypes, rejecting feminine archetypes, and existing in the space between. New York artist Lisa Yuskavage, whose brazen yet playful doll-like characters are featured, plays into the hyper- sexualization of women with her oil- on-linen painting Faucet, 1995. She confronts the infantilization of women in pornography while questioning the power dynamics between male viewer and female sitter. Then there's Mickalene Thomas, who delivers a critique of the racism built into the art canon with her acrylic, enamel, and rhinestone work on wood A (Continued) FROM TOP: THE JOHN AND SUSAN HORSEMAN COLLECTION; © EMMA AMOS, COURTESY RYAN LEE GALLERY, NYC. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND SALON 94, NYC. 74