CANDACE COMPTON, I Would Like to Introduce Myself, n.d. [ca 1970-’75]
57,2 x 44,5 cm / 22.5 x 17.5 inches
offset, poster
published by The Woman’s Building, Los Angeles, USA
fine condition
extremely rare
p.o.r.
inv.CCom 000-pr

This poster depicts a pair of hands in various stages of putting on and taking off a black glove, with pieces of text introducing the artist:

‘I would like to introduce myself. My name is Candace Compton – Your name?’

‘I am an artist. I am really a very good one, quite sincere – Are you an artist? What kind of artist?’

‘I often forget to visit galleries or read art magazines – Are you involved in any sort of art community?’

‘So I wonder about artists and what they wonder about – What do you wonder about?’

‘My work, actually, is more about wondering about questioning than invention – What is your art about?’

‘My art is about me. It is about communication. It is about interchange

Please respond and mail to: Candace Compton c/o The Woman’s Bldg, 1727 No. Spring St. LA Calif. 90012′

In 1973 The Woman’s Building was founded by graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, art historian Arlene Raven and artist Judy Chicago (from left to right). In the same year they founded SFW / Feminist Studio Workshop.

Arlene Raven, Judy Chicago and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (from left to right).

‘It was a house large enough for everyone, all women, we claimed. It was Womanspace, Womanhouse, and the House of Women, “At Home,” Everywoman’s space, and Femme/ Maison. It was female space, safe space, sacred space, contested space, occupied space, appropriated space, and transformed space. It was revolution and revelation. We were squatters and proprietors, renegades and healers; we dichotomized and fused. We had one commonality: we were convinced that we were transforming culture by offering alternatives, as women, not only in the arts and culture, but also in the way we used space and conducted politics in that space. In its theory and praxis, the Los Angeles Woman’s Building, a material site for nearly two decades, appeared to epitomize much of what is sometimes referred to as second-wave feminism.’
Sondra Hale

The Woman’s Building was a public center for women’s culture in Los Angeles from 1973-1991, and housed the Feminist Studio Workshop, a two year program for women in the arts; the Women’s Graphic Center; galleries; performance space adjacent to a café and thrift store; Chrysalis: a Magazine of Women’s Culture; Sisterhood bookstore; a feminist travel agency, and the LAWVC / Los Angeles Women’s Video Center. The LAWVC was cofounded at the Woman’s Building by Nancy Angelo, Candace Compton, and Annette Hunt in 1976 and joined by Jerri Allyn in 1977. In the same year Candace Compton, Nancy Angelo, Cheri Gaulke and Laurel Klick founded the Feminist Art Workers, a collaborative performance art group doing performances in museums and busses. Later on Vanalyne Green joined the group.

Ref. 1
Lucy R. Lippard (forword) with authors: Terry Wolverton, Sondra Hale, Laura Meyer, including dialogue between Arlene Raven and Terry Wolverton, Betty Ann Brown, Michelle Moravec, Jennie Klein, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville/Bia Lowe, Cecilla Dougherty, Michele Kort and Theresa Chavez From Site to Vision – The Woman’s Building in Contemporary Culture
Ref. 2
Documentary on Feminist Art Workers founded in 1976.