Sexism Study #21 (Sexus) 1973

Curator: Let’s spend some time with Benny Andrews' "Sexism Study #21 (Sexus)," created in 1973. This drawing captures a whimsical, yet unsettling scene. Editor: That title…coupled with these figures… it gives me a very…deconstructed feeling. Almost like these figures are props on a stage rather than living beings. Curator: Yes, there's an immediate feeling of surreal displacement. It seems a playful landscape but those line drawings could be interpreted as both playful and alienated at the same time. The seesaws, the faceless figures in hats all combine in the feeling. Editor: The bare minimum that one expects when approaching portraiture – like individuality – is entirely subverted. Everyone blends into one, except their props… that feel iconic. But the absence is a symbol in and of itself. Curator: Absolutely. Consider the potential implications of “Sexism Study” combined with the generic characterizations. Does the lack of detail amplify objectification by distilling individuals down to types or symbols stripped of their uniqueness? Is this a social commentary? Editor: Maybe that ambiguity is the point. Do we, as viewers, project our own interpretations onto these cyphers? Do they reflect what we believe when we don’t see their faces? Curator: It provokes contemplation on societal gaze and inherent bias. The figures are resting, enjoying each other and a nice sunny day and their expressions, whatever they might be, can't inform what kind of connection and communication they share. Editor: Yes! The complete flatness, absence of depth within the characters or the landscape—emphasizing line only—all serves this purpose. As initial ideas, we might miss these were not even ideas on a page but of society itself. The emptiness suggests that there is not more to it and we’re left to feel alone looking back on what it can become with that label, Sexus. Curator: The bare pen strokes that are almost absent make the label seem much more real. With so much left to be drawn, the commentary of Andrews work creates depth without having a complete idea of either people. Editor: Indeed. And with the bare bones of social issues staring up at us, that blankness starts to fill in rapidly the more one thinks.