Shop > Monographs

#15116

Helen Chadwick: The Oval Court

Artist
Helen Chadwick
Writer
Marina Warner
Price
$26.00
Date
2022
Publisher
Afterall Books
Format
Monographs
ISBN
9781846382512
Genre
Arts Writing, Criticism, Contemporary Art
Description

In 1986 the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London showed a new commission by the artist Helen Chadwick (1954–1996). What Chadwick conceived for the ICA exhibition explored her characteristic themes—the female body (her own), the aesthetics of pleasure, the material variety and wonder of phenomena—but took them in a new, flamboyant direction. In this illustrated volume, Marina Warner examines one part of Chadwick’s installation, The Oval Court. This work was erotic, playful, and fierce; it showed imaginative ambition on an exceptional scale and a unique, piquant sensibility, both raunchy and delicate.

Despite the work’s recognition as a feminist monument of rare intensity, it has rarely been shown or discussed since the author’s catalogue essay for the original exhibition. Warner here reconsiders Chadwick’s influence as an artist who helped to shift conventional aesthetics and transvalue despised, even abominated forms. Exploring the work’s richly layered composition in light of intervening years, Warner shows how Chadwick’s imagination has shaped many artists’ ideas and ethics, and emboldened their adventures with materials.

  1. The Oval Court
 

Related Items

  1. Dara Birnbaum and T.J. Demos: Dara Birnbaum: Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman
  2. Craig Burnett and Philip Guston: Philip Guston: The Studio
  3. Sonja Ivekovic and Ruth Noack: Sanja Ivekovic: Triangle
  4. Walker Evans and Oliver Richon: Walker Evans: Kitchen Corner
  5. Bas Jan Ader and Jan Verwoert: Bas Jan Ader: In Search of the Miraculous
  6. Kodwo Eshun and Dan Graham: Dan Graham: Rock My Religion
  7. Sharon Lockhart and Howard Singerman: Sharon Lockhart: Pine Flat
  8. Mark Leckey and Mitch Speed: Mark Leckey: Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore
  9. Marc Camille Chaimowicz and Tom Holert: Marc Camille Chaimowicz: Celebration? Realife
  10. Michael Archer and Jeff Koons: Jeff Koons: One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank
  11. Pierre Huyghe and Mark Lewis: Pierre Huyghe: Untitled (Human Mask)
  12. Peter Fischli, Jeremy Millar, and David Weiss: Fischli and Weiss: The Way Things Go
  13. Stefan Gronert and Sigmar Polke: Sigmar Polke: Girlfriends
  14. Luis Camnitzer: One Number is Worth One Word
  15. Anna Dezeuze and Thomas Hirschhorn: Thomas Hirschhorn: Deleuze Monument
  16. Jennifer Liese: Social Medium: Artists Writing 2000-2015
  17. Althea Thauberger: The State of the Situation
  18. Liz Lanner: Parkett # 28
  19. Sylvie Fleury: Parkett # 58
  20. Maurizio Cattelan: Parkett # 59
  21. John Currin, Laura Owens, Michael Raedecker, and Lou Reed: Parkett # 65
  22. Parkett # 67
  23. Parkett # 71
  24. Parkett # 70
  25. Monica Bonvicini, Urs Fischer, and Richard Prince: Parkett # 72
  26. Making Art Global, Part 1 The Third Havana Biennial 1989
  27. I Like Your Work: Art and Etiquette
  28. Nathan Isberg: A Manifesto for Sincere Loss
  29. Mieke Bal: Exhibition-ism: Temporal Togetherness
  30. Afterall Issue 40
  31. Afterall Issue 39
  32. Afterall Issue 41
  33. Afterall Issue 42
  34. Afterall Issue 43
  35. Afterall Issue 44
  36. Afterall Issue 45
  37. Afterall Issue 46
  38. Afterall Issue 47
  39. Afterall Issue 48
  40. Susan Schuppli: Material Witness: Media, Forensics, Evidence