Approach-Avoidance

The dual figure Approach-Avoidance series represents the deepest level of Judith’s feminist investigations. She drew from the same model, Cynthia Amendt, setting the poses from her own body knowledge. The charged relationship between the two figures, in which there is openness and withdrawal, expansion and containment, can be read in multiple ways, physically, psychologically, culturally, as aspects of the self, as self and other. The drawings are charcoal pencil on paper, most 30”hx40” but several (#20-#23) significantly larger. Judith said these larger drawings “danced out of me.”

Approach-Avoidance #1, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Private Collection
Approach-Avoidance #1, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Private Collection
Approach-Avoidance #2, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40
Approach-Avoidance #2, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40
Approach-Avoidance #3, 1982, charcoal pencil 30"h x 40
Approach-Avoidance #3, 1982, charcoal pencil 30"h x 40
Approach-Avoidance #4, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Bethel University, Arden Hills, Minnesota
Approach-Avoidance #4, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Bethel University, Arden Hills, Minnesota
Approach-Avoidance #5, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Private Collection
Approach-Avoidance #5, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Private Collection
Approach-Avoidance #6, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Stanley Museum, University of Iowa
Approach-Avoidance #6, 1982, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Stanley Museum, University of Iowa
Approach-Avoidance #7, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Private Collection
Approach-Avoidance #7, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Private Collection
Approach-Avoidance #8, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40
Approach-Avoidance #8, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40
Approach-Avoidance #9, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf College
Approach-Avoidance #9, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf College
Approach-Avoidance #10, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Bethel University, Arden Hills, Minnesota
Approach-Avoidance #10, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Bethel University, Arden Hills, Minnesota
Approach-Avoidance #11, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40. Collection Minnesota Historical Society.
Approach-Avoidance #11, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40. Collection Minnesota Historical Society.
Approach-Avoidance #12, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40
Approach-Avoidance #12, 1984, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40
Approach-Avoidance #13, nd, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art
Approach-Avoidance #13, nd, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art
Approach-Avoidance #14, 1986, charcoal pencil and charcoal lead, 39.5"h x 49. Collection of the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN.
Approach-Avoidance #14, 1986, charcoal pencil and charcoal lead, 39.5"h x 49. Collection of the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN.
Approach-Avoidance #15, 1984-1986, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Grinnell College Museum of Art
Approach-Avoidance #15, 1984-1986, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Grinnell College Museum of Art
Approach-Avoidance #16, 1986, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf College
Approach-Avoidance #16, 1986, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf College
Approach-Avoidance #17, 1986, Charcoal Pencil and Charcoal Lead, 30"h x 40, Collection Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Approach-Avoidance #17, 1986, Charcoal Pencil and Charcoal Lead, 30"h x 40, Collection Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Approach-Avoidance #18, 1986, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Bethel University, Arden Hills, MN
Approach-Avoidance #18, 1986, charcoal pencil, 30"h x 40, Collection Bethel University, Arden Hills, MN
Approach-Avoidance #19, 1986, charcoal, 42"h x 56
Approach-Avoidance #19, 1986, charcoal, 42"h x 56
Approach-Avoidance #20, 1986, lithograph (edition 33), WARM/Jerome Print Project, LandMark Editions, 30” h x 42.5”, Collection Walker Art Center and Stanley Museum, University of Iowa
Approach-Avoidance #20, 1986, lithograph (edition 33), WARM/Jerome Print Project, LandMark Editions, 30” h x 42.5”, Collection Walker Art Center and Stanley Museum, University of Iowa
Approach-Avoidance #21, 1986, black pastel, 62"h x 85, Collection North Dakota Museum of Art
Approach-Avoidance #21, 1986, black pastel, 62"h x 85, Collection North Dakota Museum of Art
Approach-Avoidance #22, 1986, black pastel, 59"h x 96, Collection Minnesota Museum of American Art
Approach-Avoidance #22, 1986, black pastel, 59"h x 96, Collection Minnesota Museum of American Art
Approach-Avoidance #23, 1987, black pastel, 68"h x 103
Approach-Avoidance #23, 1987, black pastel, 68"h x 103
Dark Guardian, 1988-89 Oil Stick, 29.25”h x 43.5”
Dark Guardian, 1988-89 Oil Stick, 29.25”h x 43.5”
Guardian Spirit, 1989 Oil paint, oil stick and oil pastel 37” h x 51” framed Collection of the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN
Guardian Spirit, 1989 Oil paint, oil stick and oil pastel 37” h x 51” framed Collection of the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN