The Bodies Are Back: Comics and Gender Explored at Intersection for the Arts

The Bodies Are Back by Margaret Harrison at Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco.

Wed, Feb 10 - Sat, Mar 27 | 12pm - 5pm | FREE

"Margaret Harrison, renowned British artist and pioneer of feminist art, revisits the themes of her very early work exploring notions of the human body as an object of sexuality, consumption, and gaze. The Bodies Are Back consists of works on paper that Harrison produced in the late 1960's/early 1970's displayed alongside new works created for this show. In 1971, Harrison's work was instantly met with controversy and antagonism (the London police shut down her first solo exhibition the day after it opened feeling that its contents were too controversial). This controversy caused Harrison to abandon the issues and themes of this series. Now an established artist with work in the permanent collections of major international institutions, she is critically re-engaging with this body of work, continuing the dialogue that she began four decades ago." (more examples of this work here).

Sometime ago Intersection's curator/program director Kevin Chen gave me a peek at his image checklist for this show. It was fascinating to see so many (usually) macho superheroes re-imagined in this way. Anyone studying gender issues in pop culture should check it out (artist bio on Intersection site). New reviews: SF Chronicle/Gate, Bay Area Reporter.