A.I.R. Apparent — The Hudson Current, 1995
Janise Yntema’s recent work, “Variations” will be on display at A.I.R. Gallery at 40 Wooster Street in Manhattan. A. I. R. (Artists in Residence), an art collective run by women for women, that is the first of its kind in this country. It was formed in 1972 as a reaction to the lack of representation women artists were receiving in the galleries in Manhattan. A group of women artists took over an old machine shop on Wooster Street and transformed it into an art space whose goal was to show and promote high quality work by women and to promote a forum for feminist thought.
Offshoot organizations of A.I.R. include Heresies Magazine and Guerilla Girls. Guerilla Girls was established to 1985 to combat sexism and racism in the art world.
Yntema, who has shown her work extensively in the New York area, was asked to become a member in 1991. She has shown work in five group shows since then and this will be her second solo exhibition at the gallery. Yntema has been receiving more and more recognition for her moody almost romantic work. In 1993 she was included in both the Women’s Caucus for Art National Juried Exhibition in Oregon, and as a featured artist in the Whitney Museum’s Art Studio Tour. As she has in the past, Yntema integrates metal dust and shavings and other found objects that reflect the industrialness of her environment into the paintings and installations in “Variations”. A series of small paintings lean against the wall, attached to thin steel rods, elegant and frail, yet powerful. The larger paintings are done with authority and lack of affectation to a stunning effect. One wants to walk up and touch them to understand their power..