Art In America: Between History and the Body

Brendan Fernandes: As One II, 2015. Silver gelatin print. Commissioned by Seattle Art Museum. Courtesy the artist. [image description: in a monochrome photograph a man leans against a plinth with his right leg bent and left leg stretched out backwards, on one of the three plinths in the image there is an african mask, which is part of the museum collection, the lighting and shadows are in high contrast in the piece]

This 12-artist summer group show, which continues through mid-October as part of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation's exhibition program at The 8th Floor, suggests a turn away from zombie formalism toward ideas at the forefront of today's headlines—cultural exclusion and transformation by bodies marked as "othered." The presence of Cuban-born artist Ana Mendieta, who died after a suspicious fall from a 34th floor window 30 years ago this September 8, haunts the exhibition through her famous 1972 photographs of her body pressed up against panes of glass. Other standouts include Brendan Fernandes's photographs of dancers in classical poses with non-Western sculptural figures, and Firelei Báez's large, colorful works on paper depicting diasporic subjects.

By Wendy Vogel, September 17.