Greer Lankton on Film

Greer Lankton on Film
June 6, 2019, 6-8 PM
$20/$15 MF Members & Students
Members: Email members@mattress.org for discount code.
Students: Present valid student ID at check-in.

Get a rare glimpse of a creative icon:  Join us for an evening celebrating the life and works of Greer Lankton, featuring 11 never-before-screened short films by the artist and remarks from Margery King, the curator of the Greer Lankton Archive exhibition.  

Part of the Mattress Factory’s Greer Lankton Archive, the films provide an intimate look into Lankton’s early private life. Among the films are footage from a family Christmas, candid interactions with friends and stop-motion animations of her famed dolls. When viewed in conjunction with the archival materials on display, the films offer a more complete picture of one of the most influential creators in the East Village art scene of the 1980s.

Curator Margery King will speak about Lankton’s life and works to add context to the films.  The event will also showcase some of the Mattress Factory’s archival pieces not currently on display. Drinks and light bites will be provided.

The films will be on display in the museum lobby, June 4-9, and will be free to view with museum admission.

*Some films contain strong sexual content and may not be appropriate for children.

Parking is available at 1300 Brighton Road. Handicap accessible parking is available at 505 Jacksonia Street.

About Greer Lankton

Greer Lankton (1958-1996) was an American artist whose work is autobiographical and revealing of her obsessions. Lankton's dolls and environments possess a disarming mix of innocence and decadence, hope and pathos. She said her work was "all about me," reflecting her life as an artist, as a transgender person and a drug addict. But beyond this, and as an outsider, Lankton eloquently explored and questioned the norms of gender and sexuality, as well as the powerful imagery of popular culture and consumerism.

Several of Lankton's figures were included in the 1995 Whitney Biennial and the 1995 Venice Biennale, but she created only one large-scale installation, which is part of the Mattress Factory’s permanent collection. “It’s all about ME, Not You” features dolls, figures and shrines she crafted over the course of her life, crowding a recreation of her Chicago apartment. The piece reveals Lankton’s artistic pursuits through the mid-1990s, exploring her personal struggles and documenting the artistic and social ferment of the East Village.

In 2014, Lankton’s parents gifted a collection of the late artist’s belongings to the Mattress Factory. Spanning Lankton’s entire life, the materials include journals, sketches, correspondence, newspaper articles, and even the objects she had in her pockets on her very last day. These personal items share the archive with a treasure-trove of artwork from various stages of Lankton’s process and her career, as well as photographs documenting an important era in art, taken by and featuring her fellow artists and friends including Nan Goldin, Peter Hujar and David Wojnarowicz.