© Images Damian Griffiths
EVELYNE AXELL
CHEESE
KÖNIG LONDON
28 JUNE – 21 JULY 2018
“My world, for all its aggressiveness, is brimming with unconditional zest for life. My motif is clear: Nudity and femininity represent the utopia of a bio-botanical freedom – a freedom, which is immune to frustration and gradual repression, a freedom, which tolerates only the limits, it sets for itself.” – Evelyne Axell
Evelyne Axell’s (1935 – 1972) work has reached cult status. It can be valued as a highlight of pop art – an art form, which only gradually today recognises its female protagonists. Despite international participation in exhibitions at the Center Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Modern in London, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, and the Kunsthalle Wien, Axell still belongs to those female representatives of the era, whose potential is only now being acknowledged. In the late 60s and early 70s, the Belgian artist, who worked under the name Axell to obscure her gender, developed a subversive imagery that oscillates between female actionism and seduction and unfolds a protofeminist force. Female figures dominate the expressive universe of the artist, which dealt with both female clichés and age-old role models, while simultaneously correcting established gender relations. By drawing on art history and momentous portraits, such as the Mona Lisa by Leonard da Vinci, Axell questions historically sedimented male ideas of femininity that waver somewhere between notions of “saint” and “whore”. The artist uncovered a multifaceted spectrum of feminine perspectives; through the portrayal of everyday life and the use of appropriative techniques, Axell revealed and expanded spheres of action: the famous smile of the Mona Lisa – that confident expression of a mysterious woman – was used by the artist in the work Cheese, which is the eponymous title of this exhibition. She transcribed the icon into her present-day by utilising innovative materials.
Along with Axell’s numerous self-portraits and the recurring depiction of women, her reappropriation of the female body and nudes have deconstructed dominant rules of authorship. The artist changed sides by moving from the role of the muse to that of the producer and thereby renegotiated the old regime of seeing and being seen. In Le Peintre (1971) she confidently inserts herself into a fictive genealogy of self-portraits, demonstrating a natural pleasure in making art.
Art became Axell's weapon of provocative self-empowerment, resisting the objectification of women in post-war society. Her protofeminist imagery, which draws on pop art’s depiction of reality as heavily mediatised and therefore ultimately constructed, seeks the representation of female perspectives and desire. Axell’s lustful impetus will continue to remain important as long as society has not yet achieved true gender equality.
Curated and Text by Angela Stief.
28 JUNE – 21 JULY 2018
“My world, for all its aggressiveness, is brimming with unconditional zest for life. My motif is clear: Nudity and femininity represent the utopia of a bio-botanical freedom – a freedom, which is immune to frustration and gradual repression, a freedom, which tolerates only the limits, it sets for itself.” – Evelyne Axell
Evelyne Axell’s (1935 – 1972) work has reached cult status. It can be valued as a highlight of pop art – an art form, which only gradually today recognises its female protagonists. Despite international participation in exhibitions at the Center Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Modern in London, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, and the Kunsthalle Wien, Axell still belongs to those female representatives of the era, whose potential is only now being acknowledged. In the late 60s and early 70s, the Belgian artist, who worked under the name Axell to obscure her gender, developed a subversive imagery that oscillates between female actionism and seduction and unfolds a protofeminist force. Female figures dominate the expressive universe of the artist, which dealt with both female clichés and age-old role models, while simultaneously correcting established gender relations. By drawing on art history and momentous portraits, such as the Mona Lisa by Leonard da Vinci, Axell questions historically sedimented male ideas of femininity that waver somewhere between notions of “saint” and “whore”. The artist uncovered a multifaceted spectrum of feminine perspectives; through the portrayal of everyday life and the use of appropriative techniques, Axell revealed and expanded spheres of action: the famous smile of the Mona Lisa – that confident expression of a mysterious woman – was used by the artist in the work Cheese, which is the eponymous title of this exhibition. She transcribed the icon into her present-day by utilising innovative materials.
Along with Axell’s numerous self-portraits and the recurring depiction of women, her reappropriation of the female body and nudes have deconstructed dominant rules of authorship. The artist changed sides by moving from the role of the muse to that of the producer and thereby renegotiated the old regime of seeing and being seen. In Le Peintre (1971) she confidently inserts herself into a fictive genealogy of self-portraits, demonstrating a natural pleasure in making art.
Art became Axell's weapon of provocative self-empowerment, resisting the objectification of women in post-war society. Her protofeminist imagery, which draws on pop art’s depiction of reality as heavily mediatised and therefore ultimately constructed, seeks the representation of female perspectives and desire. Axell’s lustful impetus will continue to remain important as long as society has not yet achieved true gender equality.
Curated and Text by Angela Stief.