Dorothy Iannone, “Let me squeeze your fat cunt,” 1970-71, acrylic and collage on canvas, 74.8″ x 59.1″
In Time Out, Howard Halle reports that the freshly resurrected career of Dorothy Iannone, born in 1933 in Boston and currently living and working in Berlin, is a good example of an older, underappreciated artist who benefited from the now-imploded art-market boom. “This summer, her work�which largely depicts the artist in various states of sexual transport, in a style that might be called ‘early-American visionary’ meets ‘underground comix’�has been on view at Anton Kern Gallery, and is currently enjoying this miniretrospective at the New Museum. The last time Iannone showed in New York was in 1967, in a gallery she ran with her then-husband, James Upham. Considering how focused Iannone�s work is on fucking, you might say that her revival has been a long time coming in more ways than one.
“Also appropriate is the fact that while her last outing happened the same year as the Summer of Love, her return corresponds with the hoopla surrounding the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. But while Iannone�s paintings, constructions and works on paper are redolent of the free-love ethos of the �60s, they are much more a product of her own radical individuality, apparent obsessions and descent into l�amour fou. For the most part, her oeuvre constitutes an erotic celebration of her seven-year relationship with Dieter Roth, the Swiss-German assemblagist known for artist books and objects made with manure.”
“Dorothy Iannone: Lioness,” curated by Jarrett Gregory. The New Museum, New York, NY. Through Oct. 18.
