For this exhibit, Brandt selected contemporaryartists to use the trademark Kate Brandt Pink (KBP) while addressing topics ofclass, gender, power and race, among others. The pieces respond to Klein’s blueand his work in 1950s and ’60s Parisin which nude female models covered their bodies in IKB to become livingbrushes by rolling on large canvases.
It could be argued that fashion designer ElsaSchiaparelli first used pink to embrace both the masculine and feminine withher 1930s couture and its use of outrageous pink. But it is Kate Brandt Pinkthat dominates the Union Art Gallery’stall, deep space through installations, paintings, photographs, prints,sculptures and videos.
As an artist, Brandt infuses her signature colorinto digital photography that dramatizes color contrasts in prints like KBP Campbell’s Soup Cans and KBP Spiral Jetty. While Andy Warhol’sfamous red labels are playful in pink in Brandt’s KBP Campbell’s Soup Cans, Robert Smithson’s giant pink spiralappears incongruent to the landscape in KBPSpiral Jetty. Both works show that color indeed changes a subject’s contextand the viewer’s perception.
In the UWM exhibit, Anna Helgeson’s photographicessay titled Whitey Goes Pinkportrays her as a character with a mime-white face and imperial white wig. Thecharacter is receiving a pedicure in which toenails are painted KBP. Theartwork provokes thoughts on identity, race and gender. Will a particular colorgive a positive or negative identity to the public? For example, a pale pinkribbon now symbolizes breast cancer awareness.
Additional artists use KBP in a variety of ways,including a hand-stitched cross (Franko B), a multimedia wall hanging featuringplastic crabs in organic and decorative patterns (Cassandra Smith) and a videotribute to blushing and its numerous connotations (Richard Mutz).
On opening night, Brandt filled a KBP wall at thegallery’s east end with spontaneous remarks written on white paper. Anindividual might wear KBP, or choose to, as Brandt exclaims on one poster,“Swim it! Eat it! Live it! Love it!” Regardless, the color evokes strongemotions and opinionsespecially in the Midwest,where one imagines replacing a safe, comforting beige world with a strong KBPstatement about identity and society.
“Kate Brandt Pink” continues through April 2.
