Three Takes on Lynda Benglis/Robert Morris

During the NEA art journalism institute (that would be art camp), several of us visited the Lynda Benglis/Robert Morris show at Susan Inglett in New York and came away impressed enough to write up the show. Jen Graves reviewed the show for The Stranger and Rachel Wolff had a writeup for New York Magazine. Collect them all.

Now, everyone thinks dildos are funny and since this exhibit involves double-pronged cast-metal dildos it's especially something. But is it possible that there's a viewer out there who doesn't know about the editorial history of Artforum? Would that person look at this show and think: frivolous, nostalgic, navelgazing? There isn't a lot of work to the show and it all plays a supporting role; at least, I didn't feel that the letters and controversy surrounding Benglis's 1974 Artforum ad illuminated any of the works or images on display. If anything, it read like a director's cut of the controversy itself, complete with deleted scenes, bonus content, etc.

Maybe it is inside baseball—but it was definitely a significant curatorial effort, and the feminist critique and journalist's credo themes are broadly relevant, and again, dildo. Much more exciting than your average Chelsea summer show, which looks a little something like this:

Rachel Whiteread, John McCracken, and Anish Kapoor.

That's up the road at Fredericks & Freiser. Has this work ever looked so boring?