Review: Untitled work leaves deep mark
By Kathleen Mitchell
Oct. 8, 2003 9:00 p.m.
When asked about her art education, Lee Bontecou ““ one of
the few women artists to garner widespread recognition in the 1960s
with her uniquely experimental style ““ cited the two gems of
advice her usually reticent teacher passed on to her: Never sign
anything and never talk about your work.
Bontecou has followed her teacher’s sagacity in that each
of her works, now displayed in the exhibit “Lee Bontecou: A
Retrospective” at the UCLA Hammer Museum, has remained
“Untitled.” With techniques and motifs that literally
jump off the page, there certainly isn’t any paucity of
interpretation. Bontecou’s thought-provoking work encourages
viewers to interpret the meaning of her art themselves, as she has
done of the world through her artistic endeavors.
Bontecou’s signature technique is stretching canvas over
steel frames. Unlike many works with canvas that usually lie
beneath glass, Bontecou’s break the barrier usually
separating the viewer from the art. Her art projects into the
viewer’s personal space to present startling
associations.
In one piece from the early 1960s, Bontecou spread tan canvas
over welded steel to form a three-dimensional, rectangular shape
that projects out from the wall and tapers into two black, circular
openings.
The colors and metal are reminiscent of a machine, but the two
mounds look like breasts, joining steely technology and human
flesh, an interesting union.
In another of her works from this period, the Vietnam
War’s influence on Bontecou appears in a dark canvas base
extending into two round openings that look like mouths with jagged
teeth. The artist pieced together soldiers’ backpacks, belts,
buckles and straps with plain canvas to form the frame’s
cover. The work makes the viewer think the war machine has devoured
the soldier.
Throughout the exhibit, the viewer can sense a fascination with
parallels between humanity and the environment. In graphite on tan
paper, Bontecou drew a two-dimensional ring with black swirling
outside and within it. The beautiful effect is both matter
accreting into what could be a black hole in outer space or a
woman’s vagina.
Also included in the exhibit are previously unseen, less
aggressive, and more joyful works from the past 30 years, including
graceful hanging cocoons and plastic fish dangling from the
ceiling.
Walking through the forest, placards never declare a tree to be
a “tree.” Likewise, Lee Bontecou leads her viewers
through a rich environment of forms reflecting her interpretations
of life and humanity’s place in it without forcing her views
as singularly correct.
As the artist said, “My work reflects searching and the
wonderful possibilities.”
