Greer Lankton
11 April–20 June 2015
Between Bridges is proud to present the first European solo exhibition of Greer Lankton’s work. The show is a continuation of her recent retrospective, Love Me, at Participant Inc, NYC, organized in cooperation with the Greer Lankton Archives Museum (G.L.A.M.). The original exhibition showed numerous of Lankton’s legendary dolls, photographs, and works on paper from various collections across the United States—and calls for an afterlife. A broad selection of those works will be on display in the rooms at Between Bridges, which in 2006 made its inaugural exhibition of showing the work of David Wojnarowicz, a long time friend and collaborator of Lankton.
During her lifetime, Lankton exhibited at Civilian Warfare, Gracie Mansion, the 1995 Whitney Biennial and Venice Biennale, and is fondly remembered by many for her displays in the windows of the East 7th Street boutique, Einsteins. Lankton remains an important figure in the history of the East Village art scene of the eighties and early nineties, best known for her meticulously constructed and, in many instances, constantly evolving doll sculptures. Often discussed in terms of their autobiographical nature, her figures reflect a lifelong obsession with her own body and the simultaneous glamour and gravity she embodied as a transgendered artist living within the culture of the East Village of that period.
Greer Lankton is an artist’s artist. This is evidenced by the sheer number of artists who collaborated with her and considered her a muse, including Nan Goldin, Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz, David Armstrong, among others. Her influence can be felt in the work of her contemporaries, but Lankton’s work is unlike anything else. She was ahead of her time, or, more specifically, outside of time. She methodically created her own world, whose occupants were like herself—transgendered and powerful women, extremely fat or extremely thin, circus people and icons—those who manifest the outer edges of the social order. She was a fearless artist, and her life as a gender innovator informs all of her work, making her an important forebear to those who have now become more visible in contemporary art and the culture at large.
Like so many artists of her generation, Greer Lankton died young. Although she was recognized as a part of this scene, her work does not neatly fit in with the prevailing image of the East Village art of the 1980s— privileging an aggressive aesthetic in painting and sculpture, easily marketed as a direct product of generational lifestyle. Lankton was a transgendered woman, whose work was, in many ways, considered ‘craft’ because she chose to make ‘dolls;’ still a difficult category to be properly inscribed into official art histories. Lankton’s resurgence now poses not only a correction to an incomplete art historical canon, but also testament to the work’s ability to resonate beyond her immediate context, crossing intergenerational lines and constituencies spanning art, fashion, and gender politics. Her poignant, intricate sculptures, flooded with autobiographical detail, prove even more affecting today.
There are numerous private collections and institutions participating in this exhibition, including Greer Lankton Archives Museum (G.L.A.M.); The Estate of David Wojnarowicz, P.P.O.W.; David Wojnarowicz Papers, Redtape Archive, and Nick Zedd Papers, Fales Library and Special Collections at NYU; Jean Foos, Keith Davis Estate; Robert Appleton; Keith Edmier; Douglas Ferguson; Nan Goldin; Lynn Hamilton; Jay Johnson and Tom Cashin; John Kelly; Gracie Mansion; Beau Rutland; Meg and Rachel Siegel; Linda Simpson; Geoff Spear; Tabboo! (Stephen Tashjian); Sikkema Jenkins & Co. und Sunny Suits.
This exhibition was made possible by the help of Lia Gangitano of Participant Inc, Paul Monroe of Greer Lankton Archives Museum (G.L.A.M.), and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
Greer Lankton (1958–1996) was born in Flint, Michigan. She studied fabrics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1975–1978) and later sculpture at Pratt Institute in New York, where she received her B.F.A. (1978–1981).
Shortly after graduating in 1981, Lankton was included in the exhibition New York/New Wave at MoMA PS1, curated by Diego Cortez. During the early 1980s she became closely associated with the East Village art scene. Between 1983 and 1985 she exhibited regularly at Civilian Warfare in New York, where she had three major solo exhibitions as well as several group shows.
From 1986 to 1990, Lankton presented her work at the East Village boutique Einsteins, where she staged a number of installations and presentations of her sculptures.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Lankton participated in numerous group exhibitions in the United States and internationally. These included The Crucifix Show at Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York (1982); exhibitions at Anderson Theater Gallery, New York (1983) and PS1, New York (1984); presentations at Gracie Mansion, New York (1984); and exhibitions in Cologne and Zurich in 1984. Other notable group exhibitions included shows at Holly Solomon Gallery, New York (1985); the Albert & Vera List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1985); the SculptureCenter, New York (1985); and the Indianapolis Museum of Art (1986).
In 1989, Lankton participated in Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing, curated by Nan Goldin at Artists Space in New York. The following year she presented mannequins of Diana Vreeland and Anna Wintour at Barneys, New York (1990).
During the 1990s, her work continued to appear in major exhibitions, including The Sexual Self at Tanja Grunert in Cologne (1992) and Real Sex at Salzburger Kunstverein in Salzburg (1994). In 1995, Klaus Kertess invited Lankton to exhibit in the Whitney Biennial. The same year she was also included in the Venice Biennale, curated by Jean Clair.
Shortly before her death in 1996, Lankton completed It’s All About ME, Not You, which is now a permanent installation at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh.
Since then, her work has continued to be presented internationally. It was included in East Village USA at the New Museum (2004–2005) and later in Ecce Homo at Pavel Zoubok Gallery (2013). In 2011, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles presented Greer Lankton: You Can’t Throw It Away, the first retrospective of her work, organized by Paul Monroe and G.L.A.M. At the time of writing, Lankton’s work is also included in A Drawing Show at Matthew Marks Gallery.
Lankton’s work was widely discussed in magazines, newspapers and art publications. In 1980 she appeared as DeeDeeLux in Nick Zedd’s film Bogus Man, featured as the centerfold in East Village Eye. In 1984, Carlo McCormick reviewed her Civilian Warfare exhibition Fit to be Tied in N.Y. Beat and later interviewed her for East Village Eye.
That same year her work was featured in several publications, including Gary Indiana’s article “Greer Lankton” in Art in America, a review by Holland Cotter in Arts Magazine, a spread in Italian Vogue, and an appearance in Redtape Magazine.
Further coverage followed throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, including interviews and reviews in i-D Magazine, Details, Saturday Review of Literature, Vogue, Ear Magazine, and The Detroit News. Her dolls depicting Anna Wintour and Diana Vreeland were also featured in articles in The New York Times, New York Magazine, and People magazine.
Lankton was also included in the publication Real Sex, Real Real, Real AIDS, Real Text, published on the occasion of the 1994 exhibition Real Sex at Salzburger Kunstverein.
Press on the exhibition:
Laura Allsop, The Radical Life & Work of Genderqueer Artist Greer Lankton, AnOther Magazine (A/W 2015) (EN)
Sonja Eismann, Sexy Greisinnen, die nicht essen wollen, warten glücklich auf den Tod, jungle.world, 4. Juni 2015 (DE)
Oliver Koerner von Gustorf, Nennt Mich Greer, Monopol, June 2015 (DE)
Travis Jeppesen: Critic’s picks, artforum.com, May 2015 (EN)
Brigitte Werneburg: Exzentrik ist wunderbar, taz, 17 April 2015 (DE)
Boris Pofalla, In den Körpern von Puppen, Frankfurter Allgemeine, 12. April 2015 (DE)
Benjamin Paul, Der Mensch ist sehr zerbrechlich, Tip Berlin, 2015 (DE)