Mother's Little Helper

Ana Teresa Fernandez is interested in clean lines and double standards. Her paintings tend to show mysterious women in short black dresses and pointy heels, performing housework with exaggerated gestures. One gracefully unclogs the toilet; another lunges to scour the bathtub. The result is a neat comment on the Sisyphean, never-ending nature of "women's work" and on society's well-documented yet never-diminishing expectations that women act as both sex toys and menial laborers. All of it is oddly calm, and it's especially interesting when she gives her women a task like sweeping the beach. This exhibit, "TelAranaTelAranaTelA," displays new work, some of it made after she won the Tournesol Award, aka the painter's dream vacation, a yearlong residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts. The show features live performances at the reception, video work, and new large-scale paintings. An opening reception for
July 11-Aug. 9, 2008