Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 73

fAUIP ntU. 1 Bad girl artist has wicked sense of humor A ii i im 1 sr. jr-oiii. By Frank Provenzaxo Free Press Special Writer Death-defying Thelma and Louise drove off a cliff like John Wayne riding into the sunset. "Waiting to Exhale" caused a few to hold their breath about what a woman was capable of.

And "First Wives Club" has made revenge a 1 CHECK MOVIF GUIDE FOR SHOWTIMES Vh Ml 7 noble pursuit for former "A 'Working Girl" for the 90s!" Jrfll iik.MI SM(MH'HHJt 'All Men Are Cremated Equal' Through Dec. 1 Pop Gallery 515 S. Lafayette, Suite Royal Oak Information: 1 wives feeling dumped on. But when it comes to showing us the bad-girl persona, Hollywood doesn't have a "Fresh, funny and filled with fun!" Susan CRN INTI.KNATIONAI 4 justice. Of course, there's also plenty of psychoses in the purple, aqua and electric blue paint.

In Niagara's subterranean cartoon strip, a woman gets whatever she wants by whatever means necessary. Her titillating women wear sultry expressions (and little else), point guns and strike poses that just might make Madonna blush. The attitude is clearlv, "Nothing matters, and what if it did?" Because of that prevailing nihilism, most critics have dismissed her as a "lowbrow artist," along with other Outlaw Artists like Robert Williams and Gary Panter. Unlike Roy Lichtenstein, whose 1960s pop art drew awareness to the mass media's homogenization of culture, Niagara is inspired by lawlessness. Hedonism is worshiped.

Desire is an end to itself. Interestingly, mostly men buy her paintings, even though she's been accused of male-bashing. "If some guy is offended by my paintings, he's got to be really messed up," she says. "I'd like to meet him in the back room and knock some sense into him." For bad girls, seeking revenge or justice is beside the point. Niagara shows that being bad is just her way of having fun.

Now maybe Hollywood can get it right. I KIC'AN I Niagara's women often wear sultry expressions and point guns. 1 -s mamtmlgssf -id -ASSOCIA Distributed by BUENA VISTA PICTURES DISTRIBUTION C6BUENA VISTA PICTURES DISTRIBUTION y.l',M:fJI:lM Aggressively independent, Niagara hardly follows any feminist line. She doesn't flinch from being called a "chick artist." In fact, she doesn't flinch at all. In her heart of darkness put to canvas, you won't find any semblance to Goya's pliant nudes or Renoir's dreamy female bathers.

Niagara puts her sexually charged women right where men have always been: in control. Yet to Niagara's credit, her female subjects appear to be seeking more than just total domination. They're NOW PLAYING clue. Movie producers take note: The real bad girl is right here in Detroit. Like other groundbreaking pop artists, she prefers to be called by a single name: Niagara.

Her fans simply call her the Queen of the Motor City. She gained her nickname as a girl because tears from her crying jags' came out like the famous waterfall. There's nothing soft or sentimental about her latest work. The title of her most recent collection, "All Men Are Cremated Equal" at Pop Gallery in Royal Oak, simply struck her as a truism. Male-bashing? Get a sense of humor.

Better yet, get an attitude. Her paintings are a rush of anger, seduction and biting humor. Don't be taken in by their accessibility. Niagara's paintings aspire to do for women what Hemingway did for male testosterone and bravado. A Downriver painter and astrologer by day and rock singer by night, Niagara has become a figure in the international underground music and art scene.

She and her followers spell culture with a They live in a pulp-fiction apocalypse laden with two-dimensional images, pop culture iconography and cartoonish logic. They rail against the status quo, pompous art critics and just about anything considered serious. F.V,f4ViW!.j:HVI.1 acting out a catharsis of revenge and FOR THEATRES SHOWTIMES CAll 810 77-FIIMSV 313 88-FILMS Tiffi Movie Everyone's Talkwo Anoint themu'YOrk times roijjg stove imu vorkobsermr today show cood m0rmig peopif magazlve aikiy york magazlve cbs-tv is is nn ityi is it so BOSTON GLOBE nycn MHSHEEK ISA TODAY PI TIME MAG AZEAE FIRST WIVES Gluy THE NEW YORK TIMES lintt Mullfl "Passionate. Sweeping. Entertaining.

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