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A dove by any other name

Pigeons and Picasso provide inspiration for a swan song

By Mimi Fronczak Rogers
For The Prague Post
August 6th, 2008 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Benish puts her own spin on well-known Picasso motifs and statements.
Barbara Benish’s exhibition “Picasso Is Female!” at Galerie Navrátil is at once a tribute and a reproach to the artist whom many view as the greatest master of the 20th century. Her conceptual installation of paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures takes on the myth of the male artist and his muse, and also casts an eye on the mechanisms that create and perpetuate art myths.
A source of inspiration for the work in this show was Picasso’s famous “Dove of Peace,” a simplified outline drawing that he created for the 1950 World Peace Congress in Paris (he made multiple versions of the dove to promote the peace movement). The olive branch in its beak gives the impression that the bird is a dove; in reality, however, Picasso based his drawing on the common pigeon.
This bit of historical trivia provided a jumping-off point for Benish. An American artist with Czech ancestry who emigrated to the Czech lands in the early 1990s, she lives with her family in a centuries-old mill in south Bohemia, where she raises pigeons along with other farm animals. A text posted near the gallery door relates an anecdote: A pigeon the family had assumed to be male and named Picasso was revealed to be a female after new pigeons were added to the dovecote this spring. This discovery triggered a series of associations for the artist, and pigeons became her muses and models, as they once had been for Picasso.
The show is bookended by two quotes from Picasso. At the beginning of the exhibition is his infamous view on women: “There are only two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats.”
Benish’s riposte comes in the form of two geometric compositions made from doormats. One is placed inside an arched niche near the entrance to the gallery, and the second is arranged on the floor like a prayer rug in front of a second niche, inside which is a photograph of pigeons on a roof — thereby enshrining doormats instead of goddesses, and elevating the status of the lowly pigeon to icon.
In scrutinizing the myth of the male artist and Picasso in particular, Benish alludes to the position of the female artist throughout history. Perhaps the point of the oversized bird cage hanging from the ceiling near the gallery entrance, empty but for a single feather, is that it is better to fly the coop than allow the art establishment to pigeonhole you by gender.
The show closes with a second well-known quote by Picasso: “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.” In her reconsideration of the symbolism and historical associations of the dove and pigeon — one revered as a symbol of love and peace, the other disdained yet important to human history — Benish alludes to the ways in which myth obfuscates reality, circling back again to Picasso, who made his artistic name by distorting reality.
Yet myths also reveal essential truths about humanity. Benish holds traditional myths and symbols in respect, but she also views them as a repository that can be dipped into and re-contextualized in order to unveil further truths.
A hallmark of Benish’s work is a playful synthesis of art history, local history and personal history blended with symbolism and mythology. She hones in on the points at which cultures and histories cross, clash and integrate, teasing out hidden connections and then connecting all the dots.
It is ironic that the name of the gallery (Navrátil means “he returned”) happens to be the name of the previous owners of the mill where Benish lives, and also might describe the artist as one who has returned to her ancestral roots. The strong homing instinct of the pigeon is perhaps an additional reason it held such appeal as subject matter for her.
Sadly, this will be the final exhibition at Galerie Navrátil. Gallerist Miroslav Navrátil has operated the space since 1999, as well as running Galerie Litera in Karlín. But he can’t keep the Malá Strana space going, due to the increasing financial demands of maintaining it. As the gallery has always aimed to exhibit artists whose work reflects the contemporary realities of society, Benish’s exhibition is a strong swan song (or should that be pigeon coo?) for Galerie Navrátil.

Mimi Fronczak Rogers can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (6/08/2008):

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