The Art of Nancy Grossman
Jan. 2nd, 2024 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
haii2uHappy 2024 everyone! Today I had a lovely conversation with some friends about works of art that we enjoyed, and I finally was able to talk about my interest in Nancy Grossman's head sculptures. I've been meaning to do so for a while now on here, but never knew how to start it. Sooo... here we are! I'll be more or less copypasting what I wrote to them on here, with some things changed up obviously to connect it all better.
First and foremost I have a bone to pick with whoever wrote her Wikipedia page because it says under the section about her art that "She says her work challenges the ideas of gender identity and gender fluidity", which is somewhat true but also disingenuous. It cites an analysis of her work that centers around the lack of male/female dichotomy in her sculptures but nowhere does she actually specifically say that that's what her works are about.
That isn't to say sex isn't a theme in her work, but I feel like people take her quote of "I see my sculptures as self-portraits" way too literally. She was forced to act as a mother for her siblings growing up and hated what was expected of her by society just because she was female, and she described her battle in the male-dominated art world of the 60's and 70's as "You want to be a woman? Well, that comes with a foot on top of your head. [A man's] foot on your head." With her sculptures she takes that display of male dominance and physicalizes it, reversing the roles in a way.
Pressure, anxiety, the helpless feeling of being trapped or imprisoned and unable to do anything about it are all prevalent themes in her art and parallel her lived experiences growing up, so to boil it all down to and focus only on the perceived sex of the head you ignore what Grossman has actually, explicitly stated has influenced her art as well as the context of the time period that they were created in.
For example there's Mary, created in 1970 and representative mainly of her anger towards William Calley, a former military lieutenant who conducted the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war (he was on trial for this during the time Grossman made the sculpture).
The outer flaps of the mask come off to reveal another, simpler leather mask beneath it... in the context of this being a surrogate for Calley, it could be seen as a symbol of stunted masculinity; aggressive and protecting of the true self. Mary was also slang for an effeminate man and Grossman herself has called Calley a "sissy boy", seemingly conflating femininity with failure (possibly tongue in cheek?). Calley was described as being demanding of unearned respect, Napoleonic in a way. So this could be the various layers of his personality. A commanding lieutenant covering a spineless bully covering an angry, scared young boy.
It's kind of difficult to take interest in her art without getting a few odd, accusatory looks... the leather, belts and total bondage evoke a sadomasochist vibe but she has explicitly stated multiple times that it was never intended to be seen in that way. Ultimately though what you put out into the world is free to be interpreted however, but you're encouraged to look past the initial thoughts and instead consider the relationship between the "inner" and "outer" body, as it were...
To think this whole conversation started because I was putting off a drawing idea I had... LOL
First and foremost I have a bone to pick with whoever wrote her Wikipedia page because it says under the section about her art that "She says her work challenges the ideas of gender identity and gender fluidity", which is somewhat true but also disingenuous. It cites an analysis of her work that centers around the lack of male/female dichotomy in her sculptures but nowhere does she actually specifically say that that's what her works are about.
That isn't to say sex isn't a theme in her work, but I feel like people take her quote of "I see my sculptures as self-portraits" way too literally. She was forced to act as a mother for her siblings growing up and hated what was expected of her by society just because she was female, and she described her battle in the male-dominated art world of the 60's and 70's as "You want to be a woman? Well, that comes with a foot on top of your head. [A man's] foot on your head." With her sculptures she takes that display of male dominance and physicalizes it, reversing the roles in a way.
Pressure, anxiety, the helpless feeling of being trapped or imprisoned and unable to do anything about it are all prevalent themes in her art and parallel her lived experiences growing up, so to boil it all down to and focus only on the perceived sex of the head you ignore what Grossman has actually, explicitly stated has influenced her art as well as the context of the time period that they were created in.
For example there's Mary, created in 1970 and representative mainly of her anger towards William Calley, a former military lieutenant who conducted the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war (he was on trial for this during the time Grossman made the sculpture).
The outer flaps of the mask come off to reveal another, simpler leather mask beneath it... in the context of this being a surrogate for Calley, it could be seen as a symbol of stunted masculinity; aggressive and protecting of the true self. Mary was also slang for an effeminate man and Grossman herself has called Calley a "sissy boy", seemingly conflating femininity with failure (possibly tongue in cheek?). Calley was described as being demanding of unearned respect, Napoleonic in a way. So this could be the various layers of his personality. A commanding lieutenant covering a spineless bully covering an angry, scared young boy.
It's kind of difficult to take interest in her art without getting a few odd, accusatory looks... the leather, belts and total bondage evoke a sadomasochist vibe but she has explicitly stated multiple times that it was never intended to be seen in that way. Ultimately though what you put out into the world is free to be interpreted however, but you're encouraged to look past the initial thoughts and instead consider the relationship between the "inner" and "outer" body, as it were...
To think this whole conversation started because I was putting off a drawing idea I had... LOL
