{"data":{"id":"12171","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":12171,"topgoose_id":2815,"tms_id":12171,"display_name":"Judith Bernstein","sort_name":"Bernstein Judith","display_date":"1942–","begin_date":"1942","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eWhile Judith Bernstein was an art student\nat Yale University during the Vietnam\nWar, she adopted the image of the phallus\nas a central motif in her work, based in\npart on graffiti she found in men’s bathrooms\non campus. She was attracted to the bold\ndefiance of graffiti and to the masculine\npompousness of tagging property with\nimages of genitalia. In her drawings\nshe transformed penises into guns, caped\nsuperheroes, giant screws, and flagpoles.\nIn an era when many feminist artists were\nlooking at their own bodies for subject\nmatter, Bernstein’s virile, in-your-face phallus\ndrawings were shocking. By forcing the\nmale administration to address and accredit\nthese works, Bernstein challenged the\nmasculine culture that dominated Yale.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/36758\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eVietnam Garden\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e is one of a series of\nantiwar drawings that attacked the macho\nmilitarism of US foreign policy during the\nwar. A group of erect phalluses capped with\nAmerican flags rises up from the crest of\na hill; a cross on one and a Star of David on\nanother suggest that they are stand-ins\nfor tombstones, with the steel-wool\npubic hair covering their bases recalling\nflowers or plants left by mourners. This\noil-stick-and-charcoal drawing retains the\ninformal style and belligerence of the\nbathroom graffiti. Describing the use of\nhumor in her work to address political issues,\nBernstein has said: “When something is\nfunny, you laugh. . . . It’s almost like an\nejaculation, so you get a release by laughing\nat it, by laughing with the viewer when\nyou see it; but it’s dead serious.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":false,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500033808","wikidata_id":"Q16105971","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:36:46.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-31T07:00:46.613-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/12171/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/12171/exhibitions"}}}}