Hannah Wilke: Gestures

The act of folding is the salient gesture in the sculptures of American artist Hannah Wilke (1940-1993). Taking such materials as clay, bubble gum and Play-Doh, Wilke fashioned serial forms that folded inward or opened out with overtly labial sensuousness. Wilke often placed these objects in compromising situations--hinged with pins or glued to walls and boards, placed freely on the floor, always seemingly on the verge of disaster. Today she is famed for her many nude self-portraits, which have threatened to eclipse the sculptural basis of both the portraits themselves and her work in general. By emphasizing folding as a gesture, this catalogue--the first on the artist to appear in many years--unites Wilke's sculpture and photography under the rubric of performance, and the performing of material. With an abundance of color reproductions and critical commentary, Hannah Wilke: Gestures offers a fresh assessment of a pioneer in sculpture, feminist art and performance.