Documenting the fluctuating states of turmoil and euphoria women often encounter since her 20s, artist Vivienne Boucherat‘s compiled several decades worth of her mixed media “madwomen”—Bad Hair Days, External Fears, Internal Fears, Self Medication—into “Know Your Crazy.”
“They felt like these little mad women running round and round in my head with nowhere to go,” says Boucherat, “so I had to draw them to get them out and get a different perspective on them.”
Using multimedia collages, monoprints, cutouts, and drawings in pencil, watercolors, inks, and oil pastels, each sketch, printed on museum-quality, archival paper, originates from Boucherat’s own feminine point of view, yet reflect real-life insecurities, anxieties, and misfortunate—even more joie de vivre and motivational pieces—regardless of sex. Throughout “Know Your Crazy,” Boucherat’s misshapen figures are depicted in various conditions: Not Measuring Up, Captivation, Overwhelm, Isolation, Old Bat, Cougar, Sometimes You Just Can’t Breath, Passions.
“I personally believe crazy is good,” says Boucherat. “It’s necessary. I’m a little bit crazy. I know it’s a bit of a contentious word, but it’s not meant to be derogatory. You can see if your problems are actually problems, or if they’re just something that you can laugh at, get help for, or just laugh at yourself.”
Tina Eves 