Featured Exhibition
Veteran, age-defying, feminist artist Judith Braun’s exhibit, I’m Bad, opened on June 28 in a pristine, Victorian-era brownstone that doubles as Kiddie Pool, a residential project space in downtown Albany, NY. As contemporary contronym phrases go, I’m Bad conjures a sense that exemplifies Braun as a person and her body of work. Through decades whether it was as a generation-defining member of the lower east side collaborative Group Material, where she created Pussy Works, as part of the seminal 1988 show, Democracy: Cultural Participation to exquisitely painted angels to her current exhibit that includes new monumental collages at Kiddie Pool, Braun consistently challenges and baits the status quo with unbridled glee.
Since Judith Braun began exhibiting artwork, she has been an unwavering feminist, not from a distance, but someone working deeply in the weeds and personally experiencing the toll patriarchy and misogyny take on women. Domestic violence, single motherhood, and lost career opportunities are all part of her resume. In response, Braun only became more compelling, formidable, and grand. Much like the Japanese Daruma Doll, who bounces back up when it is knocked over, Judith Braun has the uncanny ability to come back using her deep artistic skills, profound intelligence, and limitless courage to wow again and again.
I’m Bad, curated by Karley Sullivan, who is also the host along with Phat Chiem, astutely gives the viewer snippets of Braun’s vast oeuvre that both demonstrates her delicate draughting gift as well as her commitment to social issues. In the first parlor, rendered in a realistic style, hanging over the mantel, is a large painting of a young woman with a stereotypically beautiful body. Her head and lower body are cropped out of the frame. The woman in the painting is grabbing her breasts. This is a self-portrait created in 1988, titled I’m Bad. At the time, this act of grabbing one’s own breasts was not the usual modus operandi for women artists. To quote Braun, “I thought I was a sexy bitch”.
Twelve years ago, Braun, suffering from breast cancer, had a double mastectomy. In Kiddie Pool, she created massive collages composed of multiple layers of photocopiers on Tyvek. Her models are her friends whom she complements as “bad bitches”. Using available mediums such as toner, these images appear to emerge from unknown depths. In Fever, Braun describes the work as a celebration of the breasts she once had. Cleavage and perfectly formed breasts seem to heave beneath a transparent covering of black lace. Bathed in a ruby-colored bordello aura, this work harkens back to the 1988 self-portrait. The head is cropped above the mouth and is slightly tilted. The focus is centered on the breasts.
Climbing the elaborately carved stairs, you find Karley at the top. Rising from a golden mist and roiling waves of burnt umber is a portrait of Karley Sullivan, curator and host. Installed in this majestic home, it is reminiscent of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the pre-Raphaelite school of painting. The difference is that Braun’s portraits are imbued with power as opposed to submission. In this work, the head and upper body rise much like the stigma of a beautiful flower. This exhibit might be called I’m Bad, and at the risk of sounding trite, besides having no other way to articulate it—this is so good! Don’t miss it or miss Albany, NY., a beautiful city often overlooked when artists in the Hudson Valley are regaled.
All photo courtesy of Judith Braun unless otherwise indicated
I’m bad is on view at Kiddie Pool by appointment till July 27, 2024. Make an appointment by visiting Kiddie Pool here