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Bill Hodges Gallery is proud to present Un-Interrupted, a joint exhibition of arresting and evocative artworks by Erica Schreiner and Sol Kjøk. Harnessing such diverse mediums as video and drawing, Schreiner and Kjøk come together within the show to present distinct representations, documentations and deliberate re-imaginings of femininity’s place within society. Connoting the empowerment associated with uncensored speech, the exhibition title additionally addresses the artists’ determination to find balance and expression despite the difficulties and setbacks faced by women in contemporary society.
Issues of self-representation and body are prominent within both artists’ work. As an undeniable signifier of gender difference, as well as, a potent carrier of iconographic eaning, the female body becomes a necessary vehicle for the assertion and communication of feminine identity. Within their work, both Schreiner and Kjøk strive to recontextualize the feminine image, thereby creating new and surprising identities and roles for their female protagonists.
Sensual, meticulous and dream-like, Schreiner’s videos articulate feminine identity through a playful manipulation of stereotypically female behaviors, activities and modes of communication. A major trope within Schreiner’s videos is the apparent dichotomy between body and language, or textuality and sensuality. Just as Paper Cup replaces the meter of a telephone conversation with the tasting of chocolate and mashing of flowers, a strange, heavy and opulent tactility characterizes the communicative actions in many of Schreiner’s videos.
Such a somatically based method of communication is relentlessly gendered. Not only is Schreiner frequently imaged in interaction with the feminine symbols of fruit and flowers, but she also depicts the feminine cliché through the use of precise settings and alluring costumes. Throughout her videos, however, Schreiner is simultaneously pictured in aggressive, absurd and often repulsive acts of smashing, smearing and eating. In this way, Schreiner reclaims the tactile and “feminine” form of expression as a means to expose the inner contradictions, falsities and shortcomings of the female stereotype

Sept 9-30, 2010