The Women’s Darkroom + Gallery

In the spirit of Fluxus go forth….#Fluxus . 1993

The Women’s Darkroom + Gallery is pleased to present: Piccole opere d’arte: a curated edition of small artworks for sale through the gallery. Today we would like to introduce Tamara Gayer’s @gayertamara ‘Four Letter Words,’ 10 small artworks which are a product of digitally augmented drawings. ‘Four Letter Words’ is a series born from the 2016 presidential election as an homage to Gayer’s grandfather who used that expression loosely and liberally throughout her childhood. Taking a page from his sense of humor yet feeling the drive to be unambiguously political, this series refocused three different preoccupations already present in her work; a concern with how patterns function, especially the convoluted ways they are gendered, with the notion of non-mediated communication via color and in language. During the first volley of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with the immediate shock of confinement, the color drained out of the words. They physically shrunk to a series of drawings in 5” x 7” notebooks executed in the tool closest to her hand, a black marker. These drawings riffed on whatever words stood out that day in the media or on the block. Since then, these drawings have been the seeds of new projects, cross-pollinated in wide-ranging materials and scales. Yet the deepest desire pervading all these works is a comingling of where the political and conceptual underpinning only enrich the aesthetic devotion hopefully worthy of finding someone who will love them enough to hang on their wall. (Continued in comments). 📷 by @tamarastaples

A beautiful new monograph on Allana Clarke’s art @allanaclarkestudios . For sale through @zandergalerie ! Congratulations! Allana Clarke: An Infinitive Breathe. (No sound or sound off)

From my Archives : ‘Portfolio’ magazine 1951 by art Editor Alexy Brodovitch. 1.) Ben Shahn by Arnold Newman. 2-3.) one of Shahn’s first, and most striking social protest posters, painted for the Resettlement Administration. Like many of his important paintings its vivid realism is based on the artist’s own leica photographs of the American scene. 4.) Shahn drew this powerful poster for an anti-syphilis campaign projected by Columbia University for the U.S. Public Health Service. It was rejected on the grounds that it was “too strong” and might frighten away prospective contributors. 5.) ‘“Voting Booths”, a painting for the Container Corporation’s series on “Great Ideas of Western Man.” 6.) As a political cartoonist Shahn stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries and also far to the left of most of them. For Henry A. Wallace’s Progressive Party which wanted to make 1948 voters believe that Old Parties were indistinguishable- and boringly platitudinous- he posterized Truman and Dewey song-festing. 7.) A portly policeman singing “Silent Night” was a Shahn Christmas Card. 8-10.) French Resistance was drawn for the War Manpower Commission when Shahn was working for the Office of War Information. It was criticized for being “too strong”- a criticism which eventually led the artist and writers to resign in body. Many of Shahn’s rejected posters were later used by the less squeamish CIO-PAC., which distributed the other posters. (All text from Portfolio magazine, 1951, photo caption text). #benshahn

The Women’s Darkroom + Gallery is pleased to present Piccole opere d’arte: a curated edition of small artworks for sale through the gallery. Today we would like to introduce Júlia Brandão’s ‘The Good Luck Charms,’ 7 small artworks that are multi-media, hand-sewn textile pieces. Júlia Brandão, a textile artist from Brazil, currently resides and works in Porto, Portugal. Her art has been showcased at several notable galleries including the NARS Foundation, Jane Lombard Gallery in New York, Galleri Silk in Sweden, Galeria Sé in São Paulo, and Galeria Quadra in Rio de Janeiro. Brandão is currently pursuing her MFA in Sculpture at the University of Porto. In her latest series, ‘The Good Luck Charms,’ Brandão’s work consists of seven hand-crafted pieces from found objects such as shells, rocks, and ornaments. This series was inspired by her time working in a fishing village in the south of Portugal, by the ocean. Good luck charms are believed to bring positive energy and good fortune to the owner, Brandão hopes these works of art bring nothing but good and prosperous energy to those who have them in their homes. Each piece is unique, measuring 9x10 inches, made with mixed media on fabric, and are priced at $600.00 each US, not including tax and shipping for sale under our Shop section on the website or DM me for purchase. 1.) Shells, mother of pearl, rocks, beads, buttons and ribbons on fabric, 2024, 9x10 inches. 2.) Shell, jade heart-shaped stone, evil eyes, button and ribbons on fabric, 2024, 9x10 inches. 3.) Shell, green quartz, found rocks, buttons and ribbons on fabric, 2024, 9x10 inches. 4.) Shells, white quartz, mother of pearl, rocks, buttons and ribbons on fabric, 2024, 9x10 inches. 5.) Green quartz, crystals, rock, buttons and ribbons on fabric, 2024, 9x10 inches. 6.) Green quartz, mother of pearl, baroque pearls, buttons, beads and ribbons on fabric, 2024, 9x10 inches. 7.) Mother of pearl, shells, pink quartz, Dino ornaments, beads. Buttons and ribbons on fabric, 2024, 9x10 inches. @brandaoejulia #piccoleoperedarte #thewomensdarkroom +gallery. Available for viewing at the gallery.

Analog Printers- I am missing my old Ilford Galerie graded paper (even though a friends friend just gave me some from the ‘90’s). I have been experimenting with vintage papers but the problem is you only get a few sheets and then it’s gone. I have been liking Fomabrom Matt from Europe. What papers are you liking to print on? What’s giving you those rich blacks and good depth? Let me know below. Thanks!😊. @keltonlabs @lti_lightside @phtsdr . Maybe we can start a printing group! @maria.darkroom @darkroomlondon @hamiltonheightsdarkroom

Last night @yuandmebooks with Ann H. Kim @ahkim.writer and Patricia Park @patriciapark718 discussing their new books Relative Strangers and What’s Eating Jackie Oh! 😊 thank you!

Studio visit with @alessandra_spranzi ❤️👍🏽😘

De Kooning in Venice @gallerieaccademiavenezia . The paintings were lovely, I’m not crazy about his sculpture, seems like Giacometti but not as good. Paint is his medium. It was very nice to see brush hairs in his paintings and to know that every artist struggles with things getting into their work that they may or may not want in there. Artists have to make the work, as much as possible, for women this is hard because we are so many things to so many other people. Steal time from every where and dig in. That’s my only advice. 👍🏽👍🏽😘🎈 I didn’t make to the Biennale. Next time.

Jean-Luc Godard “Le Studio D’Orphée” @foundazioneprada

Romain Brooks, self portrait with a mirror, ca 1915-1920. Vintage silver print, 17.4 x 12.2 cm. « Like many painters, Romaine Brooks used photography, but she practised this art in a very complete way (...) a very important part of her work consists of self-portraits, which she executed with obvious pleasure ». « For these self-portraits, she used all the means at her disposal; posing in costumes, taking different poses in front of a camera with a delayed shutter release; posing in front of a mirror, varying the poses indefinit If Romaine Brooks tracked down her face, trying to discover herself, she always did so as a visual artist, neglecting neither composition, nor staging, nor framing ». Romaine did not use photography as a simple testimony but as a tool in the service of her art, as much as an art in its own right. See Romaine Brooks photographe by Blandine Chavanne and Bruno Gaudichon in Catalogue Romaine Brooks, Poitiers, Musée Sainte-Croix, 1987, pp. 65-73. This very fine photograph appears to be unpublished. 10.000 € $11.000. From @jffbooks

Open to print 1-6PM through this Saturday. Then we will be closed through April 28th while I care for my mom and her new hip! (Hopefully, I will stay sane and swim daily while walking, running, painting, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and making sure she does her PT!). ❤️👍🏽😘