Judith Bernstein: Rising, Studio Voltaire

For the first UK solo exhibition by American artist Judith Bernstein, Studio Voltaire have offered their walls for an expansive set of her idiosyncratic, and rightly unapologetic, feminist murals

  The exhibition

For Rising at Studio Voltaire, feminist artist and activist Judith Bernstein will present a new body of work made whilst in residence at the gallery's studios. Bernstein will revisit her charcoal 'screw' series, large drawings resembling phalluses, a response to the wide spread objectification of female bodies, as well as her own experiences of sexism and discrimination at American universities. Despite being an important feminist artist, and now over seventy years old, with a career that spans five decades, her work has rarely been shown due to censorship, so it is with great excitement that we announce her very first solo show in the UK.

  Critical analysis

With an uncompromising stroke, and a sense of humour, Bernstein has actively attempted to destabilise masculinity and reclaim the 'c*nt'  or vagina as an active (rather than gendered passive) site. Inspired by the graffiti surreptitiously sprayed in men's toilets, and satirical magazine's such as MAD, Bernstein's head on political satire combines expletive-heavy anti-war slogans with pornographic drawings, using the erect phallus as a metaphor for American warmongering and neo-colonial expeditions. The long resistance to her work being shown in cultural institutions is itself testament to the potential power of Bernstein's images to disrupt the status quo.

 After causing waves at the ICA’s group exhibition Keep Your Timber Limber last year (Click here for a video), we can’t wait to see what kind of brazen protest Bernstein has up her sleeve. Aside from their hard hitting politics, one should also remember that her murals are visually engrossing, and technically astute with a unique aesthetic that is as powerful as the content. Don’t miss out on this rare and long awaited opportunity to join Bernstein’s world.