Flacks Goddess Figures example essay topic

In 1950, Marilyn told the story of the powder puff to Sonia Wolfson, a publicity woman at 20th Century Fox and then confided. "This was the first time in my life I felt loved - no one had ever noticed my face or hair or me before". Let us assume it even happened in some fashion. For it gives a glimpse as the powder goes on and the mirror comes up of a future artist conceiving a grand scheme in the illumination of an instant - one could paint oneself into an instrument of ones will! ...

Noticed my face or hair" - her properties - or me (Marilyn, 1977) Flack wanted the miraculous truth of representation within the deep structure of painting (Review, 1999). Marilyn affirms the beauty, the sexual, and the spiritual power of the female image, as well as reveals the truth behind the stereotypical idealizations of the female sex. Flack creates a character that is universal, one in which women can relate to both the outer beauty and inner vulnerability. Flacks realistic paintings brought her great success. She was the first American Photo-realist painter to have her artwork exhibited into the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in 1966.

Also, her 1979 oil painting Time to Save was auctioned at Christies New York for $253,000. Nevertheless, in the early 1980's, Flack made the change from painting still lives to sculpture. Flacks shift in medium was in response to a need for something real. Flack felt that society was fragmented, empty, and falling apart [so she] wanted to make solid objects, things that people could literally hold on to, things that wouldnt fly away or disintegrate (American Artist, 1991). Flack went on to produce progressively larger images, embodying female strength, ranging from a black medicine woman and a sun goddess to mythological deities such as Athena and Diana (American Artist, 1991).

Derived from such mythological inspirations, Flack produced a series of sculptures called Civitas; a group of four, thirteen-foot high bronze goddesses that now preside over the entrance to Rock Hill, South Carolina. Each statue holds a circular emblem representing culture (stars), business (gears), education (flames), and vitality (lightning bolts). Civitas exemplifies the sense of universality in Flacks artwork. These sculpted goddesses were gentle, tranquil, yet strong and were Flacks answer to all the existing civic sculptures of male soldiers and warriors (American Artist, 1991). Flack wanted to present a meaning for the community, to help instill pride by keeping complete harmony between the spirits of inner peace.

Blending the cultures, legends, and philosophies of various cultures, namely Greek, Egyptian, American, and prehistoric, Audrey Flack created the figure Egyptian Rocket Goddess in 1990. Flack says that this sculpture is about breaking free as it has a determined facial expression and physical stance that literally pushes forward. The Egyptian Rocket Goddess has snakes wrapped around her arms, a traditional sign of female power and fertility since the Minoan Age in 1600 B.C. Her headdress is sleek and contemporary, relaying an image of a rocket. Flacks goddess figures depict the image of female power and independence. She portrays the hero in every woman and conveys the strength that every female possesses. The figures relay a message that women can simultaneously be graceful and strong.

Flack uses the reclaiming of the goddess figure to symbolize the restoration of beauty and power to the woman. The goddess image places the woman back in control of nature, as it was originally intended. The goddess image also helps to re-establish the creativity and spirituality to the woman's being. Perhaps the most monumental artwork produced by Audrey Flack is sculpture of Queen Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess who became Queen of England.

In 1992, Flack was selected the winner of a competition to build this tribute to Queen Catherine in Queens, New York. The $2.4 million sculpture was completed in 1994, consisting of paginated and gilded bronze, jewels, and a crystal ball. The statue stands at a towering height of nine stories, which was originally to be placed over the East River in Queens, NY. Queen Catherine Of Braganza comes second in size next to the Statue of Liberty. However, controversy surrounding the Queen and past slavery issues has put a hold on the statues revealing. Nonetheless, Flacks opportunity to exhibit her artwork at such grand proportions opens up a new gateway for future women artists.

Flack has transformed the field of art by showing that women can create and idealize the qualities of bold femininity. Audrey Flacks artwork seems to bring the past back into the present. She brings back the lost ideals and images of womanhood and attempts to restore them into the women of today. Her feminist artwork brings an understanding that gender is socially and not naturally constructed (The Power of Feminist Art, 10).

Feminist art teaches to reinstate the awareness in women, to recognize that women have a voice to express their inner feelings and thoughts. Feminist art also provokes thought, helping women walk out from the shadows of struggle to achieve transcendence over the female-gendered world of nature (The Power of Feminist Art, 17).