Eye Catching, 2003
20 x 14 feet and 20 x 14 feet and 20 x 14 feet
Photo Muammer Yanmaz
Description
Eye Catching is a site specific work that responds to the Medusa heads in the Yerebatan Cistern. I researched the incredible story of Medusa, realizing there is a very feminist psychological interpretation of the tale. Medusa is an extraordinarily beautiful woman, she was raped by a sea god, then through jealousy she was transformed by the Goddess Athena into an incredible monster with serpentine hair and a gaze that would turn men to stone. One interpretation could be that this is the ultimate extension of the power of female sexuality (stone as erection), and the fear and paranoia this can invoke in men. I created the serpentine trees to add to the enchanted environment of the cistern, as if Medusa's sensuality transformed the environment and everything around her.
Part of the Collections
Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey
MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Spain.
Exhibition History
The 8th Istanbul Biennial, Poetic Justice, The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Art, Istanbul, Turkey, September 20 - November 16, 2003, Curator: Dan Cameron.
Dallas Art Museum Benefit for Amfar Oct. 16, 2004, exhibited 6.
MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Spain, December 17, 2004 curator Agustin Perez Rubio.
MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, Spain, April 8, 2005 - ?, curator Agustin Perez Rubio.
Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey, Video Programii, curated by Rosa Martinez, April 16 - July 30, 2005.
Jennifer Steinkamp, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, curated by JoAnne Northrup, July 1 - October 1, 2006.
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, curated by JoAnne Northrup, Elizabeth Dunbar February 16 - May 13, 2007.
Orbigo 07, Asocciacion VII Centenario del Mercado de los Jueves de Benavides de Orbigo, Leon, Spain, 2007.
Time Present Time Past, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey, curated by David Elliot and Rosa Martinez, September 6 - December 2, 2007.
Jennifer Steinkamp, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York, curated by JoAnne Northrup and Holly Hughes, March 14 - June 29, 2008.
see movie
http://gallery.dma.ucla.edu/
