Opening the exhibition is a series of rarely seen drawings depicting Schneemann’s then partner, experimental composer James Tenney, and their cat Kitch. The couple’s creative investigations developed in parallel through their collaboration of over ten years, as exhibited here in works Personae: JT and Three Kitch's (1957) and J. & C. (1962), and culminated in the film Fuses (1963-65), an ode to feminine pleasure, heterosexual eroticism, and love. These early paintings and works on paper concurrently correspond to Schneemann’s experience teaching in Bennington, Vermont, and pursuing her Master of Fine Art at the University of Illinois, Urbana, from 1957 to 1961. During this period, Schneemann navigated the contradicting critiques given by her professors who exclaimed “Of course you can/Don’t you dare,” declaring the young artist’s depiction and activation of her own nude body—as seen in the Untitled (Self-portrait with Kitch) (1957)—as narcissistic, a criticism never levied on her male counterparts. Schneemann later proclaimed in her written statement about Fuses: “There were no aspects of love-making which I would avoid; as a painter I had never accepted the visual and tactile taboos concerning specific parts of the body.”

Brakhage connected Schneemann and Tenney with artist Joseph Cornell, whom Schneemann would later assist for a short period. During this time, Tenney and Schneemann also made important, generative visits to poet Charles Olson and musician Carl Ruggles. Many of the works presented in this exhibition explore Schneemann’s relationships to these male counterparts, or as the artist referred to them, “Art Stud Club.” The works Schneemann generated in tandem with and in opposition to these male peers were both positive and negative reflections; as she explained: “Works that I hate have also been inspirational; they helped me know exactly what I wasn’t going to do. Some of my anti-influences have been contemporary works not considered reactionary in any way, or at least not in the time of their realization.”

Schneemann did no such thing. That same year, Schneemann activated her painting constructions in her iconic series Eye Body: 36 Transformative Actions for the Camera with her friend Erró behind the camera. Her ensuing art career continued to be riddled with censorship, which both stymied and stimulated her deconstruction of patriarchal conventions for the next four decades – leaving the next generation a new path to traverse.