Description
Book SynopsisThis 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
Trade ReviewRadical Decadence addresses decadence and excess, re-framing these as contemporary strategies of transgression and pleasure. In this well-illustrated book, Skelly draws on established and newly emerging artists working with cloth, porcelain and paint, demonstrating the inherent and delightful messiness of these media and their resistance to controlling systems. -- Catherine Dormor, Middlesex University, UK
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Decadence, Feminism and “Excess” Chapter 1: Consuming Craft, Cupcakes and Cocaine: Orly Cogan, Shane Waltener and Shelley Miller Chapter 2: Pleasure Craft: Nava Lubelski, Mickalene Thomas and Shary Boyle Chapter 3: Bad Women?: Tracey Emin, Ghada Amer and Allyson Mitchell Chapter 4: “The Decaying Fabrics of Life and Death”: Rozanne Hawksley’s Textile Art Bibliography Index
