Babs Reingold | After Venus - Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg

“Muscularity equates with power, and men don’t want women to have that. Big, hard, round muscles generate a sexual disequilibrium that is very threatening.”

-- Laurie Fierstein, bodybuilder and curator, 1999

From 1990-1998, multidisciplinary artist Babs Reingold (American, b. Venezuela, 1954) delved into the world of women’s bodybuilding, finding a sense of empowerment in the chiseled bodies of female weightlifters which strikingly contrast the soft, curvilinear female ideals of the past. Reingold brings together appropriated art historical images, ancient fertility symbols, and the recent history of women’s bodybuilding to create a series that investigates the gendered power of muscularity. The series includes large-scale drawings, paintings, monotypes, and encaustic collages, many of which have never been publicly exhibited. At a time when human bodies are increasingly policed and regulated, After Venus unabashedly expresses a woman-centered strength that actively works against easy objectification.

The exhibition’s title draws inspiration from Upper Paleolithic-era “Venus” figurines that have been found throughout Europe and Asia. This notably includes the Venus of Willendorf (c. 30,000 BCE) discovered in 1908 in northern Austria. Accompanying After Venus will be select objects from the museum’s collection, examining the history of these diverse, enigmatic figures.

Reingold creates sculptures, drawings, and installations focusing on the environment, standards of beauty, and poverty. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Newark Museum, NJ; Museum of Fine Arts St Petersburg, FL; Burchfield Penney Art Center Museum, Buffalo, NY; Leepa Rattner Museum of Fine Art, Tarpon Springs FL; Hillsborough Community College, Tampa; and Savannah College of Art and Design, GA. Reingold has an MFA in painting from SUNY-Buffalo and BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art, and currently resides in St. Petersburg, Florida.