I first came across the erotic art of Dorothy Iannone in an article written by Robert Storr back in 2002 for Parkett.  The article, which focused mainly on the love affair and the illustrated correspondence between Dorothy and Dieter Roth in the 1970s and 80s – postcards crudely painted on by Dieter, and emotive, graphic drawings by Dorothy of couples having sex – appealed to me instantly. Here was a woman with winking deviance and swooning romanticism in both her life and art.  That, of course, and a killer sense of style.  In a picture taken of the couple in 1971, she wears a dress with cut-out sides (eerily resembling a dress by “sophomore” I’ve been coveting) and a big, white, fur hat.

Dorothy ran off to Europe in 1967 and is back in New York for her first solo show at Anton Kern (which opened June 25th) and at the New Museum (which opens July 22nd).  The work at Anton Kern is sharp and cheeky in a way you’d expect from an artist at the prime of their career.  This is partially due to some of the included work being from the 70s and 80s… but the paintings made in the past two years felt just as liberated. One such image is of a naked woman, in heels, marching across piano keys, a second smaller set mischievously between her legs, with the declaration “Play it again” above her head.  The command, of course, alludes to something musical, something sexual, and to the resilient notion of remaining in the spotlight for longer than expected, which Dorothy most certainly has.

Seeing a seventy-five year old artist painting as powerfully as she did in her youth stirred a different sort of romanticism in me than the postcards had, this was a romanticism about growing old with work that doesn’t. You get a sense with Dorothy that she will continue to play it, and own it, again and again and again.