Susan Heinemann

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  print March 1974

  Eunice Golden

  While for the most part distinctions between men’s and women’s art on the basis of sex are arbitrary, if not downright discriminatory, occasionally an artist through his or her choice of subject matter forces consideration of his or her sexual bias. To discuss Eunice Golden’s work, for example, without acknowledging her feminist stance would deny her deliberately erotic art much of its impact. There is after all a biological differentiation of the sexes, and it is perhaps largely because of this, combined with the historical predominance of men in the arts, that we have such a tradition of the

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  print March 1974

  Harmony Hammond, Sarah Draney, Patsy Norvell, Jenny Snider and Louise Fishman

  If feminism is a consideration in assessing Golden’s work, it is because she deals explicitly with sex. In contrast, to discuss the group show at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery—labeled “a women’s group”—in terms of feminism would be to create artificially separate standards for women’s art. The artists represented are primarily involved with issues raised by other art. None of them, not even Harmony Hammond with her braided rugs, a traditional woman’s craft, seriously questions, “What does it mean to be a woman? Is my perspective different as a woman?” Not that I am advocating this approach for all

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  print March 1974

  Barbara Kruger, Don Gummer and Laurie Anderson

  The tendency toward a highly decorative art is further evinced by Barbara Kruger’s ornate fabric circles shown at Artists Space. Her five large circles are haloed by borders of garishly colored synthetic fluff. Inside, patches of striped, checked, quilted, and shimmering fabric vie with impasto acrylic polka dots, stripes of brightly colored yarn, thick oozes of paint and nodules covered in sparkling silver netting—altogether an incredibly busy surface dazzle. The choice of cheap, gaudy materials arranged in psychedelic patterns, glittering kitsch, relates these works to the pop culture. Once

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  print March 1974

  Ann Healy

  Although involved with the effects of light and gravity, Ann Healy’s art focuses on the object in the creation of clearly present images. Her recent work consists of transparent silk gathered on metal rods and then allowed to fall in accordance with gravity’s pull. In general, the rods are arranged in simple geometric configurations—combining the design shapes characteristic of her outdoor sailcloth hangings with the free-falling folds of her large dramatic drapes. These new works are less overtly theatrical, more lyrical, than the previous draped forms, due to the soft folds and the transparent

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  print March 1974

  Julius Tobias, Alice Adams and Susan Smith

  Julius Tobias’ new piece at 55 Mercer deliberately confronts the viewer by blocking the entry into the gallery. Five rows of concrete beams, each split in two, extend horizontally like curbstones across the space, with aisles on the side and in between for passage. As in Tobias’ previous work, the basic ideas have already been worked out by Carl Andre. The new element for Tobias of psychological confrontation was examined in Andre’s early styrofoam blocks as well as later floor pieces. All that Tobias adds is a different situation.

  Both of the other artists represented at 55 Mercer are involved