IT’S COMPLICATED: ROMANCING THE [MALE] MODERNIST CANON Courtney Coombs BFA Visual Art (Honours) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2015 I feel that art is an intellectual process which both questions and affirms the very nature of being. My concerns of identity within and outside the confines of my studio or working situation have everything to do with my experience. And my experience is primarily that of an artist and I am a female. Lynda Benglis 1971 Keywords Ambiguity, boys club, contemporary art, collaboration, collectivity, critique, deconstruction, dialogue, exchange, faux-llaboration, Feminisms, Feminist Art, found object, gender, humour, installation, inequality, intimacy, irony, loss, love, knowledge, metaphor, Minimalism, narrative, patriarchy, political, Postminimalism, power, privilege, recontextualisation, reflexivity, romance, tentative gesture, voice, vulnerability, women. It’s Complicated: Romancing the [male] modernist canon i Abstract While women have engaged actively in the production of visual art over centuries, and feminisms’ influence on the field has been notable for at least forty years, women are still sidelined in the predominant discourse of art. Women continue to struggle to find their place, personally, historically and professionally in these circumstances. While some feminist artists have been involved in the creation of a separate realm of art production that rejects the dominant paradigm of masculine art discourse (Contemporary Art), this effectively surrenders the field, leaving those in power comfortably so. This research project proposes a model of dialogue between the [predominantly male] modernist canon and models of feminist resistance. By employing a practice based methodology that utilises humour as a method for ironic deconstruction as well as a feminist methodology of revision, critique, and dialogic exchange, the resulting body of work disrupts and augments the modernist canon through a series of intimate and interpersonal exchanges. Making intimate relationships explicit, the artworks explore collaborative and faux-llaborative processes to form a series of tentative gestures that refute notions of mastery and control. ii It’s Complicated: Romancing the [male] modernist canon Table of Contents Keywords .................................................................................................................................. i Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... v Statement of Original Authorship ........................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Contextual Review .................................................................................. 5 THE MALE DOMINATED FIELD OF ART .......................................................................... 6 Why have there been no Great Women Artists? ............................................................. 6 The Boys’ Club ............................................................................................................... 8 Minimalism/Minimal Art................................................................................................ 9 Postminimalism/Postminimalist Art ............................................................................. 15 Women and Postminimalist Practice ............................................................................ 22 FEMINISTS CAN BE FUNNY .............................................................................................. 32 Feminist Art .................................................................................................................. 32 Humour in Feminist Art................................................................................................ 35 VALIE EXPORT .......................................................................................................... 36 Lynda Benglis ............................................................................................................... 41 LOVE AND NARRATIVE .................................................................................................... 44 Love .................................................................................................................... 45 Tracey Emin ................................................................................................................. 46 Felix Gonzalez-Torres .................................................................................................. 48 Fictive Narratives ......................................................................................................... 53 Sophie Calle .................................................................................................................. 54 Chapter 3: Research Design .................................................................................... 59 PRACTICE AS RESEARCH ................................................................................................. 59 Practice-based research – The tentative gesture ........................................................... 59 Reflexivity .................................................................................................................... 61 Collaboration ................................................................................................................ 62 Humour as a method of ironic deconstruction .............................................................. 65 FEMINIST APPROACHES TO MAKING ........................................................................... 69 Understanding Feminisms ............................................................................................ 69 Critique and Reverence ................................................................................................. 71 Uncomfortable Reflexivity ........................................................................................... 74 Dialogue and Exchange ................................................................................................ 76 Narrative Inquiry .......................................................................................................... 77 Feminisms and theory ................................................................................................... 78 Chapter 4: The Work .............................................................................................. 87 COLLABORATION ............................................................................................................... 88 FAUX-LLABORATION ........................................................................................................ 92 Things (Soulmates) ....................................................................................................... 96 Spread (with Bob) ......................................................................................................... 99 Consequence (after Richard) ...................................................................................... 102 It’s Complicated: Romancing the [male] modernist canon iii Pink Things ................................................................................................................ 105 Highflying .................................................................................................................. 108 Flying High ................................................................................................................ 111 ROMANTIC LOVE AS IRONIC METAPHOR ................................................................. 112 I found love on a cold and icy day in Copenhagen .................................................... 115 On Show .................................................................................................................. 117 Spillage .................................................................................................................. 120 Black Spill (small) ...................................................................................................... 123 Grand Gestures .......................................................................................................... 124 TEXT, LANGUAGE AND VOICE ..................................................................................... 126 Speak Up .................................................................................................................. 129 Harden Up ................................................................................................................. 131 Stay Soft .................................................................................................................. 133 Love/Fear .................................................................................................................