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What “F” Word?
By Stephanie Nikolopoulos on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
The sixth letter of the alphabet certainly carries a lot of weight. …Stop counting on your fingers—we’re talking about words that begin with the letter “F.” In What F Word?, at Cynthia Broan Gallery, curator Carol Cole Levin examines what the “F” word means to various female artists over the past forty-five years.
In many instances, the viewer is faced with determining the artist’s answer to the question. Brenda Oelbaum, for example, shows a woman painting her toenails on a rug depicting Osama Bin Laden. Interestingly, Oelbaum used a Jesus hooked rug kit to make Osama’s Bin Degraded. Is the artist commenting on freedom? After all, we’ve all been conditioned to believe, “The terrorists hate our freedom.” Or perhaps, by have a woman audaciously paint her nails (her toenails at that!) on the face of a terrorist, the artist is farcically mocking fear.
Perhaps, there is no set “F” word, but multiple meanings within each work:
Sabyna Sterrett in Flood, hand stitches pearls on fabric printed with fish (a Christian symbol of faith) to memorialize the devastating Easter flood in 1979 of the Pearl River that flows through Mississippi, the same river that was dragged for bodies during civil rights trials in the 60’s.
Within this single work, we face such “F” words as “flood,” fabric,” “fish,” and “faith.”
Other works, like Deborah Kass’ Quote Louise Bourgeois, appear more obvious, though the viewer may or may not agree with the viewpoint. The downward spiral of words read: “Woman has no place in the art world unless she proves over and over again she won’t be eliminated.” But just because a work has words on it, doesn’t mean it is clear or literal. Dana Frankfort very simply paints the word “Faith,” but there’s no indication as to what the artist’s opinion of this particular “F” word is. In a work such as this, the viewer’s perspective of the word is just as important as the artist’s to understanding the full implications of the word.
The thought-provoking exhibit uses photographs, video, painting, and sculpture to probe our culture’s ideals.
What F Word? raises more questions than it asks.
Female. Feminism. Fag. Flag. Foreign. Friend. Foe. Fascist. Force. Faith. Fundamentalism. Fanatic. Follower. Fear. Finances. Fire. Flood. Food. Fat. Fart. F**k. Fudge. Flip. Freak. Farce. Fact. Fiction. Freedom. Forgive.
Are these “F” words positive or negative? Why do they have so much power behind them? Should a word like “feminism” be equated with a swear word? What about the word “faith”? Does it really make a difference whether you exclaim “fudge,” “flip,” or “freak,” when everyone knows what you really mean?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 by Stephanie Nikolopoulos and is filed under Art.
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March 13th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
This sounds like an interesting show. There are so many strong women in my life who believe in equality and feminist principles but stop short of labeling themselves as feminists, which just shows me how powerful an f word is.
March 13th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
A well-known photographer recently said to me, “Tell Me Honey, Is feminism dead? It seems like women are having to fight for things I marched for back in the ’60’s.” In a time where rap videos only show women in bikinis, a women’s right to choose is in serious danger of repeal, but a there’s a women speaker of the house, and a woman running for president…it seems like a good time to ponder that particular F word, Feminism.
On the show…it sounds really intriguing and I’m interested in seeing it. When I first saw F word, I thought F*ck… but it got me thinking about other F words… Freak, Fat, Fundamentalist…and yes, Faith… Seems provocative and a nice play on perception and word-association.
Thanks for writing about this… I wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t seen it here… On my list of things to check out…
March 13th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
.. don’t forget the ever-popular ‘frick’!Insightful article, interesting exhibit..
March 13th, 2007 at 5:53 pm
Now this is one show I’d like to check out for sure. Thanks for putting this out there.
March 13th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
mm… we used to have a code word wih my cousing when we were little. we would say “yellow chicken” instead of the F word. it was our way to cheat the world and curse as much as we wanted, without getting into trouble. I guess it doesnt matter if its the sixth of the eigth letter in the alphabet. just what it means to you. I’ll checkout the exhibit and let you know my thoughts after.
March 13th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
As far as Dana Frankfort’s piece, Faith, it reminds me of a certain game called Compatibility, where pictures feed on the players personal feelings and/or experiences on the subject. I feel it’s the same with Faith, her only take on the word is what you are presuming her to mean with it with your own ideas on the matter formulating that. Perhaps Ms. Nikolopolis is familiar with such a game.
March 13th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Matt - extremely interesting read on Dana Frankfort’s painting
March 14th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Compelling article!
March 14th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Wow! my first New York review…”is it uncool” to respond??? I hope you all go to see the show, it really is “F”ANTASTIC…as far as thinking about the “F” word while I was working, all of Stephanie’s insites are correct…but then again you can put what ever meaning in it that you like…so long as the piece makes you think. I was really thinking about all those burka wearing women in Afghanistan and how free they would be if Osama’s eyes where covered and he had a bullet in his head( red nail polish/blood )…the women would be free to paint their nails…( this is illegal there under the Taliban rule) They could bare their skin…”F”REEDOM is a biggie. There is also the “F” YOU, “F”word…to both Fear and False Gods…( after all Osama fancies himself a god )…one of my favorite things about making the rug itself was that I hooked it in public…STARBUCKS to be exact…people would come up to me all the time and ask what I was making…it reminded them of their childhood, of grandmothers, comfort, home, memories…when they asked to see what the image was…well they “F”REAKED and that was alot of “F”UN. I hooked the whole Axis of Evil in rugs…Bush and Cheney included…COME ON DOWN, BUY A RUG!!!…STAMP OUT EVIL!!!!
March 14th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
It sounds like this exhibit succeeds on many different levels, especially because it prompts visitors to think about what can easily be taken for granted: the power of words.
Good choice!
March 15th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Great review…perfect for the non-elitist artist types…let’s face it, EVERYONE uses F words!
March 15th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
This is an interesting article. I can never figure out the artist is trying to convey so I don’t even try. I mostly try to figure out what it says to me, if anything. The statements on faith are particularly interesting to me, though. As far as feminism goes, women have come a long way, but the road is still long and there is much to accomplish.
March 15th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
This exhibit although I feel like is needed to get a message across, doesn’t credit all defining female artists of previous era’s: .
Honestly, I’m all for the exhibit, I just hope female artists don’t use it as a pedestal to create more of a ‘fueling to the fire’ with exhibits like the Osama bin Laden nail clipping bit.
Maybe this article is above my head and I can’t follow it through its context but the two most important things in my life are my “F”amily and “F”riends. The negative aura that surrounds this letter though is dark, I see the reviewer’s point though.
Great article, I’m intrigued by the exhibit I wish I could see more, are there photos?
March 15th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
sorry about the screw up in the HTML, hahah, it’s late. click anywhere
March 16th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
HI De@N…I’m sorry you think the focus of my piece is a downer…but after 9/11 I was looking for an outlet to my anger and hooking that rug really made me feel better it was therapy of a sort, the repetive motions of the hooking really got me through what was for our family, a very emotional time. Life can be ugly…I like to think I put a little humour into a rather biting subject. It is too bad you can’t see the whole show…as most of the work is less confrontational. Actually I believe my piece is the only one that was dealing with the war. Somebody has to say something!!! I know there are quotes somewhere about making art in times of war vs. times of peace…but one that I have used when I refering to my work from this period is “Fear is the reason for making art. It is a means to freedom”- Ilya Kabakov
March 21st, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Brenda, would be interested to see what you think of film representations of post 9/11. from the 25th hour to the new film, reign over me which is about to come out….
April 9th, 2007 at 12:43 am
interesting to see the responses that the F word gets just enouugh to make me want to go see it.