Women on the Verge at Rhona Hoffman

A review of "Women on the Verge" at Rhona Hoffman Gallery

Robin F. Williams Abject Terror (Ripley), 

2023 Oil and acrylic on canvas 26 x 20 in.

As the show’s curator, art historian Lisa Wainwright, notes in the catalog :  "Phantasmagorical images of women populate figurative painting these days. "… and as her exhibition demonstrates, that’s been happening for more than fifty years.  The chronology in this exhibit begins with Louise Bourgeois (b. 1911, Paris)  and ends with Payton Harris-Woodard (b. 1996, Chicago). 

Louise Bourgeois  Untitled, 1950 Ink on paper 14 x 11 in.

Payton Harris-Woodard, Brown Fury

Some of the women depicted, like the wide-eyed face shown at the top,  do seem on the verge of that nervous breakdown seen in the celebrated Spanish film (Pedro Aldomar) of that title.  Wainwright’s text  says they are on the verge of "making a really big ruckus" to "deflect  the evils of the patriarchy".  They certainly are not playing the roles of the enticing lover, demure spouse,  or nurturing mother.  But neither do they seem especially interested in disrupting anything other than their own  lives.   They’re as goofy, giddy, dysfunctional, and self enthralled as a rebellious adolescent.  Welcome to the world of Chicago Imagism, a tradition now over sixty  years old and still going strong.

Wainwright  has included both the very famous - and the very unknown  (especially if they’re connected to her own  institution, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago).  That might be expected. But what is surprising is that she has apparently selected paintings that are visually appealing  rather than  especially outrageous or typical for the artist. Compare the piece shown at the top, for example, with other recent work by Robin Williams:

Robin F. Williams, gallery shot from her show "Outlookers"

"Abject Terror" is so much less provocative and puzzling than the above - while it is visually more delicious.

Nicola Tyson The Disconnect, 2020 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 1001⁄2 in.

Or consider the above large canvas by Nicola Tyson.  Powerful painting that it is, it hardly seems figurative at all - while, as you can see below, usually female human figures are clearly identifiable in Tyson’s work:

None of which should be taken as a criticism of the curator.  She has evidentially selected paintings she likes to look at more than once - - - and so do I.

 Cindy Sherman Untitled, 1987 Chromogenic color print 45 x 30 in. 

Wainwright’s arrangement of pieces within the gallery also makes visual sense to me. The place to see Cindy Sherman’s obtuse, pathetic, furtive figure is in a dark corner at the periphery - and that’s exactly where Wainwright has hung it - in a dimly lit hall beyond the gallery’s kitchen.

Celeste Rapone - Gladys Nilsson (2),   Elizabeth Glaessner

Meanwhile, this lineup of more attractive pieces deserves its central position in the gallery  - especially the two gorgeous watercolors at the very center by Gladys Nilsson.

Elizabeth Glaessner (b. 1984) , Medusa, 2023 Oil on linen 36 x 24 in.

Medusa was indeed a "woman on the verge", 

but I have no idea how this mythopoetic work relates to her.  

I do enjoy trying to figure it out, however.

Celeste Rapone (b. 1985),  Girl’s Girl, oil on canvas, 34 x 30

A humorous and beautiful design of a shirtless, heavy set  girl playing cards presumably with another woman. 

But how is she on the verge of anything other than a winning hand of Poker?

The exhibit was not hung chronologically -  but still it’s hard to resist querying the seventy years of art history spanned by these 27 artists.  The feminist seriousness of Bourgeois and Lassnig, both born in Europe, has given way to a more sensual and often silly self expression - suggesting that feminism itself is now less of a cultural critique and more about personal lifestyle.

But where can we find all the  other kinds of women that women depict?  Everyone still needs a loving, nurturing mother.  Why can’t women depict women as such?  Or what about women as athletes, community leaders,  venture capitalists, house painters, or scientists ?  Does any female artist depict women on the verge of a responsible, productive, inspired adult life?  Or maybe even as old  and wise?  Or what about craven, dishonest and manipulative?

Of course many  female artists do address a wider range of character,  but you’re not going to find them in the echo chamber of contemporary art in Chicago.

Rose Frantzen, self portrait, 2017

(Not in this show)