Yijun (Pixy) Liao's Soft Heel Shoes
“Engendered” riffs on body and mind. The clever twist introduced in the exhibition title: To “engender” is to bring about something, to be a factor that leads to a certain action or outcome. As suggested by this exhibition at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, the human body is one sort of determining factor, a catalyst for notions of sexuality, gender and generally how to deal with the fleshy vessel housing our mind and spirit.
Curator Niki Johnson selected 20 artists for work that addresses the myriad ways sex can be interpreted. This is an endlessly pliable term. Alternately and simultaneously, the suggestion of sex lights up abstract ideas about male and female identities, the physiological organs that become a default way of categorizing bodies and the complexities of the act itself.
Sculptural pieces are heavily favored, which in this exhibition offers a powerful feeling of immediacy. Works like Brazilian artist Luiz Phillippe Carneiro de Mendonça’s Untitled (Chair With Crossed Legs) are even more coy and anthropomorphized when seen in person. The formality of the traditional wooden chair, with its richly polished wood and decoratively carved back, is a surprise of wit and metaphor conveyed through finely curved and unexpectedly arranged legs.
New York-based artist Yijun (Pixy) Liao crafted high heels to be reckoned with in her mustard-colored, suede and spiked Soft Heel Shoes. The actual heels were made with a 3D printer, the end result being photopolymer shapes in the form of male genitalia. The sculpture defies notions of high heels as symbols of feminine sexiness, breaking clichés through deflected gender signals, plus the uneasiness of a tender body part caught underfoot while subjected to aggressive action. Yijun is also featured through a series of photographs of herself and her boyfriend, cast as symbols for intimate suggestions like Try to live like a pair of siamese twins.
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As an exhibition, “Engendered” moves between surrealism and seduction, at once playful while at the same time provocative. It does not offer a clear, singular definition to neatly wrap up gender and sexuality, but leaves open their endless implications.
“Engendered” continues through March 7 in the Frederick Layton Gallery at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, 273 E. Erie St.
