Maureen Selwood
Installation view. 2015
I Visited You In a Dream. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf on paper, framed
25 1/8 x 32 7/8"
(MSe15 1)
Prisoners of Conscience. 2013
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf on paper, framed
21 3/8 x 25 1/8"
(MSe15 2)
May Day 1967. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper
25 1/8 x 17 7/8"
(MSe15 3)
Sui Generis. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
25 1/8 x 18 1/8"
(MSe15 4)
Such a Fine Sunny Day and I Have To Go. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
42 5/8 x 29 1/8"
(MSe15 5)
29 Cross Examinations. 2015
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
47 1/8 x 32 7/8”
(MSe15 06)
Sounding the Note of A. 2015
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
44 3/8 x 32 3/8"
(MSe15 7)
Becoming a Relic. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
443/8 x 32 3/8"
(MSe15 8)
How Did She Greet You? 2015
Gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
25 x 32 3/4"
(MSe15 9)
Installation view. 2015
Divine Comedienne. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
42 5/8 x 29 1/8"
(MSe15 10)
Sailing In a Barrel I Do Not See You. 2015
Gold leaf on paper, framed
47 1/8 x 32 7/8”
(MSe15 11)
Sea Poppies. 2015
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf on paper, framed
48 18 x 32 7/8"
(MSe15 12)
Chain of Capital. 2015
Gold leaf on paper, framed
47 1/8 x 32 7/8"
(MSe15 13)
Come To the Edge. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper
25 1'8 x 32 7/8"
(MSe15 14)
Perfect Pitch. 2014
Ink transfer drwaing, ogold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
23 5/8 x 32 3/8"
(MSe15 15)
Heretic. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
40 1/8 x 29 1/8"
(MSe15 16)
Squeezing the Universe Into a Ball. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
23 5/8 x 32 3/8”
(MSe15 17)
Blue Bloom On Pinnacled Hair. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
32 7/8 X 25 3/8"
(MSe15 18)
All Night Vigil. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
17 5/8 x 25”
(MSe15 19)
Nadia, Dear Nadia. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
17 3/8 x 25 1/8”
(MSe15 20)
The Sewing Room. 2015
Gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
25 1/8 x 32 ¾”
(MSe15 21)
Sweetly Flows the River. 2015
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
25 1/8 x 32 5/8"
(MSe15 22)
As You Become Visible. 2014
Ink transfer drawings, gold leaf & graphite on paper, framed
23 5/8 x 32 3/8"
(MSe15 23)
Altar Piece #2. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
25 3/8 x 32 7/8"
(MSe15 24)
Altar Piece #3. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf and graphite on paper, framed
25 1/8 x 32 3/4"
(MSe15 25)
Installation view. 2015
Cat (Red, from The Garden). 2012-15
Hydrocal and gesso on burlap over felt-lined chicken wire, acrylic on knitted yarn, with wood base
33 1/2 x 32 x 26", extension dimension variable
(MSe15 26)
Squirrel (Green, from The Garden). 2012-15
Hydrocal and gesso on burlap over fel-lined chicken wire, acrylic on knitted yarn, with wood base
40 x 23 x 43"
(MSe15 27)
Seraph (Yellow, from The Garden). 2012-15
Hydrocal and gesso on burlap over felt-lined chicken wire, acrylic on knitted yarn, with wood base
42 1/2 x 25 x 29"
(MSe15 28)
Sparrow (Blue, from The Garden). 2012-15
Hydrocal and gesso on burlap over felt-lined chicken wire, acrylic on knitted yarn, with wood base
42 1/4 x 23 x 27 1/2"
(MSe15 29)
Sophie (Magenta, from The Garden). 2012-15
Hydrocal and gesso on burlap over felt-lined chicken wire, acrylic on knitted yarn, with wood base
42 x 24 x 26"
(MSe15 30)
Her Favorite Chest. 2014
Ink transfer drawing, gold leaf on paper, framed
25 1/8 x 33"
(MSe15 31)
Garden Study: Blondi (Yellow). 2012
Acrylic & spray paint on knitted sweater, chicken wire, plaster of Paris, wood base
9 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 7 1/2"
(MSe15 32)
Garden Study: Serafina (Magenta). 2012
Acrylic & spray paint on knitted sweater, chicken wire, plaster of Paris, wood base
10 x 8 1/2 x 7 3/4"
(MSe15 33)
Garden Study: Terminator (Blue). 2012
Acrylic and spray paint on knitted sweater, chicken wire, plaster of Paris, and wood base
10 ½ x 8 ½ x 7”
(MSe15 34)
Garden Study: Cat (Red). 2012
Acrylic & spray paint on knitted sweater, chicken wire, plaster of Paris, wood base
9 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 6"
(MSe15 35)
Garden Study: Squirrel (Green). 2012
Acrylic & spray paint on knitted sweater, chicken wire, plaster of Paris, wood base
7 1/4 x 6 3/4 x 6 1/4"
(MSe15 36)
Borrowing from the political resistance language of Pussy Riot for the title, Sounding the Note of A, is Maureen Selwood’s first one artist exhibition as well as her first with Rosamund Felsen Gallery. Both a departure from and an outgrowth of Selwood’s career as a filmmaker who incorporates installation and performance, this exhibition features works on paper and sculptures. Sounding the Note of A explores gestures of resistance from women throughout history and celebrates women’s strength in outrage and defiance through sensual yet halting abstractions. Inspired by the medieval trial of Joan of Arc, the treason of anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl, and the contemporary punk prayer of Pussy Riot, Sounding the Note of A grapples with the uncompromising feminine. Selwood extols the power of sensuality and thought to transcend violence.
The exhibition features transfer drawings with graphite and gold leaf ranging in color from ethereal blues to fully saturated acidic hues, as the motifs journey from the mystical to the now. The gold leaf unifies and anchors the drawings in a world that is both mythical and unsentimental. The exhibition also features a garden of five sculptural heads constructed from chicken wire, burlap, hydrocal and knit yarn. The materiality of the sculptures references the lineage of women’s work, from the empowerment of craft to the oppression of the sweatshop. Evocative of Pussy Riot’s iconic vibrant balaclavas (garments covering the head), the sculptures confront viewers with the contradictory power of masks to both conceal the subjective identity of the wearer and reveal broader interior truths.
Maureen Selwood’s films and installations have been shown at the Whitney Museum, Le Centre Pompidou, MOMA, REDCAT, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Barnsdall, Harvard Carpenter Center and the Sharjah Biennial and others. Her films have been screened in international film festivals including the Venice Biennale Film Festival, Annecy FF, SXSW, Ottawa, Cardiff, Cork, ANIMAC, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Hong Kong and Se-Ma-For to name a few. Selwood has received grants from the Center for Cultural Innovation (L.A.), C.O.L.A. Individual Artists Fellowship (L.A.), John Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, NY State Council on the Arts, the Jerome Foundation and the American Film Institute. Residencies include the MacDowell Colony, ARTELUKU (Spain) and a Rome Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. She presently lives in L.A. and is a member of the faculty at the School of Film/Video at CalArts.
by Carolina A. Miranda
Los Angeles artist and animator Maureen Selwood watched with the rest of the world as the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot became famous for the unauthorized concerts it staged in locations all around Moscow, from a prison garage to Red Square.
After the activist musicians took to the altar of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in early 2012 for an impromptu punk jam — with the refrain "Mother of God, drive Putin away!" — some of the band members were convicted of hooliganism and served time in prison. But the video of the young women, decked out in bright dresses, colored tights and a rainbow's worth of balaclavas, prancing maniacally before the Cathedral's gold-leaf altarpiece, turned the band members into global activist-celebrities practically overnight.
...
Inspired by the medieval trial of Joan of Arc, the treason of anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl, and the contemporary punk prayer of Pussy Riot, Maureen Selwood’s Sounding the Note of A grapples with the uncompromising feminine. Selwood extols the power of sensuality and thought to transcend violence at Rosamund Felsen Gallery.