‘Marilyn Minter brings her decades-long engagement with the cultural politics of feminism uniquely to life through her virtuosity as a painter and photographer. With an unflinching gaze and a sympathetic sense of humour, Minter lays bare the often ridiculous cultural norms we so often take for granted.’ The Louisiana-born artist’s unique appeal neatly summed up there by Catherine Morris, Sackler family curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
![Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty at Brooklyn Museum, New York](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseumsmall.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Big Girls, 1986
Enamel on canvas (2 panels): 80 x 90 in.
Collection of Bill Contente, New York
Located at the Brooklyn Museum, the centre is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and Minter’s first retrospective — Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty — is part of a year of activity marking that milestone. The tone is set for the singular artist’s work in a series of photographs that document her troubled mother’s demise; captured whilst still a student in Florida (where she was raised), the faded glamour of her drug-addicted parent is a starting point for various bodies of work, all touched by the contradictory perceptions of beauty and femininity.
Pop-inspired works of the mid-1980s, a pioneer of food porn (sometimes literally) in the early 1990s, and a keen observer of ‘bling culture’ in current times; each stylistic swerve rich in sexual appeal and a devious desire to challenge taboos. Visceral in her representation of fashion and beauty, brazen in her ability to capture desire in all of its rawness, Minter is now revered as a feminist icon where she was once reviled for a use of uncompromising pornographic imagery. A truly unique trailblazer, challenging social norms through photography, painting and video work, the New York-based artist is as vital now as she has been since her practice began at the end of the 1960s.
Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty continues at Brooklyn Museum until 2 April.
![Marilyn Minter, Blue Poles, 2007](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum2.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Blue Poles, 2007
Enamel on metal 60 x 72 in. (152.4 x 182.9 cm)
Private collection, London
![Marilyn Minter, Rouge Baiser](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum3.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Rouge Baiser, 1994
Enamel on metal 48 x 48 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York
![Marilyn Minter, Coral Ridge Towers (Mom Making Up)](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum4.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Coral Ridge Towers (Mom Making Up)
taken in 1969, printed in 1995
Gelatin silver photograph 16 x 20 in.
Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody
![Marilyn Minter, Orange Crush](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum5.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Orange Crush, 2009
Enamel on metal 108 x 180 in. (274.3 x 457.2 cm)
Collection of John and Amy Phelan
![Marilyn Minter, Vampire](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum6.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Vampire, 2004
Chromogenic photograph face mounted to plexi 86 x 60 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York
![Marilyn Minter, Armpit](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum7.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Armpit, 2006
Chromogenic photograph 40 x 30 in.
Courtesy of the artist, Salon 94, New York,
and Regen Projects, Los Angeles
![Marilyn Minter, Coral Ridge Towers (Mom Smoking)](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum8.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Coral Ridge Towers (Mom Smoking) taken in 1969, printed in 1995
Gelatin silver photograph 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody
![Marilyn Minter, Pop Rocks](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum9.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Pop Rocks, 2009
Enamel on metal 108 x 180 in.
Private Collection of Danielle and David Ganek
![Marilyn Minter, Green Pink Caviar](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum10.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Green Pink Caviar, 2009
HD digital video projection, 7 minutes 45 seconds
Courtesy of the artist, Salon 94, New York,
and Regen Projects, Los Angeles
![Marilyn Minter, Little Girls](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum11.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Little Girls #1, 1986
Enamel on canvas (3 panels): 68 x 86 in.
Collection of Jean-Olivier Despres, Paris
![Marilyn Minter, Clip](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum12.jpg)
Marilyn Minter, Clip, 2005
Enamel on metal 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm)
Collection of Gregory R. Miller and Michael Wiener, New York
![Marilyn Minter in her studio](https://www.we-heart.com/upload-images/marilynminterbrooklynmuseum13.jpg)
Marilyn Minter in her studio © Nadya Wasylko