‘Frauenhaus’ – Artist Talk with Joan Cox (2020)

Video (52:08): Artist talk – Catalyst Contemporary presents ‘Frauenhaus’, an exhibition showcasing the work of Baltimore painter, Joan Cox, whose vibrant, textural and richly painted works validate the presence of dynamic, complex, sensual, sexual and loving relationships between women, giving warrant to their permissibility.

‘The German term frauenhaus traditionally refers to a womens’ house and place of refuge. Within Cox’s real and imagined pairings – some taken from the lives of women in her own life, the “womens’ house” is redefined and extended to include a place of balance and acceptance, normalization, and shared female experiences, a meaningful and purposeful description originating from Cox’s own stay at the “Frauenhaus” in Berlin, a Lesbian-specific bed and breakfast, followed by her participation at a 2009 artist residency held in Traunkirchen, Austria. Moving beyond the conceptual aspects of the title, the gallery itself is transformed into a sanctuary in which the intimate relationships of female lovers is unremarkable and where viewers can envision the potential mundanity of these domestic lives. ‘Frauenhaus’ seeks to create a space carved out specifically for these relationships in an effort to normalize, acknowledge, and elevate both societal and viewer acceptance that a woman may love another woman.’ – Catalyst Contemporary

Exhibition:
Joan Cox: Frauenhaus at Catalyst Contemporary
523 N Charles Street, Baltimore, 21201, USA
November 14th, 2019 – January 11th, 2020
CURATED by Liz Faust and Brian Miller

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