Not ones to go silent for too long, we are pleased to unveil our second new group of releases for 2021. Following last month’s conclusion to our winter programming, we open our spring season today with the first of four new films premiering over the next four Wednesdays here on Art21.org and over on our YouTube channel.
That’s four new films total: two from our long-running Extended Play series, and two from our celebrated New York Close Up series.
Four artists—Guan Xiao, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Loie Hollowell, and Rachel Rossin—complicate public and private, tradition and innovation, commanding transformative artworks in the face of social, generational, and individual adversities.
With today’s premiere of “Loie Hollowell’s Transcendent Bodies,” the award-winning New York Close Up series releases its milestone 100th film. This coming June will mark ten years since the New York Close Up series made its debut.
All four films are among a year-long collection of releases that comprise Art21’s participation in the multi-institutional Feminist Art Coalition (FAC) initiative. FAC is a platform for art projects informed by feminisms, fostering collaborations between arts institutions that aim to make public their commitment to social justice and structural change.
We are very proud to bring you this second collection of new films for 2021. Be sure to join us for a new premiere here or on YouTube every Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. ET through May 5.
Spring 2021 Film Guide
Tune in: Wednesdays (April 14, 21, and 28; May 5) at 12:00 p.m. ET
Loie Hollowell
From the New York Close Up series; Premiered April 14
Inspired by her personal experiences as a mother and as a daughter, Loie Hollowell paints colorful organic shapes suggestive of human genitalia, sacred geometry, and primordial forms. Returning to her Queens studio following the birth of her daughter, Hollowell is driven to make work about bodily experiences all the while questioning her own creative desires and assumptions.
Lynn Hershman Leeson
From the Extended Play series; Premiered April 21
Recalling her formative years as an artist in the 1960s and 1970s, pioneering multidisciplinary artist Lynn Hershman Leeson describes the suppression of her literal and figurative voice as motivation to make and show work. Hershman Leeson shares memories of moments that have shaped her practice, including a near-fatal complication during pregnancy, as well as being rejected by the museum system.
Guan Xiao
From the Extended Play series; Premiered April 28
Working on a series of sculptures in her Beijing studio, Guan Xiao challenges the expectations for social and political art. Examining a cultural and generational shift amongst Chinese artists and art patrons, Guan identifies a bellwether opportunity for breaking the expectations that have bound her and her peers for so long.
Rachel Rossin
From the New York Close Up series; Premiered May 5
At work on a group of plexiglass sculptures that form the physical component of an augmented reality experience, Rachel Rossin explores the tension of simultaneously operating in digital and physical spaces. A self-taught programmer, Rossin describes the ways that her sculptures, paintings, and virtual reality works reflect a desire for escape, safety, and neutrality.
