Katz, Jonathan D. — Judy Chicago : Reviewing Powerplay

Santa Fe, New Mexico, David Richard Gallery, 2012. Signed and Inscribed by the Artist. Paperback. Illustrated white wraps with black lettering. 48 pp. full of color illustrations. Catalogue from the exhibition held June to August 2012. Signed and Inscribed by the Artist. "The exhibition title invites us to ReView Judy Chicago’s PowerPlay, but for many of us it’s our first time. Originally exhibited in New York City, in 1986, and greeted with silence, the works—with only a few exceptions—have been stored in Belen, New Mexico, ever since. Created between 1982 and 1986 in a gallery on Santa Fe’s Canyon Road, PowerPlay is at once protest art and message art. “I use the male body to critique masculinity,” Chicago explains. It was the beginning of her visual dialogue about how men act and an exploration of their negative use of power. This at a time when there were few gender studies and no queer theory. But it is not unusual for Chicago’s work to take decades to be understood. The works in the PowerPlay series include paintings, drawings, weavings, bronze reliefs, and cast paper. The show at David Richard Gallery presents twenty-six of these works. Many of the paintings are massive to convey the massive aggression, massive anger, massive destruction exhibited by Chicago’s male subjects. The largest painting is nine feet by twenty-two feet, and the main gallery’s huge white walls and excellent blend of natural and artificial lighting are perfect to emphasize Chicago’s luminous over-the-rainbow colors." - from the gallery web site. VG (Wraps have light shelf/edgewear, with mild scuffing, bumping and soiling; interior is clean and tight.) .