What you lookin' at?! The Female Gaze in art

Any art history student has most likely had their dose (overdose?) of feminist art history in college, reading about the male gaze, the voyeur, etc etc. But it's not too often that you hear about the female gaze. Opening this Thursday, June 25 at Cheim and Read gallery in Chelsea is an exhibition called "The Female Gaze: Women Looking at Women." According to the event profile on MutualArt.com, it's a

group exhibition of women artists depicting the female form. With this premise, the show seeks to present a collection of works which reclaim the traditional domination of the "male gaze" and reorient the significance of the female figure to allow for more varied interpretations...This exhibition attempts to debunk the notion of the male gaze by providing a group of works in which the artist and subject do not relate as "voyeur" and "object," but as woman and woman.

The list of participating artists looks varied and fantastic. I will definitely be checking this show out!

Chelsea Art District

I went around Chelsea this week. Maybe not the best choice in the world - since it was FREEZING - but I had a good time all the same. Chelsea is the major arts district in the world right now. According to their website, there are over 330 galleries in a four block radius. It's pretty incredible. For me though, the concentration of art is very overwhelming - I never know which galleries to go into, which artists to see, which shows to see. It's very exhausting just thinking about it - and trying to plan something. Well, this weekend, I just decided to go for it - I decided that I would walk until something really struck me and then I'd go in. I wouldn't let the overabundance of art overwhelm me.

I saw the Von Lintel Gallery. Right now they have an exhibition of Izima Kaoru, the Japanese artist born in 1954 who takes these disturbingly beautiful photos of young women as corpses. 

It was a really interesting show - not necessarily something that I want to be hanging in my living room, but I appreciate it all the same.