At aged 72, clad all in black and with messy hair, Judith Bernstein may not strike you as particularly political. But searching her name on Google rapidly proves otherwise: she is listed repeatedly as a feminist, psycho-sexual artist, with several references to her work being so erotic that it was censored. She was a founding member of A. I. R. Gallery, the first gallery devoted to showing female artists, and an early member of Guerrilla Girls, Art Workers’ Coalition and Fight Censorship. Bernstein’s oeuvres d’art sit at the intersection of pop, feminism and protest: it seems fitting that now, with the current resurgence of pro-female feeling, Mary Boone Gallery in New York is holding a major exhibition of her work.

Voyeur, curated by Piper Marshall, will feature pieces selected to highlight the way Bernstein confronts conservative gender politics with sexual aggression. The war-time phallus has been a recurring theme for the artist since 1964, but this exhibition in particular will focus on female genitalia, which Bernstein insists on calling the ‘angry cunt’: “I like to use that word. I like to rub it in…it takes the rawness away.” Works include Crying Cuntface, where the vagina is a head with horn-like cock eyes, and Quattro Cunt, a grid of four open faces shooting phallic-eyed glares at each other.

Voyeur at Mary Boone Gallery, from 7 May to 27 June.

maryboonegallery.com

Tags: Art, Feminism, Judith Bernstein