10/2/2005
Judy Fox
P.P.O.W, New York
Power Figures. The installation is composed of five life size sculptures: four boys guarding a voluptuous woman. It is an inquiry into the relationship between power and nurture, inspiration and threat, creativity and destructiveness. A timely subject perhaps, but based on a timeless psychological dynamic.
Power Figures
P·P·O·W is please to announce Power Figures, the latest installment in Judy Fox’s exploration of human nature and culture through transplanted iconic images. The installation is composed of five life size sculptures: four boys guarding a voluptuous woman. It is an inquiry into the relationship between power and nurture, inspiration and threat, creativity and destructiveness. A timely subject perhaps, but based on a timeless psychological dynamic.
As in prior work, Fox mines her images from art historical sources whose gestures from the past seem to suggest another meaning in the present. Here, each boy raises his right arm in a common display of masculine domination, despite the various origins of the poses. The Russian “Holy Manâ€, with the flowing hair and golden tones of a Christian icon, is posed like a famous photograph of the mesmerizing Rasputin. A knife-holding wooden fetish translates into the menacing African “Nkondiâ€. “Ayatollahâ€, in the classic finger waving lecturer’s pose, is positioned flatly, as if drawn by a Persian miniaturist. The demon-red “Divine Warrior†retracts his fist like the fierce guardian figures posted at Chinese Buddhist tombs. This quartet attends to a woman who is modeled on prehistoric female figurines, with their mysteriously wrapped heads. Straining forward on her toes, Venus is seductive yet awkward as she attempts to hold the position of the feminine icon.
Within these bodies, each rendered meticulously after a particular model, the spirit of individuals press against the confines of the iconic roles they perform. It is up to viewers to make sense of these conflicts, and to reconcile them with their own responses to the figures that confront them, naked and exposed.
Judy Fox has been exhibiting nationally since 1985 and internationally since 1994. In 1995 she was included in the Venice Biennale and has exhibited at Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris, among other European galleries. Her participation in recent significant group shows include, “Uncannyâ€, Tate, Liverpool, England and the Museum of Modern Art, Vienna, curated by Mike Kelley. This summer, a catalog of all her major works will be published by the International Sommerakademie fur Bildende Kunst, Salzburg, Austria, where she has been on the faculty. Please call the gallery at 212-647-1044 for pre-publication orders.
P·P·O·W - 555 W 25th Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues) - New York
Hours: The gallery is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 11AM to 6PM.