The Red Wedding
Lise Haller Baggesen
Emmy Bright
Vaginal Davis
Fatemeh Kazemi and Yasmina Hashemi
Evan Kleekamp
Dorrie Lane
Adam Milner
Jeffry Mitchell
Catie Rutledge
Alexandro Segade
Barbara T. Smith
Karinne Smith
Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle
Laurie Stern
Ryan Wilde
Curated by Matt Morris
May 8 – July 3, 2021
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 8th, from Noon to 6pm
Face Masks required. Hand-sanitizer provided. 8 visitors permitted in gallery at a time. Courtyard will be open for overflow.
RUSCHMAN
4148 N. Elston Ave. Chicago, IL 60618
The Red Wedding marks the nuptials between the department store and the boudoir. Grand spaces of commerce are annexed with the softening of inner sanctums, are slinking spectrally toward obsolescence, are spreading out beside Benjamin’s arcades and his dandies. Here there be psychological corridors in which the feminine is practiced, maintained, regulated. Ancillary spaces occur: an adolescent bedroom, perhaps a closet, a wedding with no groom, the transactional zones of the art and cultural marketplaces. The works assembled throb with curiosity over the ways that identity has been produced as an effect of capital and exchange. Vestiges of gender conventions and the unstable ways they have been historically mapped across the category of Womxn lounge and languish around this public toilette. In no particular order: evening gloves, effusive perfumes, bonbon wrappers, flower bouquets, millinery, magazines, twirling ribbon, an electric vibrator, dressing gowns, gowns, protest signs, false lashes, wives’ tales, blouses. Perhaps blouses most of all.
The Red Wedding is an exhibition on its period. It’s the Scarlet Witch. It’s a means by which we might m/other ourselves. It’s a beauty routine imitative of flushed desire. Under its auspices, the erotic as power and the valences of flirtation, fetish, sex education, feminist consciousness raising, drag, camp, queerness, and kink are arrayed as a brave if not sometimes unsteady politics. decoration / identity / storage
The Red Wedding is a gathering of Lipstick Formalists, agony aunts, Aunt Flo, former lovers of mine, faggots, frippery, adolescence reminiscence, beauticians and the beasts that dwell herein, former students of mine, Instagram crushes, analysts, the artists at the center of my twin sibling’s dissertation, the artists who produce the podcasts I listen to, the artists who produce the perfumes I wear.
The title of The Red Wedding is drawn from two simultaneous sources: first is the series of novels and HBO TV show Game of Thrones. It's not a property I'm very familiar with, but I remember how evocative that bit of phrasing was when it circulated through pop culture. The Red Wedding was also the title for the first year of ecosexual artists Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle’s Love Art Laboratory project to which we extend an indebted wink and nod. When I was still a young witch in training, among my earliest memories of attending exhibition openings or anything in any sort of “art world” were the annual Venus Envy shows in Baton Rouge, a satellite project for those developed by Mallarie Zimmer in Saint Louis; The Red Wedding is modeled after the future-oriented feminism that was demonstrated for me in those spaces.
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Karinne Smith,
Residence Time,
2019, Latex, steel, motor, timer, salt, powder, corn starch, falsies, Dimensions Variable
Karinne Smith,
Residence Time,
Detail View
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Emmy Bright,
Why Don’t You Want This? (pink),
2016, Silkscreen on newsprint, 28 1/3h x 19 1/2w in., Variable Edition of 5
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Lise Haller Baggesen,
[☁️🌋🌸],
2020-21, Oil paint on handmade dress, and oil paint on canvas, with wood, Dimensions Variable
Lise Haller Baggesen,
[☁️🌋🌸],
Detail View of sign element
Lise Haller Baggesen,
[🌸⚡🌸],
2021, Digital print in light box with vintage glass frame, 12h x 9w x 1d in.
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens,
R. Muff,
2021, Flashe on vibrator, 2 1/2h x 13w x 2 1/2d in.
Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens,
Big Nudes Descending a Staircase (Robe),
2021, Digital print on robe, 40h x 22w x 2 1/2d in.
Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens,
Big Nudes Descending a Staircase (Robe),
Verso
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Ryan Wilde,
Darling Dolores,
2021, Felt, resin, cotton grosgrain ribbon, wood, brass, 24h x 10w x 9d in.
Ryan Wilde,
Darling Dolores,
Verso
Ryan Wilde,
Chatty Cathy,
2020, Felt and wood, 20h x 15w x 12d in.
Ryan Wilde,
Chatty Cathy,
Verso
Ryan Wilde,
The Dancer,
2020, Felt, wood, cotton grosgrain ribbon, 22h x 18w x 7d in.
Barbara T. Smith,
Me,
1964-65, Oval mirror with collaged found objects and images,with paint, 17h x 10 1/4w x 1 1/4d in.
Barbara T. Smith,
Me,
Verso
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Adam Milner,
Red Drawings,
2020-21, 50 individual drawings; ink and gesso on wrappers, velvet, Dimensions Variable
Adam Milner,
Red Drawings,
Detail View
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Laurie Stern,
Pangolin Violette Rose,
2021, 30mL Verrieres Brosse with stopper flacon, Parfum strength, Edition of 12
Laurie Stern,
Pangolin Violette Rose,
2021, 8mL Verrieres Brosse with stopper flacon, Parfum strength, Edition of 25
Laurie Stern,
Pangolin Violette Rose,
2021, 10mL solid perfume in Violette porcelain box, Edition of 5
Laurie Stern,
Pangolin Violette Rose,
2021, 10mL solid perfume in Violette sterling silver, Edition of 5
Laurie Stern,
Pangolin Violette Rose,
2021, 5mL solid perfume in Starlight (plastic) container, Edition of 30
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Evan Kleekamp,
Blouse,
2021, Objects acquired from rape apologists, including Seminars 11 and 7, kitty shirt, porcelain lamp, tulle dress, Nikes, and metal necklace, submerged in crate with pink packing peanuts, 18h x 38w x 18d in.
Evan Kleekamp,
Blouse,
Detail View
Barbara T. Smith,
Flocking,
1987, Marker on flocked paper, 21 1/2h x 27 5/8w in.
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Emmy Bright,
Butch Flowers Shower,
2017, Double-sided silkscreen on paper with marker, Dimensions and Quantity Variable
Catie Rutledge,
Alice in Chains II,
2021, Acrylic and enamel paint on Kromekote paper, 35h x 23w in.
Catie Rutledge,
Alice in Chains,
2021, Acrylic and enamel paint on Kromekote paper, 23h x 17w in.
Vaginal Davis,
Untitled,
2015, Watercolor, marker, colored pencil, aluminum foil, artist frame, 10 3/4h x 8 3/4w in.
Emmy Bright,
The thing and its parts,
2016, Silkscreen on paper, 21 1/2h x 19w in., Edition 1/3
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Dorrie Lane,
Teddy Bear Vulva Puppet,
2021, Teddy bear fabric from the Steiff factory, velvet, and crepe satin, 11h x 9w in.
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Fatemeh Kazemi and Yasmina Hashemi,
Tanha ba Golha (Alone with Flowers),
July 2020, Instagram Live Video, Credits: Filming by Sahba Sadeghian, Editing by Matt Wells and Sahba Sadeghian
Fatemeh Kazemi and Yasmina Hashemi,
Tanha ba Golha (Alone with Flowers),
Production Still
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Jeffry Mitchell,
Poster #2 Peaches, Amarillas, Lilacs, Roses, Violets with Additions,
2016, Acrylic on paper, 44h x 24w x 2 1/2d in.
Jeffry Mitchell,
Poster #7 Rose, Lilacs with Additions,
2016, Acrylic on paper, 44h x 24w x 2 1/2d in.
Jeffry Mitchell,
Poster #5 Violet with Additions,
2016, Acrylic on paper, 44h x 24w x 2 1/2d in.
Emmy Bright,
Butch Flowers Shower,
Additional View
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Lise Haller Baggesen,
[FAUX REEL],
2020, Oil paint and glitter on canvas, with fake fur, 22h x 28w x 1 3/4d in.
Lise Haller Baggesen,
[LITTLE WEMEN],
2020, Oil paint and embossing powder on canvas, 12h x 9w x 1 1/4d in.
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Jeffry Mitchell,
Sugar Jar,
2018, Glazed ceramic, 19h x 16w x 12d in.
Jeffry Mitchell,
2020 Elefant,
2020, Glazed ceramic and gold lustre, 2 1/2h x 4 1/2w x 2 1/2d in.
Jeffry Mitchell,
Elefant with Gold Owl,
2020, Glazed ceramic and gold lustre, 3 3/4h x 5w x 2 1/2d in.
Emmy Bright,
Butch Flowers,
2017, Silkscreen on paper, 16h x 40w in., Edition 2/7
Dorrie Lane,
Devi Wondrous Vulva Puppet,
2021, Velvet and crepe satin, 11h x 9w in.
Dorrie Lane,
Venus Wondrous Vulva Puppet,
2021, Velvet and crepe satin, 11h x 9w in.
Dorrie Lane,
Bast Wondrous Vulva Puppet,
2021, Velvet and crepe satin, 11h x 9w in.
The Red Wedding,
Installation View
Jeffry Mitchell,
Whistling Roosters,
2018, Glazed ceramic, 17h x 11w x 8d in. (each)
Emmy Bright,
Butch Flowers Shower,
Additional View
RUSCHMAN
and
the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Department of Painting and Drawing
present
Alexandro Segade’s
"Mordred and Morgana"
with performances by
C. Bain and Ann Lauterbach
Sunday, May 9, 6pm CST
Mother’s Day 2021
Zoom meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87467137427?pwd=bkFRKzVqeWFaTnFvSDlETzlZVXNaUT09
Meeting ID: 874 6713 7427
Passcode: redwedding
Alexandro Segade,"Not a Lamp but a 'Lamp'," video still, 2009
As a coordinated event between RUSCHMAN’s exhibition "The Red Wedding", curated by Matt Morris, and the PTDW Spring 2021 graduate seminar "We Can Learn to M/Other Ourselves," Chicago welcomes the premiere of Alexandro Segade’s "Mordred and Morgana," a one act play imagining a night at home with Morgan Le Fay, sorcerous sister of King Arthur, and her son, Sir Mordred, also Arthur's son, and rival. Performed as a reading for two performers, Segade's text explores the fantasy genre as political discourse, a site of cultural appropriation using myth-making to explore gender, sexuality, race and violence. "Mordred and Morgana" recasts the villains from "La Morte D'Arthur," and countless other adaptations of the founding Anglo-Saxon myth, as a revolutionary mother and son team whose place in legend deserves serious revision.
Following the premiere of "Mordred and Morgana," a recording of the performance will be available for screening on RUSCHMAN’s website.
This performance is supported through an enrichment grant from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
About Segade
Alexandro Segade is an interdisciplinary artist whose projects span video, performance, writing, drawing, and comics, using collaboration to question constructions of group identity. With these concerns in mind, Segade collaborates in art collectives, makes exhibitions and installations, directs movies and performs live. Segade’s multimedia work, inflected with mythic world-building, offers spectacular explorations of queer utopias continually undermined by radical ambivalence. Segade has published writing on over-looked artists of the AIDS era, feminist performance art, the intersectionality of LatinX representation, and the political imagination of science fiction fan culture in Artforum, Yale Theater Journal, and "Queer (Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art)." Segade’s graphic novel, "The Context," was published by Primary Information in May 2020. He is co-host and co-producer of the podcast Super Gay! He was born in San Diego, lives in New York City.
Since 2000, Segade has worked with Malik Gaines and Jade Gordon in My Barbarian, a genre-defying performance art collective. My Barbarian has presented work in museums including MoMA (2012), LACMA (2015), MoCA LA (2009), and SFMoMA (2010), as well as festivals, galleries and public spaces internationally. A survey of the group’s two decades’ of work will open at the Whitney Museum of American Art in October 2021.
About Bain
C. Bain is a gender-liminal multi- and inter-disciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Bain’s book of poetry "Debridement (Great Weather for Media)" was a finalist for the 2016 Publishing Triangle Awards. His writing appears in journals and anthologies including PANK, theRumpus.net, BOOTH, Muzzle Magazine, BOAAT, them. and the Everyman's Library collection Villanelles. His plays have been performed at the Kraine, the Tank, and Dixon Place in NYC.
About Lauterbach
Lauterbach is the author of several poetry collections, including "Under the Sign" (Penguin, 2013) and "Or to Begin Again" (Penguin, 2009), which was nominated for the National Book Award and which takes its name from a sixteen-poem elegy inspired by both Lewis Carroll's "Alice" and T. S. Eliot's "The Wasteland." She is also the author of "Hum" (2005), "If in Time: Selected Poems 1975–2000" (2001), "On a Stair" (1997), "And for Example" (1994), "Clamor" (1991), "Before Recollection" (1987), and "Many Times, but Then" (1979), as well as a book of essays, "The Night Sky: Writings on the Poetics of Experience."
She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the New York State Foundation for the Arts, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and in 1995, she was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. In 2012, she was named the Sherry Distinguished Poet at the University of Chicago. Lauterbach has also taught at Bard College, Brooklyn College, Columbia University, the Iowa Writer's Workshop, Princeton University, the City College of New York, and Yale Graduate School of the Arts where she was a visiting core critic.
Curator's Mood Board No. 2
