BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN | In their first joint exhibition since announcing dual representation of Carolee Schneemann in 2015, Galerie Lelong and P•P•O•W present this influential feminist artist by pulling together examples of her critical but lesser-known works from the ’80s, ’90s, and present.
Born in 1939, Schneemann has long been known for her discourses on the body, sexuality, and gender. Though trained as a painter, her oeuvre encompasses a variety of media, including filmmaking and performance, among others. As stated in the past, Schneemann is “interested in sensuous pleasure and the power of the naked body as an active image rather than the same old, pacified, immobilized, historicized body.”
In these two particular exhibitions, Schneemann focuses on representations of the body in captivity, utilizing visualizations of repressed histories of control and confinement. At P•P•O•W, for example, Exhibit A will present the rarely seen “Known/Unknown: Plague Column” (1995-1996), an installation which combines collage, sculptures, wall texts, photographs, and video. The latter will be looped, showing enlarged permutated cancer cells and juxtaposing these with grids of religious icons. Meanwhile, at Galerie Lelong, Exhibit B will entail two films by Schneemann: “Precarious” (2009) and “Devour” (2003), as well as works on paper (“Caged Cats”).
Through Dec. 3 at P•P•O•W (ppowgallery.com; 535 W. 22nd St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.; Tues.–Sat., 10am–6pm) and Galerie Lelong (galerielelong.com; 528 W. 26th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.; Tues.–Sat., 10am–6pm).
