Art Scene: Ghada Amer

It is always a thrill to come across an artist whose work is not only aesthetically pleasing, but which also provokes the viewers to continually ponder the work long after it is seen. Egyptian (and NYC-based) artist Ghada Amer's work does just that. Amer takes images of women usually only seen in pornography and completely re-envisions those images into amazing pieces of art. Starting with a painted canvas, Amer at times uses embroidery to outline the woman's figure. As a traditional female craft (and one that often linked to portrayals of "virtuous" ladies), her use of embroidery is particularly fascinating.



Amer's work seems to also take female eroticism out of the dark and hands it back to the viewer as something normal and beautiful that doesn't need to be hidden away. That Amer comes from a part of the continent that is traditional very conservation (although she spent many years in France and the US) makes her work stand out even more and begs to question what else is going on in the world of women in this part of the continent!

While I would definitely take any of her pieces, this last one is one of my personal favorites and I could so easily find a space in my home for this. With price tags that start around $65,000 and just keep going up from there, I may just have to keep dreaming of this for a little while longer.....

{Photos: Ghada Amer, Galleria Filomena Soares, Whitewall Magazine, Gagosian Gallery}