in
various guises and disguises and creates a persona that challenges the viewer
to look in a similar manner into his or her own self, transposing identities."Georgia Museum of Art
University of Georgia
Athens, GA
706-542-GMOA
Susan Hauptman
The Georgia Museum of Art will present Susan Hauptman, from November 23, 1339, to January 9, 2000, in the George-Ann and Boone Knox Gallery of Prints and Drawings.
Susan Hauptman has held the Lamar Dodd Professorial Chair at the University of Georgia's Lamar Dodd School of Art since 1997. Her work, including large self-portraits and still lifes, has been exhibited throughout the country. This exhibition of four self-portraits and one still life celebrates the art she has made in the last decade.
Recently, self-portraits have constituted the largest part
of Hauptman's oeuvre. She draws herself as she sees herself in the mirror,
then adds seemingly unrelated, sometimes surreal, objects to create a collage
of images. Most of her work is executed in charcoal and pastel, with shades
of gray and muted colors. Hauptman's self-portraits resemble the introspection
seen in the work of artists such as Chuck Close, Hannah Wilkie and Frida
Kahlo. "Hauptman's self-portraits undermine the stereotypes of prettiness
they flaunt, yet they retain a charm that blunts the viewer's rejection,"
says Donald Keyes, curator of the exhibition. "Hauptman appears in
various guises and disguises and creates a persona that challenges the viewer
to look in a similar manner into his or her own self, transposing identities."
Although her work seems to be focused on introspection, Hauptman has included her husband, writer Leonard Post, as part of her portraiture. In Hauptman's Self-Portrait (1996-97), she seems to stand behind a fancy cut-out dress or tutu. Post appears outside the window, whistling to a dog that appears in mid-air. Similarly, Post's profile appears on a vase in Self-portrait on Display (1998). (left: Self-portrait on Display, 1998, charcoal on paper, 54 x 40 inches)
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