What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1079961
8 WHAT'S UP! FEBRUARY 10-16, 2019 The Power Within Art responds to history's favorite superheroes JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette H e's "faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound." She is "as lovely as Aphrodite, as wise as Athena — with the speed of Mercury and the strength of Hercules." And they've both landed in Bentonville for an event that is the first of its kind. "Men of Steel, Women of Wonder" opened at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art this weekend and is the first major exhibition to examine art world responses to two of the most famous and beloved superheroes ever: Superman and Wonder Woman. "These characters are iconic and fun, and I hope that is a good thing to get folks in the door," shares Alejo Benedetti, Crystal Bridges assistant curator and the exhibition's creator. "Once folks are in there, as with all of our shows, we want [guests] to come to the shows and really think. So one of the exciting things about this exhibition is you get to tackle some very heavy and relevant issues, but it's done through the lens of these two characters." Works directly inspired by the crusaders for truth and justice abound in the exhibition, in addition to paintings, photographs, installations and videos that — as Benedetti points out — use the lens of the heroes to examine contemporary issues of identity, representation, social roles, morality and more. "One of the subsections [of the exhibition] is called 'Comic Whitewash,'" Benedetti demonstrates. "This reality of representation is something that a lot of artists are contending with, and this desire to explore a lack of representation within the comic world, but then also how these characters can be allies for people of color or other marginalized groups." Exhibition artist Robert Pruitt said in a previous interview with What's Up!: "The mythology of most comic narratives [is] full of ideas of otherness. In this way, they mirror the experiences of many cultures that struggle to fit into the prevailing narratives of much of our art, media and social landscape." That voice for the marginalized — a metaphor for their experience — is illustrated through the work of artists like Renée Cox (on the cover) who has created a new superhero in her Rajé series with the same powers and vulnerabilities as Wonder Woman, but who leans into her African heritage. This concept is also present in transgender artist Sarah Hill's COVER STORY "Wintered Fields" Jason Bard Yarmosky Courtesy of the artist