“Styling Identities: Hair’s Tangled Histories” is one of the headiest, hairiest, neatly styled art exhibitions that the Wadsworth Atheneum has sprouted in years.
If it were just a selection of paintings by well-known artists with hair grooming themes, that would be plenty. Works by John Sloan (“Hairdresser’s Window,” a famous American “ashcan school” dose of street realism from 1907 New York), Cindy Sherman (“Untitled #112,” in which the cinematic self-portrait highlight a cropped brunette hairstyle), Lee Krasner (a gentle self-portrait painting from the early 1930s) and 18th century cartoonist Matthew Darly (“A macaroni dressing room,” in which a flamboyant gentleman requires bags of powder and jewelry to become fashionable) are hard to tear yourself away from.
Andrew Wyeth, Carrie Mae Weem and Christopher Makos (namely his photos of a wigged Andy Warhol) are also represented. As are some mythic ancient hair icons like Medusa, though Rapunzel is conspicuously absent.
“Styling Identities” recognizes that hair is a living, breathing, community-building thing. Hartford looms large in this sweeping tapestry of art, culture, commerce and grooming. Local artists helped curate aspects of the show and contributed to a paperback “zine” that further explores the wonders of hair and hairstyling. Packed with poetry, philosophy, illustrations and styling tips, the well-designed zine is available for purchase in the Wadsworth gift shop and is perfect reading for when your hair is drying.
The grandest expression of contemporary local hair ideas in “Styling Identities” is a series of videos by Hartford-based filmmaker Pedro Bermúdez. Some of Bermúdez’s images of Hartford residents are projected silently, while others contain voluble subjects openly discussing hairstyles, beards and more, often from a social or religious perspective.
“Styling Identities” also sees the tools of hairstyling as artistic objects. An array of razors, hair dryers, combs and other implements are displayed in glass cases. A vintage permanent wave machine from the 1920s stands near a re-creation of a neighborhood barbershop/salon. Among the more museum-type items are a Black Power “Afro-Pick” from the 1970s and a “Polar Cub” hair dryer manufactured by the A.C. Gilbert company in New Haven.
There’s even a case devoted to the bizarre yet beautiful and finely detailed practice of making jewelry out of woven hair.
In some cases, art and the art of hair care blur, as with Puerto Rican artist Pepón Osorio’s elaborately tricked-up and pimped-out barber chair. Part of a larger installation called “En la barberia, no se llora (no crying allowed in the barbershop)” Osorio created in 1994, the chair is covered in red velvet, lace, leaves, baseball, medals and a small television.
“Styling Identities: Hair’s Tangled Histories” is the sort of art exhibit that makes you see things differently, or perhaps for the first time.
The exhibit was co-curated by representatives of many different departments at the Wadsworth as well as The Amistad Center for Art & Culture and a community advisory board. Nearly 20 different individuals or institutions (among them some local salons) are credited with creating the exhibit.
Special events related to the exhibit include demonstrations of hair braiding (April 7), hair texture (April 13), hair cutting (May 11), turban tying (June 2), dreadlocks (June 8), wig styling (June 30), more hair cutting (July 13) and hair jewelry (Aug. 10 and 11). There is a lecture by artist Sonya Clark, who has used hair as a theme in her work, on April 11, a “Hair Tales” family activity on April 13 and screenings of the films “Manscaping” and “Swan Song” as a double feature June 7 and 8, the work-in-progress “Tribal Strands” (July 20) and the 2004 documentary “The Beauty Academy of Kabul” Aug. 1-4. There’s also a smartphone-based mobile tour and other online enhancements.
Where there’s hair, there’s art. You may never stare in a mirror the same way again.
“Styling Identities: Hair’s Tangled Histories” is up through Aug. 11 at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main St., Hartford. Visiting hours are Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Museum admission is $20, $15 for seniors, $10 for students and free for those under age 17 and all Hartford residents. thewadsworth.org.
