Wet: On Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture

by Mira Schor

Taking aim at the mostly male bastion of art theory and criticism, Mira Schor brings a maverick perspective and provocative voice to the issues of contemporary painting, gender representation, and feminist art. Writing from her dual perspective of a practicing painter and art critic, Schor’s writing has been widely read over the past fifteen years in Artforum , Art Journal , Heresies , and M/E/A/N/I/N/G , a journal she coedited. Collected here, these essays challenge established hierarchies of the art world of the 1980s and 1990s and document the intellectual and artistic development that have marked Schor’s own progress as a critic.
Bridging the gap between art practice, artwork, and critical theory, Wet includes some of Schor’s most influential essays that have made a significant contribution to debates over essentialism. Articles range from discussions of contemporary women artists Ida Applebroog, Mary Kelly, and the Guerrilla Girls, to "Figure/Ground," an examination of utopian modernism’s fear of the "goo" of painting and femininity. From the provocative "Representations of the Penis," which suggests novel readings of familiar images of masculinity and introduces new ones, to "Appropriated Sexuality," a trenchant analysis of David Salle’s depiction of women, Wet is a fascinating and informative collection.
Complemented by over twenty illustrations, the essays in Wet reveal Schor’s remarkable ability to see and to make others see art in a radically new light.

Genres: Art, Feminism, Nonfiction, Art History

261 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Mira Schor (b. in New York City in 1950) is an American artist, writer, editor, and educator, known for her contributions to the critical discourse on the status of painting in contemporary art and culture as well as to feminist art history and criticism.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Anika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Soms is er gewoon niet veel nieuws te lezen over feminisme en kunst

[Kate]

"The suburbanoid permutations of much contemporary art only focus on absence and the futility of effort. Why not focus instead on the fullness of what was desired and the heroism of the effort to slide safely into home?"

[Neal · Rating 3 out of 5]

lost steam reading this & it has been banished into the limbo reaches of the library for the moment....

[Thomasin Propson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't get to finish it before I had to return it to the library. But thought it was an interesting concept: a feminist voice on modern art. Would like to take another shot at it someday.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feminism with a capital F; the best kind of toughminded commentary on the contemporary art world.