Nancy Davidson

Carnivaleyes

May 13, 1998

Nova Sin Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic

The eyes have. it: feminism’s fun

Review by Mimi Froneuk Rodgers

The carnival has come to town in the form of NewYork artist Nancy Davidson's big, bawdy scuptures made from gussied-up and corseted weather balloons. In addition to bringing three previously exhibited works, for her first show in this country Davidson has created a series of sculp­tures, collectively called Camivaleyes (also the ti­tle of her exhibition at Ga­lerie Nova sin).

This roomful of brightly col­ored balloons, which evoke the fe­male form while not depicting it directly, seemingly presents a feminist critique on male objectification of women. But Davidson's commentary is never heavyhanded; it is at once playful and witty md ripe with possibili­ties of meaning. It is, in the words of one art critic, "funhouse feminism."

Davidson's use of puns to title her works further highlights the multiple readings they proffer. The exhibition's dominant piece, for example, is the floor-to-ceiling sculpture Maebe1997 (the title is translated into Czech as Motna Mae West),-in which the artist portrays the film star's fabled figure in blue-corseted latex. The weather balloon is laced into a voluptuous hourglass shape that is encircled by a black net extending to the ceil­ing and anchored to the floor with five sand­ bags, as if the sculpture were threatening to float away. The title plainly suggests ambigui­ty; It just might be Mae West.

Understandably, many viewers have· grown weary of the ponderous quality of much of the art dealing with the politics of the body. Davidson's work; however, presents a thoroughly refreshing antidote: It confronts the serious issue of body politics without ever losing its sense of fun and titillation, not un­ like a carnival sideshow where raw spectacle masks a darker, heavier side of the bodyas source of exploitation.