Marilyn Minter, Green Pink Caviar, from the series MnM 92, 2009. Single-channel video, 7 minutes 46 seconds.
This post is part of a series marking the 40th anniversary of Paul Robeson Galleries. We are celebrating the artists who we have had the pleasure of working with over the last four decades, highlighting those artists who have inspired, provoked, challenged, and enriched our lives.
Artist Biography
Marilyn Minter is an American visual artist, who is best known for her sensual paintings and photography. She was raised in Florida where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Florida, Gainesville in 1970. She then received a Master of Fine Arts from Syracuse University in 1972.
Minter has been the main subject of many solo exhibitions at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (2010); La Conservera Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Murcia (2009; and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2005), amongst others. Her well-known works include the Green Pink Caviar (2009), which was exhibited in the lobby of The Museum of Modern Art, New York for over a year. Minter is a vocal advocate for gender equality and reproductive rights. She collaborated with Miley Cyrus to create two photographs, Miley (2016) and XOXO (2015), in support of the organization Planned Parenthood. She lives and works in New York, New York.
About the Art
Minter is best known for her glossy, hyperrealistic works that depict close ups of the eyes, lips, and feet laden with make-up, jewels, dirt, and couture accessories. Many of her photos are of body parts seen through panes of wet glass. These photos are captured from dynamic and provocative angles that suggest the seductive but disturbing nature of “glamour.” She examines the relationship between the body, cultural anxieties of desires and sexualities, along with fashion imagery.[1] She has said, “When I think about my work, I mostly think about the paradox that goes on when you look at these images. How much pleasure glamour gives us but at the same time, how we know we’ll never look like that, and even [models] don’t look like that. There’s this constant distortion that’s happening between all of us—men and women—there’s a sense of failure. But at the same time, all of this pleasure.”[2]
[1] “Marilyn Minter,” Artsy.net, https://www.artsy.net/artist/marilyn-minter
[2] “Marilyn Minter,” Artnet.com, http://www.artnet.com/artists/marilyn-minter/
