Judy Ledgerwood
American, born 1959
So What
INV-1527
Judy Ledgerwood
American, born 19591998
oil on canvaspainting
Date
1998
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
243.8 × 274.3 cm (96 × 108 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Armstrong Prize Fund
Judy Ledgerwood paints monumental abstractions that explore both the perceptual effects and the politics of color, luminosity, pattern, and scale. Early on Ledgerwood turned to traditionally “feminine” pastels and decorative forms in order to challenge the stereotypes of gendered approaches to painting: “I wanted to find a way to try to push the notion of what is feminine, and what is powerful in painting,” the artist has explained.
Ledgerwood borrowed this work’s title, So What, from a 1959 “cool period” jazz composition by Miles Davis. Made during winter, the painting features pale colors evocative of the season and at first appears quiet and serene. Yet sustained looking reveals subtle modulations in the blue-green, yellow, and white circles, which recede and advance in complex alternation across the work’s surface.
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