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October 13, 2017 – Review
Hildegarde Duane’s “Western Woman”
Michelle Standley
As respite from the dark clouds that have lately been gathering over women’s heads in the United States—most recently in the announcement of plans to restrict women’s protection from workplace harassment and access to birth control—perhaps a little comic relief is in order. One contender for the role of feminist humorist is Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Hildegarde Duane. Her tongue-in-cheek brand of humor, exacted over four decades, punctures the conventional narratives about women and female sexuality that suffuse American popular culture and media and are now shaping government policy.
“Western Woman” at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart is Duane’s first solo exhibition in Europe. Spread over two floors of the airy, sun-drenched former suitcase factory, the exhibition consists of fifteen pieces curated by Duane, Steven Cairns, and Fatima Hellberg. The works range from large-format prints (such as Seven Snow Whites, 1981) and framed texts and photography (Marilyn Monroe - 14 Stations, 1982)—displayed in glass cases and vitrines—to short videos such as the one-minute Down with Cocaine (1983) and the sixteen-minute Canelo (2008-2016) that play either on monitors with headphones or in small curtained rooms. Perhaps intending to stress either the timelessness of her preoccupations or an ongoing dialog with her own work, the curators …