Aziz Art January 2019

"I love you" repeatedly to her
mother, despite infidelity.
"He was the wolf, and she was the
rational hare, forgiving and
accepting him as he was.
"Her 1993 work "Cell: You Better
Grow Up", part of her "Cell"
series, speaks directly to Louise's
childhood trauma and the
insecurity that surrounded her.
2002's "Give or Take" is defined by
hidden emotion, representing the
intense dilemma that people face
throughout their lives as they
attempt to balance the actions of
giving and taking. This dilemma is
not only represented by the shape
of the sculpture, but also the
heaviness of the material this
piece is made of.
Architecture and memory are
important components of
Bourgeois's work. In numerous
interviews, Louise describes
architecture as a visual expression
of memory, or memory as a type
of architecture. The memory
which is featured in much of her
work is an invented memory -
about the death or exorcism of
her father. The imagined memory is
interwoven with her real memories
including living across from a
slaughterhouse and her father's
affair. To Louise her father
represented injury and war,
aggrandizement of himself and
belittlement of others and most
importantly a man who
represented betrayal. Her 1993
work "Cell (Three White Marble
Spheres)" speaks to fear and
captivity. The mirrors within the
present an altered and distorted
reality.
Sexuality is undoubtedly one of the
most important themes in the work
of Louise Bourgeois. The link
between sexuality and fragility or
insecurity is also powerful. It has
been argued that this stems from
her childhood memories and her
father's affairs. 1952's "Spiral
Woman" combines Louise's focus
on female sexuality and torture.
The flexing leg and arm muscles
indicate that the Spiral Woman is
still above though she is being
suffocated and hung. 1995's "In
and Out" uses cold metal materials
to link sexuality with anger and
perhaps even captivity.