FEMINIST SCULPTURE

April 8, 2024

Sguardi

The creative flow of Lynda Benglis

APRIL 2024 - GAZE

"Lynda Benglis' work can be interpreted as a constant effort to capture movement, an attempt to freeze and express the flow of life."

Anne Pontégnie

Of all the forms of art, the one that seems most distant to us today, but still fascinates us, is sculpture.

Walking in Italian and English gardens among classical statues is like being observed by old friends.

In Athens, the Archaeological Museum collects perfect, sculptural bodies dancing against red backgrounds, parading soft and collected hairstyles, curled peplums, perfect male profiles that remain eternal in the classicism of marble.

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I find contemporary sculpture grandiose, tangible, irreverent, majestic, experimental. It makes you think. And the questions that arise are always the same. How is matter shaped? How do you offer new perspectives? How do you convey messages? How do you challenge, inspire, and influence?

Sculptures en plein air that recall natural forms and reinterpreted liquid flows. In Louisiana, as a young girl, the artist knew all the large and small waterways and lakes of her city.

In Madrid, a city I associate with pink sunsets at the end of winter and buildings with slate roofs that develop horizontally, I discovered Lynda Benglis.

In the Banca March garden, in the Salamanca district, I walked under four gigantic bronze and polyurethane fountains that look like material waves, abstract monsters or crustaceans of matter.

I read briefly about the American artist, who in the late 1960s revolutionized sculpture with fluid abstractions made of latex or polyurethane foam, in absolute contrast to the rigidity and geometry of his male colleagues. In 1970, Life magazine proclaimed her “Pollock’s heir”, thanks to the “pours” she created by pouring liquid rubber directly onto the floor.

In a decade in which – that between 1969 and 1979 – the second-wave feminist movement was taking hold in the consciousness of public opinion, we must not forget the name of a gallerist like Paula Cooper, who played a fundamental role in the promotion and construction of Lynda Benglis’ career.

The artist herself is aware of this and writes about her in 2018:

“People liked her and still do love her. She has the type of personality that’s firm; and she knows what she wants, and she doesn’t hesitate when she likes something. She commits to it. I found that true. I showed with her and got started with her, and I found that true of her since I’ve known her”.

This statement of gratitude is a clear example of how relationships between women, especially artists, can function in a “feminist” sense by emphasizing support for each other rather than showing hatred or competition.

Paula Cooper met Lynda Benglis at the Paula Johnson Gallery in the early 1960s. Five years later, Lynda became one of the first artists represented by the Paula Cooper Gallery.

BY Francesca Russano AND Alessandra Busacca

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FEMINIST SCULPTURE