Brooklyn has picked up the artistic torch from Manhattan, both figuratively and literally.
Eight female artists are putting on an East Williamsburg sequel to a feminist art exhibit that took over Manhattan’s New Museum 18 years ago.
“Bad Girls 2012” will open on Saturday at the year-old Interstate Projects gallery, where artists will explore gender, politics, economics, and power — with a lot of sensuality sprinkled in for good measure.
Curator Jamie Sterns, who helped the Brooklyn Museum with one of its more controversial exhibits in recent memory, said that female artists these days are making work unapologetically and without the burden of the weight of history or culture.
“Everything is up for grabs, and the results are as complex as their makers,” said Sterns. “Frankly, the status quo is dull and needs to be given a good shake from time to time. These are some of the hottest, smartest, most interesting artists out there who are shaking things up and being as bad as they want to be.”
Interstate’s Tom Weinrich said the show will be an intimate one, where visitors can reflect on works including Bushwick resident Gina Beavers’s sculptural painting of a female torso laid over a boxy Mondrian-inspired pattern of primary colors, Bushwick local Rebecca Gilbert’s whispery sound installation, and Greenpointer Denise Kupferschmidt’s delicate sets of figure drawings on art books.
“You can see what these artists are doing right now, what it means to be a feminist, and what’s changed,” said Weinrich.
“Bad Girls 2012” at Interstate Projects [56 Bogart St. at Grattan Street, Williamsburg (718) 412-8726] opens April 14, 6–9 pm. www.interstateprojects.com.
Reach reporter Aaron Short at ashort@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2547.
