Art & Inspiration Blog

There is a bang up of a show, Ghada Amer:Color Misbehavior on now until June 19 2010, at Cheim & Read.

Ghada Amir’s trademark “paint” of colorful embroidery thread – a traditional feminine material – juxtaposes with her exploration of female sexuality.

Amir’s use of the tread is painterly, threads dangle like paint drops, there are excess threads, and even what can seem as tangles. The threads emulate brushstrokes and if one steps back and disengages from the significance of the imagery, her “strokes” are recall the drips and gestures of Pollock and Twombly.

Personally, as an artist whose focus in on the stroke, Ghanda Amer’s strokes are beguiling and unique .  [See: Manifesto of Post Conceptual Ungraven Image Art theory—A Painting's Meaning is Inherent in Its Strokes ”]

One of the show stoppers and a favorite of ours is major works in this show is The Black Bang 2010. “Waves of color shooting out from a black background, sensual and explosive,” said David Wasserman Robles, who went to the well attended gallery opening.

The Black Bang, 2010, Acrylic, embroidery and gel medium on canvas, 72 x 64 inches

Like Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, Amir’s work is sensuous, feminist and celebrates female sexuality. Amir blazes her own path in this terrain by her use of medium and overlapping of strokes and images. This overlapping of imagery, especially appeals to me as it steps into Post Conceptual concepts.

Color Misbehavior, 2009, Embroidery and gel medium on canvas 70 x 59 inches

Ghada Amir often repeats her scene, brings a wallpaper pattern like resemblance to a work, so that a clearly handmade piece refers to mass production or the prim and proper pattern work of embroidery samplers – but Amir’s embroidery has busted out of its corset.

The Lollipop, 2009, Embroidery and gel medium on canvas on canvas, 50 x 60 inches

Ghada Amir’s work overturns pornography, making sex, from a female view, sensual, erotic but somehow cozy, intimate and playful, appealing beyond the feminism. David W. Robles said, “The show is sexual and dynamic, but it’s also really fun and vibrant.”

Cheim & Read is located at 547 West 25th Street New York , NY 10001 . They are open Tuesday through Saturday 10 am – 6 pm.

David W. Robles contributed to this blog. Many thanks to John Cheim and the gallery for the images and permission to use them.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Art Theory and Show Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.