FEMININITY'S REDRESS
January 2003

Zaretskaya Nina, Antoshina Tatiana, Liberman Tanja, Egorova Olga (Tsaplya), Lukashevich Alina, Stolpovskaya Olga, Korennova Elena, Frolova Zoya, Chuykova Masha

ANGEL ORENSANZ FOUNDATION CENTER FOR THE ARTS [www.orensanz.com]
172 Norfolk Street, New York, NY 10002
TEL: (212) 529-7194

January 12, 2003

The Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts is the oldest synagogue in New York City saved from demolition by the New York based artist Angel Orensanz born in Spain and educated in Barcelona and Paris. Orensanz, who over the last twenty years has developed major art installations of sculpture and nature in urban spaces around the world, has made this space into one of the most active and vibrant arts centers in the US. Exhibitions, concerts, plays, opera, dance festivals, creative fashion shows and lectures are regularly scheduled at this cultural space, to which close to 400,000 people have been attracted over the last 15 years.

Femininity's Redress presents works by women artists from both the Ex-Soviet Union and the United States. The goal of this project is to introduce to American aud iences art by women artists united by mutual origin - all of them born and raised in the former U.S.S.R. Furthermore, the exhibition presents the viewpoint of artists who are connected to the Russian women's movement, which differs from its western counterparts. This movement, while absorbing international experience in a constructive way, is trying to find its voice. These artists raise questions concerning gender without confining themselves to nods of approval towards formal emancipation; they consider female themes in the context of a more advanced discourse on femininity, correspondingly representing it in their art.

Artists participating in the show:
Tanya Antoshina - Moscow
Tanya Hengstler - Moscow/New York
Alina Bliumis (Lukatsevich) - New York
Elena Korennova - New York
Masha Chuikova - Moscow
Irina Danilova - New York
Tanya Lieberman - Moscow
Olga Egorova, "Tsaplya" - Saint Petersburg
Olga Stolpovskaya - Moscow
Zoya Frolova - Jersey City
Nina Zaretskaya - Moscow/New York

Curator: Dr. Nina Zaretskaya, founding director of Art Media Center "TV Gallery" in Moscow.

The show opens with a reception January 20, 2003, 6 - 9 p.m.
The exhibition closes January 31, 2003.
Hours are Monday to Friday, 10am-5pm, and Saturday and Sunday - by appointment.
The Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts is located at 172 Norfolk Street, in Manhattan, in New York City.

While donations are greatly appreciated, there is no admission charge.

For additional information please contact Nina Zaretskaya at (212) 431-0004

The project is produced with the assistance of Art Media Center "TV Gallery" and the support of The Network Women's Program of the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation, Moscow) [www.osi.ru]

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FEMININITY'S REDRESS

ARTISTS

Tanya Antoshina was born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia and currently lives and works in Moscow. She graduated from the High Industrial and Applied Art School (Stroganovskoe), Art history Department. Ms. Antoshina's photographic and sculpture work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions including "Art of a Female Gender" (2002) at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Cetinjski Biennale, Montenegro (2002), "8 Triennale of Small Sculpture", Fellbach, Germany (2001), "Warhol Connections" (2001) at the L-gallery in Moscow, "Art Against Geography" (2000) at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and "After the Wall" (1999) at the Moderna Muzeet in Stockholm. She has been a resident artist at Yaddo, USA (2000). Her works are in collections of the State Russian Museum, St.Petersburg and Bremen Museum of Contemporary Art.

Alina Bliumis (Lukatsevich) was born in Minsk where she obtained a degree in Painting from the School of Fine Art in 1989. Since 1994, she has been living and working in New York. She earned her BFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts, NY and has shown her work in numerous group exhibitions and video performances in New York and the former Soviet Union. The artist's work has been featured in Cobaka.Ru and Profile magazines and she has participated in the Tampere International Film Festival in Finland (2002), and the Guerilla Film Festival at the TriBeCa Film Center, in New York (2001).

Masha Chuikova was educated at the Moscow Institute of Architecture. In 1998 she became the Art Director of the Slaviansky Exhibition and Cultural Center. In 2000-2002 she acted as Art Director of the Art Media Center "TV Gallery". Her curatorial projects include most recently an exhibition entitled "Wild Life" (2001) at the British Embassy in Moscow. Ms. Chuikova has performed in numerous venues across Europe and participated in group exhibitions from 1989 until the present.

Irina Danilova is an artist and performer born in the Ukraine, who has lived and worked in Moscow. She now lives in New York where she obtained an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. She has received an Individual Artist Grant from the Bronx Council of the Arts in 1998 and a VISIONS& BEGEGNUNG award (Halle, Germany). She took part in Cleveland (1995, 1996) and Chile (1997) International Performance Festivals, and in the Franklin Furnace "The Future of The Present" Program (1999). She produced an international project "Point 59" through ArtsLink (1999). In 2000, she completed a Longwood Cyber Art Residency. She has exhibited in Spaces Gallery, Cleveland, Halle Germany, Joyce Goldstein Gallery, New York, The Telephone Factory, Atlanta, Georgia, A-3 Gallery, Moscow, Regina Gallery, Moscow, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Islip Art Museum, NY, Weisman Museum, Minneapolis, Asmunsson Gallery, Akureyri, Island, Turkish Bath House, Sofia, Bulgaria, among others. She is currently a resident artist at the Bronx River Art Center.

Olga Egorova ("Tsaplya") was born in Khabarovsk, Siberia, got her education from Art History Department of Ilya Repin's Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (Academy of Fine Arts), St. Petersburg, where she now lives and works. Since 1995 she often collaborates with Natasha Pershina-Yakimanskaya ("Glyuklya"). Their most recent joint exhibitions and performances include "Davaj! Russian art now", Berlin, and "Art of a Female Gender", State Tretyakov Gallery , Moscow (2002); "107 Fears", performance in honour of Louise Bourgeois, State Hermitage, St. Petersburg (2001); "Total Recall", TV Gallery, Moscow (catalogue), and "The Materialization of Whites", video performance, VideoMedeya, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (1999).

Zoya Frolova graduated from the Kharkov Art Institute in the Ukraine in 1976. In 1984 she moved to Riga, Latvia before relocating to the US in 1990. She has exhibited her work throughout the former Soviet Union as well as in Hungary, Cuba, Hong Kong, Sweden, Spain, and USA. Her work is presented in numerous international collections including the Corcoran Gallery (Washington, DC), the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum (Rutgers University, NJ), the Tretyakov State Gallery (Moscow), and the Presidential Collection (Riga, Latvia).

Tanya Hengstler studied at the Moscow Art Institute from 1980 to 1985. Her work has been shown at various venues in Moscow including the Center of Contemporary Art ("Art for the People," 1995; "Antifeminist Feminists," 1996; "Anti-Fascism and Anti-Antifascism," 1997), and the Central House of Artists ("Design and Advertising," 2001; Art Moscow 2001). In 2002 her work was included in "Davaj! From the Laboratory of the Independent Arts in Russia," an exhibition staged in Berlin.

Elena Korennova is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Fine and Applied Arts. Born in Moscow, she became a member of the Union of Young Artists of the Soviet Union in 1982. Her solo exhibitions include shows at the Russian Mission to the United Nations (1996, 2001, 2002) and a 2000 exhibition in the Empire State Building's International Business Center. Ms. Korennova was part of "Peeling Potatoes, Painting Pictures," a 2001group exhibition at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum. Her work has been described as mannerist-rococo in style and often depicts figures in elaborate costumes.

Tanya Lieberman is a Moscow born photographer. She graduated from the Moscow Polytechnicum and was a teacher at Mossovet College in Moscow from 1994 to1998. Since 1997 she works at the Moscow House of Photography Museum. Ms. Lieberman's work has been described as titillating and even pornographic. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions including "After the Wall" (2000) at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and "Moscow Through the Eyes of Russian and Foreign Photographers" (1998) at the Photobiennale in Moscow.

Olga Stolpovskaya is a multimedia artist, born and living in Moscow. She works primarily with film-related issues: including myth, object, and theme. Her video and film works are very popular at film festivals and art galleries, where she was exhibited extensively.

Nina Zaretskaya is the Curator of "Femininity's Redress". A native of Moscow, Ms. Zaretskaya holds a Ph.D. from Moscow State University. She has been a lecturer at the Department of Journalism at Moscow State University, a television journalist and, since 1991, the founder and head of Art Media Center "TV Gallery". She has produced a wide variety of television programs, documentaries, single channel videos, as well as curatorial projects in Russia, Germany, Croatia and USA. Additionally, Ms. Zaretskaya has been involved in educational work and has lectured and written extensively on contemporary art.

OPENING RECEPTION

In celebration of the multicultural vitality of New York, opening night will feature the exciting Latin music of the women composers Maria Elena Walsh (Argentina), Maria Grever (Mexico) and Rosa Passos (Brazil), performed by New York's Desiree Halac (vocals), Joseph Ravo (guitar) and Danny Mallon (percussion).

COMPOSERS

Maria Elena Walsh - poet, composer and singer, is one of the most important icons among the intellectual feminine figures of Latin America. She was born in 1930 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied at the School of Fine Arts and while still in high school she published her first book "Otono Imperdonable" which won her first literature prize in Buenos Aires. In 1952 she traveled to Europe where she became one of the ambassadors of Argentinean Folklore in France with Leda Valladares. She i s widely renowned for her children's songs. But truly famous she became with her song "Los Ejecutivos" (The Executives), a powerful parody of the executive world which ells an image of "comfort" that is only accessible to a select few. In times of military repression when silence and anonymity were essential elements for survival, one could find in her lyrics anguished interpretations of reality. One of her most popular songs, "La Cigarra", refers to the innocent people who disappeared during such times. Her songs were adopted by different dissident groups and became national hymns, which represented the authentic voice of the Argentinean people.

Maria Grever, one of the most important romantic Mexican composers, was born in Guanajuato in 1885. She immigrated to Europe where she studied with Claude Debussy and Franz. Later she returned to Mexico and started voice studies at the Conservatory. Her first big success as a composer was with the song "Jurame". She worked for Paramount Pictures on music for films based on Latin American themes. In Mexico she received the "Merito Civil" medal and the medal of the "Heart of Mexico". She became the author of the most beautiful boleros composing 860 songs such as "Besame Mucho" (which is believed to be dedicated to her girl-friend), "Te quiero dijiste" and "Alma Mia". Her pieces have been performed in different musical settings from the romantic trio to the symphonic orchestra in genres as diverse as rock, jazz, salsa and "musica ranchera". Many well known singers have interpreted her music. Among them are: Placido Domingo, Armando Manzanero, Ramon Vargas, Tania Libertad. She died in New York on December 15, 1951.

Rosa Passos - a bossa-nova phenomenon, - is one of Brazil's truly great and exciting singer-songwriters. She was born in Salvador, the capital of the State of Bahia, which is, the heart and soul of Afro-Brazilian culture. She began her professional career in composition and song in 1979 album "Recriacao" (Re-Creation). She is widely recognized both inside and outside Brazil as one of the most talented representatives of Brazil's contemporary musical culture. In recent years, she has performed in Los Angeles' popular "Jazz at the Bowl" series, and has also been acclaimed for her work in countries as distant as Japan, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Colombia, Cuba, and Uruguay. She is scheduled to record an album with world-famous cellist Yo Yo Ma, featuring Brazilian music where she will appear with notable Brazilian artists such as the Assad brothers, and others.

PERFORMERS

Desiree Halac, mezzo-soprano, recently made her debut with the Teatro Colon in Argentina singing Dido in "Dido and Aeneas" and returns next year to sing the role of Idamante in "Idomeneo". She has appeared as a soloist with the American Composers Orchestra, the Stamford Symphony, the Metamorphoses Orchestra and the Jupiter Symphony. She has performed her songs at New York's main recital halls and toured South America extensively with song recitals. Ms. Halac was a winner of the Joy in Singing Award, the Jenny Tourel Prize at the Poulenc Competition, and was the recipient of the Shoshana Foundation Award. Ms. Halac is also a founding member of the Music Trust the aim of which is to bring music education to children with no economic means.

Danny Mallon holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in percussion from the Mannes College of Music, where he has been a faculty member since 1991. In addition to three recordings with Chatham Baroque on the Dorian label, he can be heard on Pifaro's new Dorian recording and on "Perigee and Apogee" by composer Beata Moon. He has recently performed with Jordi Saval's period orchestra at Alice Tully Hall and the Library of Congress; The NY Collegium; AmorArtis Chorus and Baroque Orchestra; and with Paula Robison and Ken Cooper at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He played a solo percussion recital at the 2002 Spoletto festival.

Joseph Ravo teaches at the Mannes College of Music and is an active freelancer in the New York area, playing all styles of music, performing guitar solo, often with his long time collaborator Danny Mallon.

IMAGES

Tanya Antoshina

Alina Bliumis (Lukatsevich)

Masha Chuikova

Olga Egorova "Tsaplya"
Zoya Frolova

Tanya Hengstler

Elena Korennova

Tanya Lieberman

Nina Zaretskaya

The site has been created with the assistance of the "Open Society Institute" (Soros Foundation). Russia