Lynda Benglis counts among the most important representatives of post war feminist art and is a renowned sculptor of biomorph abstraction.
Lynda Benglis was born at Lake Charles in Louisiana in 1941. At the age of 23 she completed her studies at Newcomb College (Bachelor of Fine Arts) and moved to New York in 1964.
She soon came in contact with artist circles, some ten years later Lynda Benglis had become quite popular: In 1974 she took out an ad for one of her exhibitions in the magazine "Artforum". Just as in a porno magazine her ad appeared as a "Centerfold" and showed the artist in a provocative nude pose with a huge dildo at her crotch. For 1974 this kind of as was nothing but a true scandal that would earn Lynda Benglis the desired attention from the male-dominated art scene.
Actual works by Lynda Benglis have little to do with pornographic content. Lynda Benglis predominantly makes organic-abstract sculptures that resemble congealed streams of lava. For her art she uses various materials such as rubber, wax and ceramics. The method of action painting in the style of Jackson Pollock also inspired Lynda Benglis to make, for instance, the colorful "floor paintings" of latex. Additionally, Lynda Benglis is active as video artist.
In the 21st century the oeuvre of Lynda Benglis is still of greatest relevance. Among contemporary American sculptors she occupies one of the front ranks. Numerous exhibitions over the past years deliver proof of Lynda Benglis' great importance: In late 2009 a large retrospective of Lynda Benglis was shown at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Dublin), the Consortium (Dijon), the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence) and the New Museum (New York).
Lynda Benglis lives and works in New York and Santa Fe.