you can't be so sophisticated
but even modest ambition came at a price. [lee] bontecou felt "squeamish," she said, at suggestions by castelli that she alter her work to make it more saleable and rejected interpretations that seemed to turn her into an "assemblage artist" or, much later, a feminist symbol. when she shifted gears in the late 1960's and began to mold fish and floral forms out of plastic—work that now looks lyrical and innovative, not to mention political—critics were nonplused that their favorite freudian futurist had become a flower child.
that response reveals her deeper rift with the art world. it is a matter of sensibility. "when i told people that my favorite museum in new york was the american museum of natural history, their eyes would glaze over," ms. bontecou says with annoyance. "you can't be so sophisticated or you just dry up."
- lyle rexer, "lee bontecou returns from her faraway planet," new york times october 5, 2003
posted October 05, 2003 in art, print