Thursday, January 19, 2012

experiments in disappearance.



today is the 30th anniversary of the death of artist francesca woodman, who committed suicide the same year i was born, at age 22. i've felt a kinship with her haunting photographs since college when i discovered her on the cover of a book of equally haunting tales 'here in the world.' if you're lucky enough to live in sf or should you find yourself there soon, there is currently a large retrospective of her work at the sfmoma. thankfully it will be traveling to nyc next, where i can see her work in person, finally.

2 comments :

Emma said...

I love Francesca Woodman's work too, I love how tactile they are, how she smears, rips, paints and experiments with materials and how she moves within the worlds she photographs - squashing herself behind glass, under wallpaper, lying on flour. And the romance of how she lived her life, her poetic titles, her beauty. Such a lot lost by her death. RIP Francesca. Thanks Bloodmilk for reminding me and i'm very jealous of you seeing her work shortly.

Alice Baca said...

She was such a powerful artist. Mysterious yet uninhibited and passionate. I saw a documentary about her and her family not too long ago and those old films of her working are extremely haunting but you can almost see the ideas coming thru her in the moment. The one where she wraps her head, and eventually body, in plastic is insane! I had no idea there was an exhibit of her work right now. Thank you for this.