Carolee Schneemann’s Up To And Including Her Limits combines a variety of mediums all while exemplifying Schneemann’s distinctive style. Her use of performance, painting, and video art create a towering layered art piece that showcase her preferred mediums and styles. Schneemann’s nudity can, unfortunately, be somewhat of a visual block for the audience. Even I struggled with looking past her nude body when I first started to study her, however after I spent more time with her works I realize that her nudity isn’t a brazen political statement. Her nudity represents an incredibly honest and vulnerable form of artistic expression.
Within Up To And Including Her Limits, Schneemann would strap herself into a tree climber’s harness and swing around an enclosed area, drawing on it with crayons. Depending on the venue she would sometimes stay strapped into the harness for over nine hours, testing the limits of her body. This dedication to her work is nothing short of stunning. The return to her painterly routes in a direct homage to Jackson Pollock is fascinating because rarely do feminist artists make blatant statements acknowledging male artists. I think this piece is a fascinating combination of mediums and, quite frankly, one of her most honest works.