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Katherine Sherwood, 'Nurse,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Nurse, 2025

Mixed media on board 

8 x 10 1/4 inches 

KShp 67

Katherine Sherwood, 'You Rang?,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

You Rang?, 2025

Acrylic and graphite on board in found frame 

20 x 16 inches 

KShp 61

Katherine Sherwood, 'Yellow Sunglasses,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Yellow Sunglasses, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

17 1/4 x 24 inches 

KShp 129

Katherine Sherwood, 'Purple Stripes with Riding Crop,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

Purple Stripes with Riding Crop, 1978

Acrylic on panel 

13 x 11 inches 

KShp 103

Katherine Sherwood, 'Blue Shirt with Panties,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

Blue Shirt with Panties, 2024

Acrylic on panel 

19 x 16 inches 

KShp 76

Katherine Sherwood, 'St Rose of Lima,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

St Rose of Lima, 1978 

Acrylic on panel 

18 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches 

KShp 121

Katherine Sherwood, 'Crucified with Lace - Aggressive Women,' 1977

Katherine Sherwood 

Crucified with Lace - Aggressive Women, 1977 

Painting on board in found frame 

14 x 11 inches 

KShp 69

Katherine Sherwood, 'Striped Couch,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Striped Couch, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

26 1/2 x 32 1/2 inches 

KShp 124

Katherine Sherwood, 'St. Rita,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

St. Rita, 2025

Acrylic and graphite on board in found frame 

20 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches 

KShp 64

Katherine Sherwood, 'Pink Rug,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Pink Rug, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

30 x 15 inches 

KShp 102

Katherine Sherwood, 'Lourdes,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Lourdes, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

20 x 16 inches 

KShp 92 

Katherine Sherwood, 'Leopard Dress,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

Leopard Dress, 1978 

Acrylic on panel 

19 x 25 inches 

KShp 90 

Katherine Sherwood, 'Piano,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Piano, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

10 x 8 inches 

KShp 100

Katherine Sherwood, 'St Maria Goretti,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

St Maria Goretti, 1978 

Acrylic on panel 

19 x 22 1/2 inches 

KShp 118

Katherine Sherwood, 'Black Panties,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

Black Panties, 2024

Acrylic on panel

11 x 14 inches 

KShp 75

Katherine Sherwood, 'St Lucia,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

St Lucia, 2024

Acrylic on panel 

20 x 15 3/4 inches 

KShp 116

Katherine Sherwood, 'Goddess of Reality,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

Goddess of Reality, 2024

Acrylic on panel 

17 x 14 inches 

KShp 98

Katherine Sherwood, 'Foot in the Face,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

Foot in the Face, 2024

Acrylic on panel 

23 x 19 inches 

KShp 97

Katherine Sherwood, 'St Agnes,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

St Agnes, 2024

Acrylic on panel 

20 x 15 1/2 inches 

KShp 111

Katherine Sherwood, 'You Will Fine Me Forceful,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

You Will Fine Me Forceful, 1978

Acrylic on panel 

28 x 34 inches 

KShp 130

Katherine Sherwood, 'Cat Ears,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Cat Ears, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

28 x 24 inches 

KShp 78

Katherine Sherwood, 'Disciplining Mistress,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

Disciplining Mistress, 2024

Acrylic on panel 

29 x 23 inches 

KShp 82

Katherine Sherwood, 'Hildegard von Bingen,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Hildegard von Bingen, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

24 x 18 inches 

KShp 95

Katherine Sherwood, 'Blue Dress,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Blue Dress, 2025

Acrylic and graphite on board in found frame 

17 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches 

KShp 66

Katherine Sherwood, 'New York Finishing School (For Men Only),' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

New York Finishing School (For Men Only), 1978 

Acrylic on panel 

10 x 10 inches 

KShp 88 

Katherine Sherwood, 'Red Green Whip,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Red Green Whip, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

29 x 23 1/5 inches 

KShp 104

Katherine Sherwood, 'Chain,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Chain, 2025

28 x 24 inches 

KShp 79

Katherine Sherwood, 'Slave Back Rides,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Slave Back Rides, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

16 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches 

KShp 110

Katherine Sherwood, 'Sacred Grotto,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Sacred Grotto, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

16 x 11 inches 

KShp 107

Katherine Sherwood, 'Cobra Pose,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Cobra Pose, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

10 x 8 inches 

KShp 81

Katherine Sherwood, 'TV,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

TV, 2024

Acrylic on panel 

24 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches 

KShp 127

Katherine Sherwood, 'St Rose,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

St Rose, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

20 x 16 inches 

KShp 120

Katherine Sherwood, 'Balloons,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

Balloons, 1978

Acrylic on panel 

12 1/2 x 16 inches 

KShp 73

Katherine Sherwood, 'Riding Corp,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Riding Corp, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

25 1/2 x 22 inches 

KShp 106

Katherine Sherwood, 'Mother Theresa,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Mother Theresa, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

14 3/4 x 20 inches 

KShp 86

Katherine Sherwood, 'Straps,' 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

Straps, 2024

Acrylic on panel 

27 x 20 1/2 inches 

KShp 123

Katherine Sherwood, 'St Lucia,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

St Lucia, 1978 

Acrylic on panel 

29 x 41 inches 

KShp 117 

Katherine Sherwood, 'Grey and Yellow Mask,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Grey and Yellow Mask, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

24 x 24 inches 

KShp 94

Katherine Sherwood, "Lost Saint," 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

Lost Saint, 2024

Acrylic and graphite on board with found frame 

16 x 12 inches

Katherine Sherwood, "Walker," 2024

Katherine Sherwood 

Walker, 2024

Acrylic and graphite on board with found frame 

16 x 14 inches 

'Striped Whip, 2025'

Katherine Sherwood

Striped Whip, 2025

Acrylic on panel

16 3/4 x 12 inches

KShp 126

'Erotica, 2025'

Katherine Sherwood

Erotica, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

14 x 11 inches

KShp84

'Frances Xavier Cabrini, 2025'

Katherine Sherwood

Frances Xavier Cabrini, 2025

Acrylic and graphite on board in found frame

16 x 20 inches

KShp62

 

Katherine Sherwood, 'My Slave Michaael,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

My Slave Michaael, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

33 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches 

KShp 87

Katherine Sherwood, 'Orange sunglasses,' 2025

Katherine Sherwood 

Orange sunglasses, 2025

Acrylic on panel 

15 3/4 x 18 inches 

KShp 99

Katherine Sherwood, 'Red Riding Crop,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

Red Riding Crop, 1978

Acrylic on panel 

19 x 22 inches 

KShp 99

Katherine Sherwood, 'Most Sacred Heart of Jesus,' 1978

Katherine Sherwood 

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, 1978

Acrylic on panel 

20 x 16 inches 

KShp 85

Press Release

The George Adams Gallery is pleased to present Aggressive Women, an exhibition of portraits of female saints and dominatrixes by Katherine Sherwood. The exhibition features over 70 works in found frames, dating from 1977 to 2025, hung salon style as it was originally shown in 1982.

Begun in 1977 and first exhibited at the Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco, the series currently numbers some 70 works. While this country's abiding puritanical and patriarchal values would praise the saints and damn women from engaging in BDSM as transgressive sinners, Sherwood rejects this. The two categories of women can also be seen as representations of stages in Sherwood's life converging during a moment of self-discovery, not just of her sexuality, but of herself as an artist and feminist.

In 1975, after graduating from UC Davis with its funk art aesthetics and disdain for formal training, Sherwood became embedded in the punk scenes of San Francisco and New York's East Village, where she expanded on her earliest paintings, a feminist take on traditional Christian iconography with a self-taught approach to figuration.

The earliest images of Aggressive Women were taken from black and white personal ads in the 1970s BDSM magazine Aggressive Women,as well as prayer cards from her days at an all-girls Catholic high school. Between 1977 and 1978, Sherwood created over 70 paintings that were later displayed in beat-up thrift store frames and hung salon style at Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco. The presentation was met with uncomfortable silence by the mainstream art press.

Returning to the work nearly five decades later, Sherwood - known for her paintings that explore disability - repainted and "cripped" the original figures. These newest works depict signs of disability - prosthetics, canes, wheelchairs - and reflect her own experience as well as build on her recent Pandemic Madonnas series in which she reimagined Madonna and Child icons as proud and resilient people with disabilities.

'Aggressive Women', on view through October 11, is accompanied by an illustrated brochure with an essay by Lucy Zimmerman. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10-6. For images and further information please contact Alli Schwartz at as@georgeadamsgallery.com

ACCESSIBILITY:

The gallery has a rail-mounted chair lift on the back staircase leading directly to the exhibition. For visitors who use manual wheelchairs and are comfortable transferring to the chair lift, gallery staff are available to assist with the transfer and to carry manual wheelchairs down the stairs.

There is a ramp available at the front entrance to navigate the three steps. For ramp & mobility assistance, call 212-564-8480.