She-Bam Pow POP Wizz ! The Amazons of POP

The exhibition is extended until August 29

She-Bam Pow POP Wizz !
The Amazons of POP
(3rd October 2020 - 28th March 2021)

In the early 1960’s, paper heroines emerge from the comics plates to explore a forbidden world. Their names are Barbarella, Jodelle, Pravda la survireuse (Pravda the motorized survivor)… They are free, powerful and sensual such as the Amazons. Born out of a teenage culture, they emboy a new ideal that will be the starting point for an unprecedented social and sexual revolution.

Besides these paper representations, other heroines, very real ones, take a part in the invention of a new artistic language – undoubtedly the most popular one of the second half of the 20th century: the Pop Art. Their works, like comic books, are full of vibrant rainbow colours. Through various ways, they envision a different world, with dreamed forms and bet on the construction of a better world rather than on an artificial amnesia of the dark hours of the past. Until 1973, the progressive future seem reachable (sexual emancipation, social rights, pacifism, extraterrestrial imaginations, etc.), and their works proclaim it: Love is All We Need! However, the artists are fully aware of the obstacles that litter this time capsule from 1961 to 1973, particularly with the imperialist wars, geopolitical polarities, the frantic race for consumption, etc. In this sense, the Amazons of Pop become complex, creaky … and tinged with raging humour.

For the first time on this scale, She-Bam Pow POP Wizz! tells us the open story of a generation of European and North American women who contributed with bold and flamboyance, to a less famous side of international Pop Art. For MAMAC 30th anniversary, this exhibition highlights a major axis of its collection – the face to face between New Realism and Pop Art – and one of its charismatic figures: the Franco-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle. In her wake, it is the essential contribution of female artists to Pop Art history that is shown here.

1.200 m². Nearly 40 international artists from Europe and the United States.

165 works (installations, paintings, sculptures, films, assemblages, etc.) and archives from amongst other: Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Centre Pompidou, Paris - Musée national d’art moderne/centre de création industrielle, TATE (London), Ixelles Museum, Mu.ZEE Ostende, Niki Charitable Art Foundation (San Diego), Nicola L. Studio (Los Angeles), Kiki Kogelnik Foundation (Vienna), Evelyn Axell Estate (Belgium), Galerie Air de Paris (Paris), Georges-Philippe and Nathalie Vallois Gallery (Paris), Galerie Serroussi (Paris), Fritelli Arte Contemporanea (Florence), Punto Gallery (Valencia), Fondation Gandur pour l’Art (Switzerland), Nagel Draxler Gallery (Berlin), CFA Galerie (Berlin), Garth Greenan Gallery (New York), Albertz benda Gallery (New York), Pavel Zoubok Gallery (New York), and many others…

List of artists and amazons: Évelyne AXELL, Brigitte BARDOT, Marion BARUCH, Pauline BOTY, Martine CANNEEL, Lourdes CASTRO, Judy CHICAGO, Sister CORITA Kent, France CRISTINI, Christa DICHGANS, Rosalyn DREXLER, Jane FONDA, Ruth FRANCKEN, Giosetta FIORONI, Ángela GARCÍA, Jann HAWORTH, Dorothy IANNONE, Jacqueline DE JONG, Kiki KOGELNIK, Kay KURT, Nicola L, Natalia LL, Ketty LA ROCCA, Milvia MAGLIONE, Marie MENKEN, Lucia MARCUCCI, Louise NEVELSON, Isabel OLIVER, Yoko ONO, Ulrike OTTINGER, Martha ROSLER, Niki de SAINT PHALLE, Carolee SCHNEEMANN, Marjorie STRIDER, STURTEVANT, Hannah WILKE, May WILSON, etc.

Exhibition curators:
Hélène Guenin, Director of the MAMAC, Nice
Géraldine Gourbe, philosopher, art critic and curator

"This exhibition is recognised as being of national interest by the Ministry of Culture. As such, it benefits from exceptional financial support from the State."