Recent Work

Janine Antoni, “Inhabit” 2009, Digital C-print

Janine Antoni “One Another” 2008, Digital C-Print

Recently, Antoni’s work refocused as she became a mother.  This shift is evident through her art as she strays from feminine commercialism to a biological role.  Yet, in accordance to her previous work, Antoni challenges feminine roles through lighthearted reinterpretations.  For example, in “One Another,” Antoni directly challenges the role and obligations of motherhood.  The image displays her child feeding her bellybutton, distorting the role of motherhood and femininity as a whole.  Her other works on motherhood, such as “Inhabit,” light-heartedly reference the feminist art movement.  This modern interpretation of feminism is highlighted through an interview with Antoni where she claims that, “‘People want to paint me a militant feminist…The Generation before me was angry.  They had to be to claim this ground. Because of that anger, I have the privilege of humor’” (Rosoff, 166).  The bright colors composing “Inhabit” create a lighthearted appropriation of graver past feminist works, reflecting the humor that Antoni relies upon within her art.  The dollhouse skirt in “Inhabit” directly evokes the suspended limbs in Sandy Orgel’s “Linen Closet” as well as Carolee Schneemann’s focus on the female genitalia in “Interior Scroll.”  Like Schneemann, Antoni decorates and highlights the vagina as a center of biological and artistic creativity.  This playful imitation of past feminist works reflects Antoni’s postmodern influences.

Sandy Orgel, “Linen Closet,” 1972