She and Her

Robin Rice on Visual Art: Women's Work at Sande Webster Gallery

by Robin Rice

The title of the show at Sande Webster is what initially caught my interest. What does "Women's Work" as an exhibition topic mean, exactly?

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It turns out the show is not concept-driven. It was organized by Philadelphia artist John McDaniel, who works curatorially for Webster, and by gallery director Gregg Krantz with some input from associate director Philippe Jean, who joked that he'd contributed about 2 percent to the planning of the show. The installation in Webster's main gallery presents a lot of high-quality art by 11 mostly mid-career or senior women, but there's no perceptible message. The title is a straightforward description of what's in the show.

There may not be a group theme, but each artist has an impressive individual presence. Work by women and men is the subject of Marta Sanchez's prints (pictured). Shown with the originals on a facing wall, they recall the great generation of Mexican muralists like José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. Sanchez's Workers on the Track is an almost nostalgic invocation of a past century's once powerful but now defanged revolutionary politics. In the borders of the print, Sanchez writes of the railroad workers, "They are and always will be the salt of the earth."

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As she studied Alice Oh's three small abstract Phases of Conception, one gallery visitor remarked, "This is what a vagina should look like." The pale, soft geometry of the mandala-like compositions (pictured p.28) suggest vaginas in the most oblique way possible. They could be telling us that hard-edged theoretical science ends where fragile biological processes begin. Barbara Bullock's sophisticated assemblages, tiny in comparison with her public art, smoothly present stark silhouettes that enclose dark interior collage elements. Hinting at African influences typical of Bullock's work, these pieces are mysterious and companionable without becoming clichés. The unframed collage of painted paper and fibers, Come on in My Kitchen Cause It's Raining Outside, almost leaps off the wall with joyous exuberance.

Sewing and needlework, long regarded as expressive disciplines suitable for ladies, were appropriated in the 20th century by Miriam Schapiro, Judy Chicago and other groundbreaking women artists (along with some male artists, like Robert Kushner, who mined the same territory). Fabric, is, in fact, the most common motif in "Women's Work." Doris Nogueria-Rogers' elegant collages suggest food with sharp symmetrical but organic shapes and patterned cloth-like surfaces. Nannette Acker Clark has based a lot of her work on fabric, especially printed African fabric. Her paintings from the "Cut to the Chase" series are dynamic abstractions in strong color, gray with red or green with ochre. Sharply delineated curves and angles resemble clothing pattern or quilt pieces. Painted lines of oversize "stitching" reinforce that reference.

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Martina Johnson-Allen's nine small "Sacred Space" shadow boxes from about five years ago present yet another way of representing cloth. Ornamented with collage elements including buttons, the constructed framing elements dominate pointed cut-paper shapes jutting up inside them. Almost every surface is hot sunflower yellow, heavily embellished with multicolored lines and dots resembling both embroidery and lace.

The two sculptors in the show could hardly be more different. Sica's small freestanding pieces are composed of flat planes of metal, some polished, some patinated, all reflective of African sculpture. Kathleen Spicer's wall-mounted work is carved, polychrome wood, lush with undulating images of flowers, fruits and plants.

A lingering question relating to the "Women's Work" title is: Would or should a parallel show of men's art be called "Men's Work"? When I put it to Philadelphia curator and writer A.M. Weaver, she replied that such a gesture would be pointless because shows exclusively devoted to men are the norm. "Given the current art-market climate, women still need greater representation," she said. "Men are again starting to dominate the fine-arts arena."

(r_rice@citypaper.net)