Rebecca Warren's 'Feelings' at Matthew Marks Gallery Explores Sculptural Heritage and Gender

Rebecca Warren's exhibition 'Feelings' ran from September 10 to October 24 at Matthew Marks Gallery in New York City, located at 522 West 22 Street between 10th and 11th avenues. The show featured a mix of abstract steel compositions and unfired clay figurative sculptures, creating a dialogue between cool restraint and provocative forms. Warren's work references male predecessors like Anthony Caro, Richard Serra, R. Crumb, Picasso, Giacometti, and David Smith, using irony and appropriation to distance herself from mere mimicry. The clay figures exaggerate feminine curves, reducing the female body to fetishized parts with shrunken, phallic-like heads, challenging traditions of the female nude in art. Steel pieces include small fuzzy pompoms as ironic gestures, questioning Warren's position within sculptural history and her role as a female artist. The exhibition explores conflicts between abstraction and figuration, with Warren grappling with how to contribute new work while standing in the shadow of past masters. Her approach combines whimsy and disturbance, pushing artistic representation to absurd extremes while acknowledging her heritage. The show's title hints at intense, conflicting emotions underlying the sculptural investigations.