Canon in Drag imagines a fictional Western art canon that evolved outside of the patriarchy. It includes a series of paintings in the style of iconic works, subverted through gender flipping and altered narratives, that are described in the voice of fictional art historians. These form the basis of a museum style exhibition, accompanied by an exhibition catalog in the vein of an art history survey book.
Installation view, Slag Gallery, NY
The Menarche (After Velázquez), 72”x84”, oil on canvas, 2022
Mother Severing the Umbilical Cord (After Goya), 13”x21”, gouache on paper, 2021
Origin of the World (After Courbet), 6”x8”, gouache on paper, 2020
The Anatomy Lesson of Louise Bourgeois Boursier (After Rembrandt), 34”x42”, gouache on paper, 2021
Orgasmic Birth of Mrs. Arnolfini (After Jan van Eyck), 17”x26”, gouache on paper, 2020
The Nativity (After Petrus Christus), 36”x42”, gouache on paper, 2021
Born This Way (After Michelangelo), 42"x32", gouache on paper, 2020
The Birth of Venus Barbata (After Sandro Botticelli), 42”x32”, gouache on paper, 2020
Miracle of the Menstruating Martyr (After Rogier Van Der Weyden), 26”x28”, gouache on paper, 2021
Homo Lunae or Human of the Moon (After St. Hildegard of Bingen), 17”x21”, gouache on paper, 2022
Fragment of Orgasm Stele of Inanna (After Matisse), 24”x32”, oil on canvas, 2023
Sacred Orgasm of Inanna (After Titian), 24”x32”, oil on canvas, 2023
Sacred Orgasm of Inanna (After Titian), 24”x32”, oil on canvas, 2023, (detail)
Sacred Orgasm of Inanna (After Titian), 24”x32”, oil on canvas, 2023, (detail)
Ironing Man (After Picasso), 6”x10”, gouache on paper, 2021
Origin of the Milky Way (After Rubens), 18”x24”, gouache on paper, 2020
Virgin and Child with Saint Hanan and Saint Johanna the Baptist (After Leonardo da Vinci), 24”x32”, oil on canvas, 2023
The Quilters (After Paul Cézanne), 26”x36”, gouache on paper, 2021
Baubo and Demeter (After El Greco), 24”x32”, oil on canvas 2023
Painting, Smoking, Gestating (After Philip Guston), 24”x30”, oil on linen, 2021
Amphora with Orgasmic Birth, 26"x22", gouache on paper, 2020
The Adult Playhouse of Avignon (After Picasso), 60”x84”, oil on canvas, 2022
Entrained (After Venus of Willendorf), 11x14, oil on linen, 2022
Installation view, Galerie RX&SLAG, Paris (Photo credit Théo Pitout)
ARTNews, Canon in Drag: Female Artists Reimagine Famous Works by Men, Karen Chernick, December 26, 2023
The Brooklyn Rail, Tirtzah Bassel: Canon in Drag, Christopher T. Richards, November 2022
BBC Radio 4: Front Row, Artist Tirtzah Bassel's Canon in Drag reimagines art history without the patriachy, July 20th, 2021
The Art Newspaper, Canon in drag: Tirtzah Bassel reimagines art history without the patriarchy, Chernick, Karen, July 7th, 2021
Lilith Magazine, Artist Tirtzah Bassel’s Female Gaze, Susan Schnur, November 15th, 2021
THE EXHIBITION CATALOG is written in the vein of an art history survey book, narrated in the voice of fictional art historians.