Hair and now …
Gladys Nilsson was a member of the Hairy Who, six graduates who made Chicago’s art scene hot and edgy in the late 1960s. Meshing art history with comic books, advertising, music, circus and street life, their bold, graphic paintings and drawings conjure trippy, sexy, satirical scenes in step with an era that saw the rise of the women’s movement and the underground press.
Getting lippy …
A Cold Mouth from 1968 is a riotous Boschian psychosexual comedy, typical of Nilsson’s work in its crowded, erotic polymorphous figures. Mouths are never just mouths; orifices have teeth, resemble grabbing mitts or eyes.
Pinball wizard …
Nilsson is best known as a watercolourist but this is a rare creation on Plexiglass, inspired by its use in pinball machines. Creating the painting involved layering colour in reverse order to the underside.
Everyday heroes …
Drawing on her blue-collar background, Nilsson is interested in the achievements of ordinary life, “celebrating little victories” as she put it.
Included in How Chicago! Imagists 1960s & 70s, Goldsmiths CCA, SE14, to 26 May
