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• 1 2020-07-03T15:13:18+00:00 Spit/ Vomit 16 plain 2020-08-04T18:19:48+00:00 Candies, 1998

  Patty Chang’s Candies references female stereotypes. In this durational work, the artist wears professional attire, a gray suit jacket and skirt, black shoes and tights. The blazer sleeves are stitched to the front of the jacket, and the tights are stitched down the middle. Chang’s arms and legs are bound, constricting her in the outfit. A metal clamp is in her mouth, holding an unnatural and uncomfortable smile on her face. Peppermint candies are also in her mouth, and as Chang stands unmoving for an increasing period of time, candies and red drool start spilling from her mouth, running down her clothing, and pooling at her feet. 
  
  Chang's literal constriction of herself using stitches and a dental clamp are very literal signifiers for the ways women are constricted by societal expectations. The idea of women as caretakers, who should be self-sacrificing and put the needs of others before their own is a popular trope. Chang plays on this idea with a smile, which should signify joy, that becomes increasingly awkward, gross, and abject. The smile, which is expected of women because it makes them look more approachable, more pleasant, more acceptable, starts becoming painful. This expectation of women to be beautiful and happy all the time is both harmful and unrealistic. 

  Fountains, 1999

  In Micol Hebron’s Fountains, the artist induces vomiting as a literal regurgitation and rejection of expectations of women and notions of aesthetics. This piece is a six-channel video installation, each video piece designed around a different color. In each video, Hebron wears a monochromatic outfit and holds a clear bucket on her lap. She begins throwing up into the bucket, vomiting the same color she is wearing. The videos switch at different time intervals, causing different color combinations at different times. This installation creates an immersive space for viewers, as each video is projected 3 feet tall by 4 feet wide. The rainbow of vomiting completely surrounds the space.

  Fountains challenges viewers to “reconcile their position of subjectivity (that which is based on fetishizing the ‘beautiful’ with that which is constructed through the culturally disturbing notions of vomiting)” (Micol Hebron). Elements so central to the history of painting, such as the color wheel and ideals of beauty, are brought into question with this work. The history of painting is largely comprised of female nudes painted by male artists. These works typically depict a young white body, the epitome of femininity and fertility. Hebron becomes a completely different kind of vessel in Fountains; rather than feed into the notion that the female body is a birthing machine, she vomits vibrant colors while wearing bright outfits. This poses the question of whether or not elements of something so visceral and disgusting can become beautiful. There is a cultural bias in favor of beauty; beauty is typically associated with goodness and lightness while the ugly or gross connotes badness and darkness. These notions are subverted and blurred as the artist, who is expected to be a creator of beauty, presents viewers with puke. 

  
  
  On Interior Things, 2017

  Cindy Rehm’s performance work often includes gestures of spitting different fluids. In On Interior Things, the artist uses fading book pages laid out on the ground and sits on a wooden chair to create a kind of domestic space. She then takes 28 beets, wounding and cutting into them one by one using a vegetable peeler. The red juice and slices stain her pink dress as they run and fall, accumulating in a puddle on her lap. The artist then moves to sit on the floor. A wounded beat is carefully picked up and a drop of honey is spit into it. Then a small piece is cut from the dress and used to cover the beat wound. This is repeated with each beat, and the fruits are arranged in a circle around Rehm. 

  Much of Cindy Rehm’s performance work is based in ritual. These rituals may be a score, spell, or healing gesture. On Interior Things symbolizes the inward body spilling out, with the mouth as a portal between the two. Beats are metaphorical for souls or hearts, and honey is dropped from the mouth in order to heal the gashes. The inward body is important to Rehm’s practice because of the way the female body experience is marked by fluidity, by bleeding, by constant change. Cycles such as menstruation and menopause are natural body functions, but are not treated as such. The artist questions how the cyclical nature of the female body changes one’s relationship to time. While Rehm’s performances are typically characterized by small, detailed, intimate gestures, audience members typically view the work from afar, maybe feeling discomfort or tension due to the subject matter dealing with the leaky female body and fluid ritual. As the female body has been seen as “other” or alien, fear and ignorance has developed in response.