Female artists explicitly express desire, fantasy, disappointment, pleasure in COME ON

The Warehouse Gallery of Syracuse University launches a bold new exhibition, COME ON: Desire Under The Female Gaze, which focuses on the psychological, social, cultural and political dimensions of desire, subjectivity and pleasure.

COME ON presents an array of ideas, imagery and experiences on the topic of sexuality from the perspective of women in their 20s through mid 30s. The artists in this exhibition employ diverse media, including large-scale drawing, video installation, text work and ephemeral sculpture. COME ON reveals what is not represented in popular culture and provides a counterbalance to the ubiquitous imagery of sexualized female bodies created for mainstream heterosexual male sensibilities.

PRESS :

- Olivas, Yvonne. "Desire in Syracuse: the 'Come On' Controversy." FANZINE, 7 Nov 2007.
- Rushworth, Katherine. Stars: "Lighting the Fires of Contemplation: Warehouse Gallery show puts into the spotlight some rarely confronted issues." Post-Standard, 9 Sept 2007: 15.
- Bialczak, Mark. Music: "Take A Longer Look At Poison's Michaels." Post-Standard, 7 Sept 2007: 20.
- "Picks: Sexy Is As Sexy Does." Syracuse New Times, 29 Aug 2007: 22.
- Rhodes, Nancy Keefe. Balcaen shows at Warehouse Gallery. Syracuse City Eagle, 13 Sept 2007: 1, 4.
- Visitor Comments

•  In Poison, by Brooklyn artist Rachel Rampleman, rock star virility is deflated through real-life testimonial. In a video viewable from a set of stadium bleachers, the artist's sister Sarah describes her lifelong idolatry of infamous frontman Bret Michaels. The fantasy and anticipation leading up to a weekend rendezvous are recounted in uproarious detail, as well as her ensuing disappointment in the desired object's sexual skills. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer writes, "Sarah is brilliant" and artnet calls the video "priceless". Rampleman's report punctures the myth of the adoring, anonymous female fan and the prowess of the famous musician.

Rampleman has exhibited and screened at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Cynthia Broan Gallery and NYU Cantor Film Center in Manhattan, and ArtWorks Time Warner Cable Gallery in Cincinnati.

•  Montreal-based Jo-Anne Balcaen creates oblique narratives with dictionary definitions through intriguing juxtapositions. The word combinations chosen question the cultural baggage assigned to language used to express emotions, uncovering the role of language in the construction of gender. In addition to the text works in COME ON, Balcaen will install a suggestive minimalist sculpture created out of balloons, which points to the commercialization of courtship, the inflated and insupportable expectations of happiness, and the temporality of feelings.

Balcaen has exhibited at SAW Gallery in Ottawa, Katharine Mulherin in Toronto, in Montreal at Parisian Laundry, Joyce Yahouda, articule, and the Ellen Art Gallery at Concordia University, as well as unconventional sites like Salvation Army, an abandoned hospital, a library and on billboards.

•  Brooklyn-based Juliet Jacobson 's large-scale drawings evoke centuries-old Mannerist painting through the use of ornate details, contorted compositions and irrational space. These exquisite illustrations of intertwined male lovers are informed by the critical theories of feminist and queer studies. With a symbol set deriving from the histories of art, religion, and literature, Jacobson's finely rendered works are meditations upon generation and creativity, fragility, intimacy, love, mutuality, morality, identity, alienation and universality.

Jacobson has been included in exhibitions curated by Kiki Smith and Valerie Hammond in New York and Rupert Goldsworthy in London. Her work was featured in the last issue of K48 Magazine.

Join the artists and curator Astria Suparak for a day of artist talks culminating in a tour and reception with refreshments on Thursday, Sept. 20, at The Warehouse Gallery.

About Rachel Rampleman:
- Resume
- Portfolio

Reviews:
- Artnet
- various
- YouTube Comments

See more work:
- Cynthia Broan Gallery
- Flickr photosets
- MySpace

Poison video
- YouTube Trailer
- Outtake: Concert pass
- Outtake: Every Rose

- Bret signature video still


- Bedroom video still

- Poison: My Sister Fucked Bret (2006, Video, 30 minutes, Courtesy of Cynthia Broan Gallery)

About Jo-Anne Balcaen:
- CV
- Artist Statement
- Other works
- Keefe Rhodes, Nancy. Extended interview with J. Balcaen (30 minutes). Syracuse City Eagle, Sept 2007.
- Review in FFWD Weekly

Other works in COME ON:
- Yearning Year-round, 2005, color ink jet print, 30" x 7 "


- Prince Of Darkness, 2005, color ink jet print, 30" x 8"


- Blurt Blush, 2005, color ink jet print, 26" x 10"  

COME ON EXHIBITION-RELATED EVENTS:

•  Artist Talks :
20 Sept. 2pm: Jacobson, 3pm: Rampleman.
@ Warehouse Community Classroom, 350 W. Fayette St.

Sponsored by the Departments of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and Transmedia at Syracuse University.

•  Sweet Nothings Reception + Guided Tour :
20 Sept. 5-8pm, during Th3 Syracuse Arts Night, with vegan treats provided Roji Tea Lounge and local beer by Middle Ages Brewery.

6pm tour with exhibition curator and artists. Free Connective Corridor Shuttle transportation.

@ The Warehouse Gallery, 350 W. Fayette St.

•  Screening :
26 Aug. 8-9:30pm, Daughters of Joy! Experimental video and audio about sex, and the American launch of Lickety Split sex-positive zine.

Curated by Amber Goodwyn with work by Lamathilde, Nicole Koschmann, Scott Stark, Anita Schoepp, and more. For mature audiences.

Co-presented with Syracuse Experimental Film & Media Workshop
@ Spark Art Space, 1005 E. Fayette St.

•  Screening :
18 Oct. 8pm, Emotional Realism: Videos that pose questions about the rhetoric of honesty and the production of empathy in the viewer. Curated by Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby with work by Miriam Bäckström, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Dena DeCola and Karin Wandner, and Amanda Baggs.

@ Watson Theater, 310 Waverly Ave. at Comstock.

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