NEW YORK, NY.- Beginning in January 2016, P.P.O.W and
Galerie Lelong will jointly represent Carolee Schneemann. From her early kinetic paintings of the 1950s to recent sculptural and photographic installations, Schneemanns work spans over sixty years of invention, provocation, and canonical contributions to postwar art. The partnership grows out of a longstanding collaboration and relationship between the galleries and their programs. Working in tandem, the galleries will provide a broader and more global platform for Schneemanns work and a wider recognition of her ground-breaking achievements. P.P.O.W and Galerie Lelong will host a two-part solo exhibition of the artists work in October 2016.
The two galleries share an affinity for artwork with political and feminist content, as revealed in their exhibitions that include Martha Wilson and Dotty Attie (P.P.O.W), and Ana Mendieta and Nancy Spero (Galerie Lelong), among many others. Both galleries have long supported women artists of different generations and each has been active in ensuring parity for female artists in the art world. P.P.O.W and Galerie Lelong are founding members of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum and have served in leadership capacities in the Art Dealers Association of America.
We are so pleased to work with Galerie Lelong; our joint histories and programs perfectly fit together to uphold Schneemanns legacy and place her work in significant collections and exhibitions globally, says Wendy Olsoff the founder of P.P.O.W. Together we will ensure a stable future for her work which will serve countless generations in understanding her significance as a pivotal artist in all media.
Galerie Lelong is honored to collaborate with P.P.O.W in representing Schneemanns visionary and ground breaking work at this important juncture in her career, says Galerie Lelong Vice President and Partner Mary Sabbatino. As a long admirer of Schneemanns art and the integrity and creativity of P.P.O.W, we are proud to participate in a new model for effective and collegial cooperation.
Schneemanns painting, photography, performance art, and installation work transformed postwar art, and influenced the contemporary discourse on sexuality and gender. Her work is characterized by research into archaic visual traditions, pleasure wrested from suppressive taboos, and the body of the artist in relation to the social body. Originally a painter, Schneemann went on to become a pioneer of feminist performance and extended media art. The artist created a body of progressive and iconic works that include an exploration of 'geometry of motion' in Lateral Splay, 1963, a provocative group performance Meat Joy, 1964, a self-shot erotic film Fuses, 1965, and a meditation of solitary movements in Up To and Including Her Limits, 197376. Schneemanns more contemporary works continue to inspire and provoke: Terminal Velocity, 2001, depicted close-up media images of bodies falling from the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks. Newer works such as her kinetic video installation Flange 6rpm, 2011-2013, attest to Schneemanns capacity for creative and technical innovation.
A comprehensive retrospective of the artist, Carolee Schneemann: Kinetic Painting, is currently on view at The Museum der Moderne Salzburg through February 28, 2016 and is accompanied by a full-color catalogue. A major monograph, Carolee Schneemann: Unforgivable, was published by Black Dog in December 2015. In 2013 the artist was the subject of the solo exhibition, Carolee Schneemann: Then and Now, which traveled from the Musée départemental d'art contemporain de Rochechouart in France to the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León in Spain, and in 2015 she was the subject of Carolee Schneemann Residency at The Artists Institute at Hunter College in New York. The College Art Association Women's Caucus for Art honored Schneemann with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. Schneemanns work is included in major museum collections around the world including in Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tate Modern, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. Schneemans work will also be the focus of P.P.O.W.s booth at ADAA this year.