Sexism Study #24 1973

Curator: At first glance, this work feels intensely constrained and…almost theatrical? The figure's obscured, puppet-like appearance is quite striking. Editor: You're right. It's formally disorienting. Benny Andrews created "Sexism Study #24" in 1973, utilizing mixed-media—acrylic paint, canvas, and collage. Andrews often explored themes of social injustice and personal identity through an assemblage approach. Curator: The title and the date provide so much context. The early 70s were a time of great upheaval for feminist discourse and the broader Women's Rights movement. The figure reads as literally trapped, bound by strings to societal expectations maybe? Editor: Absolutely, the ropes are central to the visual rhetoric here, but I wonder if there's more to consider than simply "trapped". There’s deliberate visual symmetry across the artwork. Curator: Good point. It's hard not to see those dark shadows and stark light too as symbolic of the binaries of gender at play. But also considering Andrew's broader socio-political interventions and the Black Arts Movement at the time, can this possibly speak to broader injustices and marginalization beyond gender binaries? Editor: It's precisely this multilayered potential for meaning that makes his assemblage technique so effective. He disrupts visual space, but, it enables such vibrant possibilities for symbolic decoding. What a clever tension—rigid visual planes against unstable, semiotic ground. Curator: Looking at his process—the act of layering, of assembling found materials onto a canvas…it mirrors the lived experiences of those who find themselves piecing together a sense of self in the face of adversity. Editor: And that layering creates such an assertive surface, the dimensionality enhances that immediate emotive engagement... quite powerful in its raw vulnerability. Curator: Indeed, an uncomfortable yet important confrontation with the burdens of categorization, visually translated into an emotionally impactful form. Editor: Precisely. Andrews pushes formalism beyond the merely visual.