I have known her for a long time, as I had the chance to see her spiders in Paris a while ago. I knew her, but I never really knew who she was and what was her process. One recent evening I decided to dig in and dive into her world: what I found amazed me.
There are so many things from her life I can relate to, amongst others her complex relationship to her father and her interest in psychoanalysis. If you understand French, watch this documentary shot mostly in her Brooklyn studio before her big exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1993. She explains all the "cells" she created for the exhibition telling how they explore feelings she carries since her childhood.
There are so many things from her life I can relate to, amongst others her complex relationship to her father and her interest in psychoanalysis. If you understand French, watch this documentary shot mostly in her Brooklyn studio before her big exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1993. She explains all the "cells" she created for the exhibition telling how they explore feelings she carries since her childhood.
There is also the documentary Louise Bourgeois The Spider, The Mistress and The Tangerine that is a must see. We get to know more on her family history and her relationship with her sons, how her anxiety impacted her social live and most importantly her art.
I dug a bit more and found the book The Return of the Repressed. One of the most beautiful publication I saw recently. The first volume is a collection of essays written by psychoanalysts who explored her notes and writings. I will soon write more on this and share quotes.
The books "show the enduring presence of psychoanalysis as a motivational force and a site of exploration in her life and work. Selected and edited by Philip Larratt-Smith, her literary archivist, these texts provide a comprehensive overview and re-reading covering 60 years of artistic production. The second volume in this gorgeous set also serves as an impressive and up-to-date monograph, detailing works up until the artist's death in 2010".
If you are in New York City before December 14th 2014, three of her pieces are on display at the Drawing Center's Thread Lines exhibition. They explore her relationship to her mother and femininity. The way she used striped textile from clothes to create a spider wed is so simple but so strong in meaning. “Clothing is… an exercise of memory… It makes me explore the past… how did I feel when I wore that…”
I will soon write more about her and share quotes from the book.