Radical Decadence Excess in Contemporary Feminist Textiles and Craft

Description

This pioneering book explores the notion of 'radical decadence' as concept, aesthetic and lived experience, and as an analytical framework for the study of contemporary feminist textile art. Gendered discourses of decadence that perpetuate anxieties about women's power, consumption and pleasure are deconstructed through images of drug use, female sexuality and 'excessive' living, in artworks by several contemporary textile artists including Orly Cogan, Tracey Emin, Allyson Mitchell, and Rozanne Hawksley. Perceptions of decadence are invariably bound to the negative connotations of decay and degradation, particularly with regard to the transgression of social norms related to femininity and the female body. Excessive consumption by women has historically been represented as grotesque, and until now, women's pleasure in relation to drug and alcohol use has largely gone unexamined in feminist art history and craft studies. Here, representations of female consumption, from cupcakes to alcohol and cocaine, are opened up for critical discussion. Drawing on feminist and queer theories, Julia Skelly considers portrayals of 'bad girls' in artworks that explore female sexuality - performative pieces designed to subvert and exceed feminine roles. In this provocative book, decadence is understood not as a destructive force but as a liberating aesthetic. Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 Plates......Page 9 Figures......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 13 Craft and feminist art histories......Page 14 Decadence and women......Page 18 Cherchez la femme......Page 25 Decadence, culture, and feminism......Page 26 Conclusion......Page 29 Notes......Page 31 Drugs and decadence......Page 38 The promise of community: Craft, cake, and cocaine......Page 39 Women, craft, and consumption......Page 44 The consuming woman as grotesque......Page 50 Conclusion......Page 54 Notes......Page 56 Pleasure and craft......Page 62 Pleasure/failure/risk......Page 64 Reinventing domestic textiles......Page 67 Stains and shame......Page 70 Look, but don’t touch: Feminist spectatorship, pleasure, and feminist textiles......Page 71 The “lure of the surface”: Shary Boyle and Mickalene Thomas......Page 72 The black female body in context......Page 79 Conclusion: Boyle’s monstrous, self-pleasuring woman......Page 80 Notes......Page 81 Bad Girls and Femmes Fatales......Page 86 Tracey Emin: The art of “self-destruction”......Page 90 Ghada Amer: Striking a pose65......Page 98 Allyson Mitchell: Decadent lesbian monsters......Page 102 Notes......Page 107 Chapter 4 “The Decaying Fabrics of Life and Death”: Rozanne Hawksley’s Textile Art......Page 114 Notes......Page 122 Bibliography......Page 126 Index......Page 136