National Kissing Day: Art by Janine Antoni (born 1962 Bahamas-US)

Kisses for National Kissing Day in a incredibly ingenious and unique work by the fabulous Conceptual artist Janine Antoni. Antoni is known for her unusual processes, using her body as both a tool and a source of meaning within the conceptual framework of her practice. Antoni’s early methods involved transforming unique materials such as chocolate and soap through habitual, everyday processes like bathing, eating and sleeping to create sculptural works and installations.

22 June is National Kissing Day: Art by Janine Antoni (born 1962 Bahamas-US)

Janine Antoni, Butterfly Kisses, 1996-1999, mascara on paper, 75.6 x 76.2 cm (29 ¾” x 30”)  The Museum of Modern Art, New York, © 2026 Janine Antoni  (MOMA-p1152)

Like her earlier performance, Gnaw (1992) in which Antoni chewed chocolate and lard to create items for a “cosmetics display,” the artist has often explored the contemporary perceptions of beauty and femininity as foisted on the public by advertising.  Butterfly Kisses is a fabulously complex abstract drawing made with Cover Girl Thick Lash® mascara and Antoni's eyelashes as they flutter across the paper. Antoni used her right eye on one side of the paper, and her left eye on the other side. 

The artist accumulated an astounding 1,124 winks per eye over multiple sessions. The physically taxing process, in which she kept reapplying mascara and produced two dozen “wink kisses” at a time is an enduring proof of how process and Antoni’s body itself are the most important aspects of her expression. She is one of few artists who undergoes projects that require endurance and stamina.

Background  

One of the first organized efforts to champion women's art was the Women's Art Program at California State University in Fresno. Founded in 1971, the program intended to fight inequities in the established art world from an institutional position. It basically encouraged women to restructure the way they approached careers as artists, and give unabashed expression to themselves as women.
Conceptual and Performance Art had, in the 1960s, always been in the vanguard of promoting social and cultural awareness. 

Many women artists were involved in these movements because of that. They had learned that even speaking out about women's issues made their art considered "political". In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many of these artists began to demonstrate their viewpoint through art work that described women's lifestyles and experiences through a variety of personally revealing and interactive pieces.

Born in Freeport, Bahamas, Janine Antoni received her education at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and RISD, Providence. While technically a sculptor, Antoni's work blurs the lines between sculpture and performance, where the actions of the performance produce the finished sculpture/installation.

 While her work initially was meant to emphasize process in creating the pieces, Antoni realized that performance was an integral part for viewers to understand her motives. Her performances address issues that affect women, especially those forced on women by societal "norms."

Antoni has used her body as both resource and tool in her projects. She often articulates her personal relationship to the world through processes such as daily rituals or dance-like performances. Performances and sculptures often involve physically taxing efforts, such as painting with her hair, rolling around in brown paper (2013).

Correlation to Davis programs: Discovering Drawing 3E, Chapter 2 The Principles of Design, Unity; Davis Collections – Women Artists 1900s; Davis Collections – 21st Century Photography; Davis Collections – Artist Self-Portraits