femininity – femininiation 1984 & 2011

Typed computer version 2007, German poem 2011

Etching (29 cm width x 37 cm height, framed: 43 cm width x 51 cm height) and poem, English and German version, unpublished

Poster: height 85 cm x width 60 cm

2011, Ury created visual images of 17 concrete poems, to be presented online and as print versions (23.5 x 32.45 cm), digital image processing Mirco Sanftleben, two of these poems being femi­ninity and femi­nini­a­tion, the rest being part of the series cement, weißer neger (white nigger), concrete party & oral call, cross word, toned poems, two toned, pommes, taste of space, leeres archiv.

This poem dedi­cated to Tanya Ury’s sister Nini, whose name is contained in the word femi­ninity, first saw life as an etching and early student work of the artist when she commenced her BA HONS in Fine Art studies in 1984, as a mature student. 

The written (and etched) form of the poem is that of a fan. The poem itself is an allit­er­a­tive medi­ta­tion on the letter and sound of ​“f” (and ​“ph”).

femi­nini­a­tion, a German poem written in the form of a fan was completed in 2011. The poem is an allit­er­a­tive medi­ta­tion on the letter and sound of ​“f” (“pf“/“v“ and ​“ph”)

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In its style and inten­tion the concrete poetry is a collec­tion of jumbled, abstract ideas that reflect the day-to-day life and mood of the artist. Above all, it is impro­vised and written down imme­di­ately — in essence it is auto­matic writing.

Tanya Ury’s written poetry may be regarded as ​“concrete” because of its visual design, and uncon­ven­tional aural effect when spoken — the texts thereby gain in dimen­sion beyond accepted meaning.

Ury has also created other artworks that might be consid­ered visual poetry. Moving Message 1992, incor­po­rates an LED sign displaying the words: you are why; Sonata in Sea 1999 – 2000 is a photo series combined with poetry and wrestle­with­y­ourangel 2001, is a neon sign produced together with the neon sign neonazi 2001; the title of a double photo portrait lesser is me more or less 2003 plays on the name of the German Post-Impres­sionist Lesser Ury, as does the title of a further double portrait or else 2007, which refers to the German writer Else Ury. The title of a third photo-portrait Beelze­bu­larin 2005 (in the Promised Land series) reveals itself to be an anagram of the biblical Bezalel Ben Uri. half dimen­sional — semi detached 2010, combines the first of the half dimen­sional poems with the photo­graph semi detached.

concrete – a collec­tion of works (including poetry series) 

Presen­ta­tion

2012 (11.6) Tanya Ury is the featured artist with new works in the June edition online of Imag­i­na­tions: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies, Univer­sity of Alberta, Canada, with Videos: Inti­macy, cement & dark room; a series of 17 concrete poems, the photo­graph Alibi­jude, Selec­tion from the Who’s Boss series, and 8 photos from Soul Brothers & Sisters, also 3 photos of Occupy in Stras­bourg, from the Fading into the Fore­ground series; further­more 5 toned poems (sounds, music and sound mix Kasander Nilist) and a peer review inter­view (text and Skype video) with Claude Desmarais, (CA)
www​.csj​.ualberta​.ca/im…

2013 (11.7. – 7.9) ​“Righting the Image” — The Liter­a­ture Collec­tion in Cologne (LiK) and the Cologne City Library, present an exhi­bi­tion of Tanya Ury’s work including femi­ninity & femi­nini­a­tion.

Collec­tions

1984 Etching (29 cm width x 37 cm height, framed: 43 cm width x 51 cm height) in private collec­tion Nini Ury, Vancouver (CA) 

2014 femi­ninity, poster (height 85 cm x width 60 cm) in private collec­tion Reem Akl, Beirut (LB) 

2014 femi­ninity, poster (height 85 cm x width 60 cm) in private collec­tion Nini Ury, Vancouver (CA)

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