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The Arts Intel Report

Betye Saar: Serious Moonlight

Betye Saar, Oasis, 1984.

Feb 25 – July 18, 2023
Europapl. 1, 6002 Luzern, Switzerland

“I’m the kind of person who recycles materials,” says the assemblage artist Betye Saar, “but I also recycle emotions and feelings.” Saar’s art—found objects arranged in frames, boxes, and tableaux—can seem as homespun as a folktale, but the tale she tells is shadowed by racial and sexual oppression. In 1972, Saar made her first politically explicit assemblage, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, which saw the mammy caricature armed with a rifle. Her work is powerful and beautiful. This exhibition focuses on Saar’s radical installations, and includes a selection of other important works. —Elena Clavarino

Photo courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, L.A.