Terminal Velocity (2001)
Inkjet print on paper of newspaper scans
Schneemann wanted to personalize the catastrophe of 9/11, and to do this she decided to take images of people falling from the buildings and enlarge them. By taking out the background all you can see is them falling to the earth, each scans zooms in closer on the subject to make the viewer feel as though they are standing underneath the falling body.
Additional Website Links:
Carolee Schneemann Related Youtube Videos
“Water Light/Water Needle” Retrospective Exhibition Review
Oral History Interview with Carolee Schneemann
(Other links can be found within the blog posts themselves)
Carolee Schneeman, the eldest of three children, was born in semi-rural Pennsylvania on October 12th, 1939. She began drawing at the age of four, a habit that took over her life. She accepted a full ride of Bard College after her high school graduation, which was where she met her future husband and collaborator James Tenney. However, she was kicked out of Bard after her third year and transferred to Columbia School of Painting and Sculpture to complete her undergraduate degree. She then traveled to the University of Illinois to work towards, and eventually receive, her MFA. She then moved to New York City where she was introduced to artists such as Warhol, Rauschenberg, Cage, and Morris. Through these men she discovered dance theater and happening, which led to her fascination with the human body and its potential use as a canvas.
Her work took off the in 1970s and 80s due to her baffling and highly sensitive subject matter, aka her own body. Her performance art has been heralded as some of the most visceral work of the 20th century. She dealt with many critiques that called her work self absorbed and conceited, but it did not stop her. Schneemann is still creating works; these newer pieces lean away from performance and focus more on photography. However, she still uses her work to try and illicit immediate and honest reactions from her audience.
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.
Carolee Schneemann is one of the most important performance artists of the 20th century, even if she doesn’t like to recognize herself in such a way. Her contribution to the feminist art movement revolves strongly around female sexuality and the body. Her vulnerability displayed through her naked body was shocking, and not always well received, but she continued to express herself exactly how she wanted to. She never recognized or conceded to the normative male gaze because she used the female form as a canvas, not a sexual form. She inserted things into herself, covered her body in paints and plastics, and swung from harnesses. Her goal was to try and have the body become an extension of the art, a paintbrush or canvas. This ideology stems from her work in dance and happenings, led by Robert Morris and Robert Rauschenberg. Her first influences were the abstract expressionists, which is seen in her early paintings/sculpture work. Her later piece Up To And Including Her Limits is a direct homage to Jackson Pollock and how he uses intense physical action with his body to paint his canvases. Her blending of body art with her love of painting helped to turn Scheemann herself into a revolutionary performance artist. One who embraced her own ‘taboo’ body all for the sake of art.
Schneemann, Carolee, and Sands Wassink. Double Trouble: Carolee Schneemann and Sands Murray-Wassink. New York: Kathleen Wentrack, 2001.
– This small book discusses how both Sand Wassink and Carolee Schneemann confront issues of sexuality, and the cultural taboos associated with it, through their artwork.
Schneemann, Carolee. Carolee Schneemann (Early Work 1960/1970), Max Hutchinson Gallery (New York, N.Y.), 1982.
– In this book one can look at some of Schneemann’s less famous pieces, which include sculptures and paintings, which were her first, and favorite, medium. Instead of looking at her archetypal performance art, here her more traditional works are analyzed.
Carolee Schneemann: Up To And Including Her Limits. New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York, N.Y.), 1996
– A large part of this text looks at Schneemann’s ‘paintings’ and discusses how her style evolved over the years, with a heavy emphasis on the artistic eye. There is time spent looking at her performances, videos, and early paintings – it covers the range of her material.
Carolee Schneemann: Within and Beyond the Permises; Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art.;
New Paltz, N.Y. , 2010
– This book has the text of a 2009 interview with Schneemann herself and photos of her work ranging from 1969 all the way to 2009. It is a good guide to looking at her pieces of art without having a lot of text surrounding it, which allows the reader to inform themselves about the pieces.
Schneemann, Carolee. “Fuses.” Vimeo. Accessed March 15, 2015. https://vimeo.com/12606342.
– Where to watch (for free) the entirety of Schneemann’s film Fuses.
“Carolee Schneemann.” Carolee Schneemann. Accessed March 15, 2015. http://www.caroleeschneemann.com/index.html.
– The artist’s official website, with links to images of some of her most famous/well known works.
Quaintance, Morgan. “Carolee Schneemann’s “Water Light/Water Needle”” Art Agenda. Accessed March 15, 2015. http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/carolee-schneemann’s-“water-lightwater-needle”/.
– This article discusses an exhibition of Schneemann’s in the Hales Gallery (London, England) in 2014. It focuses on her piece Water Light/Water Needle that was first performed in 1964.
Richards, Judith. “Oral History Interview with Carolee Schneemann, 2009 March 1.” Archives of American Art. March 1, 2009. Accessed March 15, 2015. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-carolee-schneemann-15672.
– This is an in depth transcription of an interview with Ms. Schneemann herself. It documents her entire life and her influences in becoming the world renowned artist that she is.