Hannah Wilke: Gestures

Published by Neuberger Museum of Art. Text by Tracy Fitzpatrick with Saundra Goldman, Tom Kochheiser, Griselda Pollock

The act of folding is the salient gesture in the sculptures of American artist Hannah Wilke (1940-1993). Taking such materials as clay, bubble gum and Play-Doh, Wilke fashioned serial forms that folded inward or opened out with overtly labial sensuousness. Wilke often placed these objects in compromising situations--hinged with pins or glued to walls and boards, placed freely on the floor, always seemingly on the verge of disaster. Today she is famed for her many nude self-portraits, which have threatened to eclipse the sculptural basis of both the portraits themselves and her work in general. By emphasizing folding as a gesture, this catalogue--the first on the artist to appear in many years--unites Wilke's sculpture and photography under the rubric of performance, and the performing of material. With an abundance of color reproductions and critical commentary, Hannah Wilke: Gestures offers a fresh assessment of a pioneer in sculpture, feminist art and performance.

Paperback: 108 pages
Publisher: Neuberger Museum of Art; 1 edition (August 30, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0979562929
ISBN-13: 978-0979562921