MARTHA EDELHEIT: NAKED CITY, PAINTINGS FROM 1965–80 : Eric Firestone Gallery
Martha Edelheit’s “Naked City” sees the new yorkers of the 70s in an idealistic nude fantasy. The stylized figures sit in an exaggeratedly lush city where plants and nude figures take center stage. The city is the central theme looming in the background, or sometimes simply alluded to in the edges of the painting. Most figures don’t know they are being looked at and the ones that do seem disinterested, these paintings have an apathy to being observed making the figures just another prop in the paintingThere are some paintings that stray from the city part of the show and are more abstract and some works see figures placed in a Southwest environment or on silk blankets. All the figures have a strangeness in the way they occupy space but the nude Eden-New York juxtaposition feels considered while the rest seem collaged and out of place. The figures are the strongest part of this work. The use of the nude in non-narrative fashion is reminiscent of Philip Pearlstein’s work. Sylvia Sleigh or Alice Neel’s work is another reference point of an artist dealing with similar themes. Edelheit’s work is exploratory, not sticking to one setting, and the figures carry much of the visual interest, the works focusing on the city hold the most interest.
Aidan Lapp
I think speaking on the voyeurism aspect of this work is interesting, especially with the historical references of various venus nude paintings. Something that is different about these works are the fact that the nudes seem like portraits of specific people, and the artist making them is a woman. So I think brining it back to that and comparing it to its historical references would help.
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ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting take on these pieces. Looking back I agree that the figures take on a more prop-like aspect than actual people. They have little life in them and just seem to be something there to establish a middle ground. What I found interesting about these pieces was the use of symbolism. One of the southwest paintings with a nude woman had an oyster in the corner, a symbol of Aphrodite the goddess of love, pleasure, fertility, and sex. It might be interesting for you to touch upon the symbols found in some of these paintings or take a deeper look into the Naked City.
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