UNIQUE IN EVERY WAY
I had never heard of Carol Rama but she was on my list of exhibitions to see. Strangely enough, Lüpertz had not been.
The latter had taken me a good hour and a half to digest and I wasn’t too sure if I could cope with Carol Roma at once. It was Saturday and people were beginning to pour into the museum. I would give it a go and then think about a belated lunch. Strange as it may seem I started this exhibition without intending to do so from the end of her career. « The Passion according to Carol Rama » End? Well not quite as Carol Rama is still working and living in Turin. She is 99 (born in 1916). I watched a relatively recent video on her life and found that even for me, her outspoken eccentricity was just a little bit too much. She is supposedly a solitary self taught artist. A reactionary to say the least and although she has mixed with many of the great names over her life and alongside the major avant-garde movements of the 20th century, Expressionism, Surrealism, Concrete Art, Pop Arte Povera to name just a view you just can’t pigeon hole her. She started painting at the age of 14.
So I worked from the end back. This time perhaps it was not such a good idea. With Lüpertz it had worked but in my book, Carol Roma’s early work is quite out of the ordinary. When men were painting desirable bodies, she was turning her own sex into entirely alien to the fascist Italy of the 1930’s-40’s. Apparently the first exhibition she gave was censored for obscenity. Yes, it is somewhat obscene and yet it is also very raw, violent and naif. They seem to stare at you and stick out their tongue - and alongside these paintings you see this quote.
She went through an abstract period which I frankly found fascinating. Some of these works and fine silks or threads sown onto canvas. It’s not easy to see this at once and then close to the work you discover what she has done.
But how about these for wedding dress?
There are many moments when she is making statements. Her last big series from the 1990’s is « The Mad Cow », which denounces the ecological disaster in that dreadful disease transmissible to humans. I wonder how long it was before we began to eat beef without worrying?
Anti this, anti that….drawing objects as symbols, the bricolage series which are collages in their own right….
A wonderful bedspread which seemed threatening when looked at with her other work and yet warm if not cheerful on my computer screen.
The eyes, the human teeth, her work is neither abstract or figurative but each work is denouncing something - or it seems to be.
Her use of objects to denote a theme.....
Strangely she was not recognized as an artist before 2003. 87 years. Then she received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. Today I would think that Rama is recognized as an important figure in our understanding of 20th century mutations in the representation of the body and the gender. Could she be compared to someone like the photographer Cindy Sherman? But does it matter as Carol Rama is unique in every way.
And as for eccentricity
The latter had taken me a good hour and a half to digest and I wasn’t too sure if I could cope with Carol Roma at once. It was Saturday and people were beginning to pour into the museum. I would give it a go and then think about a belated lunch. Strange as it may seem I started this exhibition without intending to do so from the end of her career. « The Passion according to Carol Rama » End? Well not quite as Carol Rama is still working and living in Turin. She is 99 (born in 1916). I watched a relatively recent video on her life and found that even for me, her outspoken eccentricity was just a little bit too much. She is supposedly a solitary self taught artist. A reactionary to say the least and although she has mixed with many of the great names over her life and alongside the major avant-garde movements of the 20th century, Expressionism, Surrealism, Concrete Art, Pop Arte Povera to name just a view you just can’t pigeon hole her. She started painting at the age of 14.
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| Self portrait - 1937 |
So I worked from the end back. This time perhaps it was not such a good idea. With Lüpertz it had worked but in my book, Carol Roma’s early work is quite out of the ordinary. When men were painting desirable bodies, she was turning her own sex into entirely alien to the fascist Italy of the 1930’s-40’s. Apparently the first exhibition she gave was censored for obscenity. Yes, it is somewhat obscene and yet it is also very raw, violent and naif. They seem to stare at you and stick out their tongue - and alongside these paintings you see this quote.
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| Dorina - 1946 |
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| Passionate - 1939 |
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| Passionate 1941 |
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| ??? |
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| Passionate - 1941 |
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| Seduction - 1983 |
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| Amabile 1939 |
She went through an abstract period which I frankly found fascinating. Some of these works and fine silks or threads sown onto canvas. It’s not easy to see this at once and then close to the work you discover what she has done.
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| No title - 1968 |
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| Large Canvas - 1959 |
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| Island of eyes (plastic) 1967 |
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| Thread sown on canvas - 1973 |
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| Thread sown on canvas - 1973 |
But how about these for wedding dress?
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| Wedding dress |
There are many moments when she is making statements. Her last big series from the 1990’s is « The Mad Cow », which denounces the ecological disaster in that dreadful disease transmissible to humans. I wonder how long it was before we began to eat beef without worrying?
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| VACHE FOLLE 1997 |
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| VACHE FOLLE 1997 |
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| VACHE FOLLE 1996 |
Anti this, anti that….drawing objects as symbols, the bricolage series which are collages in their own right….
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| Bricolage - 1967 |
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| I see...I see 1966 |
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| BRICOLAGE 1966 |
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| BRICOLAGE 1965 |
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| CONTESSA 1963 |
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| Bricolage 1963, electric wire , indian ink and nail varnish 1963 |
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| Bricolage 1966, animal skin... |
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| Future 1967 |
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| No title - 196? |
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| Island of eyes 1966 |
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| Sad self portrait - 1969 |
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| -1969 |
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| FORGIVE ME FOR CONJUNCTIONS1969 |
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| AUTO PORTRAIT 9_1969 |
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| Bedspread - 1959 |
The eyes, the human teeth, her work is neither abstract or figurative but each work is denouncing something - or it seems to be.
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| Composition 7 - 1953 |
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| Composition 7 - 1953 |
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| 4th Mouvement 1952 |
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| Composition 1953 |
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| Portrait of Massimo Mila , human teeth, enamel..1984. |
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| Butterfly 1950 |
Her use of objects to denote a theme.....
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| OPERA 18 _ 1939 |
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| Opera 34 - 1940 |
Strangely she was not recognized as an artist before 2003. 87 years. Then she received the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. Today I would think that Rama is recognized as an important figure in our understanding of 20th century mutations in the representation of the body and the gender. Could she be compared to someone like the photographer Cindy Sherman? But does it matter as Carol Rama is unique in every way.
And as for eccentricity
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