* I was recently reminded of an artist who gained notoriety in the 1960s and 1970s: Nancy Grossman. While she has worked in sculpture and mixed media, it is her drawings that intrigue me, particularly her "Gunhead" images. Even though her work was created 30+ years ago, these drawings are relevant to the present day. These drawings make us confront the violence endemic to ourselves as individuals and as a society and how intimate we are with weapons and the destruction mindset. In our highly technological age we are so intimate with these weapons, we are practically conjoined to or hybridized with these weapons--at the same time our awareness to their effects is distanced and blinded. As we invent more destructive and complex weapons, we move further out from intimacy with the victims. A soldier can bomb a village or town from hundreds of miles away and never see a drop of blood. More than any other situation, war exhibits man's inhumanity to man. In light of current events, Grossman's drawings become more and more poignant.
Gunhead, lithography crayon on coated paper, 1975
Liliaceae, lithography crayon, graphite, wash and paper collage on paper, 1973
Hitman, lithography crayon, graphite, wash and paper collage on paper, 1973Nancy Grossman's biography at the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in New York
Nancy Grossman on ArtNet
* Photo is by Richard Avedon. Nancy Grossman is on the right pictured with fellow artist Anita Siegel.
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