Artemisa Clark: La clase de dibujo libre/Free Drawing Class (2000-2004/2017/2018)

Saturday, November 11, 2017 1:30-4pm

Wednesday, January 17, 2018 7-9pm

Artemisa Clark: La clase de dibujo libre/Free Drawing Class (2000-2004/2017)

Los Angeles-based performance and installation artist Artemisa Clark will re-present a street action originally performed by artist/activist Ema Villanueva, who presented a series of performances in Mexico City's public plazas in the early 2000s. In La clase de dibujo libre/Free Drawing Class, Villanueva posed as a model, using the medium of nude figure drawing to reflect on contemporary social issues such as feminism and social justice.

La clase de dibujo libre/Free Drawing Class was a series of life drawing classes in public plazas. During these performances, Villanueva posed as the nude model while simultaneously engaging in discussions with attendees about contemporary issues such as feminism and social justice—using the objectification of her own body as a means to bring attention to pressing topics of the day. 

Clark's reperformance will consider Villanueva's prior actions and offer another interpretation of the traditional role of "the model." This Armory exhibitions event is free, open to the public, and will take place in the Armory's main studio in conjunction with our regularly scheduled adult life drawing class, instructed by Andrew K. Currey. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own drawing supplies.

Documentation from Villanueva's original La clase de dibujo libre/Free Drawing Class can be seen in our current exhibition Below the Underground: Renegade Art and Action in 1990s Mexico.

More info here.