For as long as I could remember I have been fascinated with where women stand in the world; in politics, in military, in the home, basically everywhere. So, when I saw the artists the guerrilla girls on the list of artists we were allowed to write about I knew I had to write about them. I already had some previous knowledge as to who they were, what they stood for and what type of art they created, but when I did some more in depth research on them I was completely enraptured with the message they put into their work, the thought their art work provokes, their standing in the art world, and the way they carry themselves inside and outside the art world. The guerrilla girl’s art work is inspiring to me because I admire artwork that …show more content…
can make me think more deeply about the ways of the world. All of their art work is thought provoking to me but Some other things I like about the art the guerrilla girls makes is how they combined humor with serious messages, like satire, how they hide their identities behind fake names and gorilla masks and how their art work touch on sensitive matters not just about white females, but all females and their problems. The guerrilla girls were founded in 1984 by a group of female artists who visited an art exhibition at the museum of modern art. While at the museum, the women noticed that the men to women artist ratio was very much disproportioned. They then began to name themselves “the conscious of the art world”. They began their movement by using humor and visually appeasing posters to pull attention to discrimination and to provoke controversial discussion as well as show that feminist aren’t always serious, that they have humor too. Wanting to keep their identities hidden, the women each named themselves after a dead female artist and wore gorilla masks thus giving them the name “Guerrilla Girls”. This also helped the women to stay known for their influential work and well needed messages. Having their identities hidden helped stop strangers from judging their art work based on their looks and stopped friends and family from judging their artwork by previous knowledge of their personality. In the years that followed, the women created and produced hundreds of posters, action movements, bill boards, post cards, books and magazine projects. All of these projects examined subliminal as well as blatant discrimination in culture, politics and art. Not wanting to be known for their own work or to have their own work dismantle because of their involvement with group, the original members of the guerilla girls then made the decision of naming themselves after influential female artists.
This helped the women to keep their private lives just that, private. As well as, keep keeping the memory of female artists alive. Guerrilla one, named herself after “Rosalba Carriera” she did this to bring remembrance to female artist who to somehow feel under the radar, ones who didn’t make as much of a noticeable impact as some of the bigger names chosen by the other women. Guerrilla two named herself after “ Kathe Kollwitz” Kathe Kollwitz was painter and sculptor who was known for her work of empathy for the less fortunate as well as her descriptive and sometime grueling perspective of the human race and of the tragedies of war. Guerrilla three, named herself after “Alma Thomas” Who was an expressionist, painter and art educator who had great influences in Washington D.C. Guerrilla four, named herself after “ Frida Kahlo” who was a Mexican painter best known for her tragedies, self portraits and destructive marriage. Guerrilla five, named herself after “Julia de Burgos” who was and Puerto Rican poet and nationalist as well as a civil right activist. Guerrilla six named herself after “Hannah Höch” who was a German artist who was best known for work of the Weimar period. She was also one of the originators of photomontage …show more content…
(late day photo shopping). Many people asked well why the gorilla masks, of all of the disguises they could have worn why did they choose one that was considered hideous and always linked to such negativity. When the guerrilla girl’s work was first put into effect, everyone wanted to interview with them. They wanted to meet the girls; they wanted to know how they thought, what they were like, who they were individually. Knowing this was unavoidable, the girls began to think of disguises that would directly contribute to their mantra. It was said that one day while having an early meeting, one of the original and a bad speller I might add, misspelled the girls name and wrote gorilla instead of guerrilla. And, it was at the moment, that they were enlightened and just knew that there was no better mask than that of a gorilla. By the mid 1990s, the guerrilla girls had lost some of their some relevance. But, the women refused to give up, the women wanted to reiterate the importance of the knowing the difference between tokenism, and equal representation and although there was a momentary popular demand for women artist, they continued to focused on the lack of respect of art by and of women. In 1995, the Guerrilla Girls produced a poster that warned about tokenism “Top Ten Signs That You’re An Art World Token”. This Said poster became very influential to artist everywhere. The guerrilla girl’s art has always had two specific purposes and those were to show and bring attention to the difference of treatment women receive verses men in the art world and as they progressed their art started being about the unfair treatment women received all across the United States. The guerrilla girl’s poster used color, composition, and different symbolic elements to emphasize the unjust treatment of women in the world. There are 4 posters that highlight each individual visual element of design that are spotlighted in each of their designs. Those posters are “Do Women STILL Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met Museum?”, “WANT TO EARN BIG MONEY IN THE ART WORLD?”, “DEAR ART COLLECTOR”, and “FIRS THEY WANT TO TAKE AWAY A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE. NOW THEY'RE CENSORING ART”. Color is an important element in art it can change the meaning of a piece of art and it can change the way you feel about the subject in the art work. The guerrilla girl’s poster “WANT TO EARN BIG MONEY IN THE ART WORLD?” is made in black and white. This is just as important as the color. The black and white makes me think of old newspaper and it also calls to mind the old saying “everything is black and white”. Putting those ideas together I think this poster is trying to say that negative difference between what women earn and what men earn is old school , I thought we were pasted that ,and it needs to change. The other three posters I chose have very vibrant colors. The poster FIRST THEY WANT TO TAKE AWAY A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE. NOW THEY'RE CENSORING ART”, and “Do Women STILL Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met Museum?” have the same colors they use a very saturated yellow, a high value magenta and a black. These colors are very loud meaning if you stare to long it might hurt your eyes. I think the reason the guerilla girls use these color was mainly to call attention to their poster making them say “we are loud and proud; notice use” and because these colors are commonly referred to as “girly colors”. The last poster “DEAR ART COLLECTOR” uses a very soft pink and I think that was a play on colors that are supposed to represent femininity. All these poster use color to draw attention to the poster to that the message will on the poster will be read and not go unnoticed. Composition is another very important visual element of design the guerrilla girls used in their artwork and the best example of this would be the billboard “FIRST THEY WANT TO TAKE AWAY A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE. NOW THEY'RE CENSORING ART” they used a copy of the famous painting Mona Lisa, blocked out her mouth, and placed the billboard side by side with another billboard that said “ Not all Parts are created equal”. By the placing of this art work the message that women are treated differently is very clear just by the where they chose to place their billboard and by where they positioned Mona Lisa. The poster Do Women STILL Have to be Naked to Get Into the Met Museum?” is another example of good composition. On the poster there is a naked woman with her back turned away from the audience wearing a gorilla mask, holding a gorilla paw and laying on soft a sheet that looks satin or silk. By the placing of the subject and by what she is wearing it is clear that they are not happy with women standing in the Met. Museum. These two pieces of art work are the best example as to how the guerrilla girls used composition to call notice to the discrepancies women artists in the art world suffer through. In the guerrilla girls poster “DEAR ART COLLECTOR” they used pink paper and a flowery, famine and soft hang writing to make the massage on the poster stand out.
The writing on the poster is in incursive and it says “Dearest art collector, it has come to our attention that your collection, like most, does not contain enough art by women we know that you feel terrible about this and will rectify the situation immediately all our love, guerrilla girls.” The message is a very serious message with a slight twinge of humor and when the used that soft penmanship it was like they were saying” yes we are girls and were serious” This is a prime example as to how the guerrilla girls used symbols to protest the unjust treatment of women in the art world. “WANT TO EARN BIG MONEY IN THE ART WORLD?” is another poster that uses symbols to make a statement. In this art piece they used a dollar, ran a big thick black line that is cut up in to six pieces through the dollar. The line went separated the dollar into thirds. These symbols show the differences in what women make versus what men
make. The guerrilla girls used multiple visual elements to make their art, but the ones that stood out to me the most were color, composition and symbolic elements. They used this three important visual element design to argue for women rights in the art world and in the United States.
This specific sign spoke to the women. There was one specific commercial I saw on YouTube where they had some girls in and they asked them questions like; “What does it mean to do things ‘like a girl?” and “Have you ever been told you do something ‘like a girl?” The campaign teaches girls not to limit themselves to what society says girls are supposed to do.
Carrie Mae Weems is an eclectic artist dedicated to exploring the themes of family, gender, racism, and class in America. Although she is well known in the creative community for her revolutionary photography series, she is also an award-winning artist who has worked with textiles, video, and more. Lorna Simpson is an innovative, multimedia artist who revolutionized the art world with her introduction of photography installations featuring text. Her work explored stereotypes of race and gender, most often with an emphasis on African American women.
Barbara Carrasco is an artist and muralist based in Los Angeles. Her works range from pen and ink drawings, to paintings, to posters and countless murals. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Barbara Carrasco is considered to be a renegade feminist. Her art is known for critiquing, dominant cultural stereotypes involving socioeconomic, race, gender and sexuality.(Revision history statistics "Barbara Carrasco" 2017)She is known for bringing awareness to the Chicano art movement and their sexist attitudes sometimes seen in Chicano art. Barbara Carrasco works in advocating to change treatment of women. I decided to do my research paper because I believe that there's a difference between how a Chicano depicts and paint images and how a Chicana depicts and paints images. As a Latina woman, learning about Barbara Carrasco
Art could be displayed in many different forms; through photography, zines, poetry, or even a scrapbook. There are many inspirational women artists throughout history, including famous women artists such Artemisia Gentileschi and Georgia O’Keeffe. When searching for famous female artists that stood out to me, I found Frida Kahlo, and Barbara Kruger. Two very contrasting type of artists, though both extremely artistic. Both of these artists are known to be feminists, and displayed their issues through painting and photography. Frida Kahlo and Barbara Kruger’s social and historical significance will be discussed.
Prior to the 20th century, female artists were the minority members of the art world (Montfort). They lacked formal training and therefore were not taken seriously. If they did paint, it was generally assumed they had a relative who was a relatively well known male painter. Women usually worked with still lifes and miniatures which were the “lowest” in the hierarchy of genres, bible scenes, history, and mythological paintings being at the top (Montfort). To be able to paint the more respected genres, one had to have experience studying anatomy and drawing the male nude, both activities considered t...
artists because they lack the confidence and skill to do so. Her way of keeping the belief to
No other artist has ever made as extended or complex career of presenting herself to the camera as has Cindy Sherman. Yet, while all of her photographs are taken of Cindy Sherman, it is impossible to class call her works self-portraits. She has transformed and staged herself into as unnamed actresses in undefined B movies, make-believe television characters, pretend porn stars, undifferentiated young women in ambivalent emotional states, fashion mannequins, monsters form fairly tales and those which she has created, bodies with deformities, and numbers of grotesqueries. Her work as been praised and embraced by both feminist political groups and apolitical mainstream art. Essentially, Sherman’s photography is part of the culture and investigation of sexual and racial identity within the visual arts since the 1970’s. It has been said that, “The bulk of her work…has been constructed as a theater of femininity as it is formed and informed by mass culture…(her) pictures insist on the aporia of feminine identity tout court, represented in her pictures as a potentially limitless range of masquerades, roles, projections” (Sobieszek 229).
These specific ploys that are performed by the Guerrilla Girls are in the way they dress, the masks they wear, pseudonymous names of dead women artists and the witty factual evidence in their works. These are all examples to evoke audiences in challenging not only the art society which dictates the value and worth of women in art, but also to confront yourself and your own beliefs in a way that makes audiences rethink these growing issues. Over the last twenty years, the Guerrilla Girls have established a strong following due to the fact that they challenged and consistently exhibited a strong supportive subject matter that defies societal expectations. In an interview “We reclaimed the word girl because it was so often used to belittle grown women. We also wanted to make older feminists sit up and notice us since being anti- “girl” was one of their issues....
Feminism and political issues have always been centered on in the art world and artists like to take these ideas and stretch them beyond their true meanings. Female artists such as Hannah Höch, who thrived during the Dada movement in the 1920s in Germany and Barbara Kruger who was most successful during the 1980s to 1990s in the United States, both take these issues and present them in a way that forces the public to think about what they truly mean. Many of Kruger’s works close in on issues such as the female identity and in relation to politics she focuses on consumerism and power. Höch, like Kruger, also focuses on female identity but from the 1920s when feminism was a fairly new concept and like Kruger focuses on politics but focuses more on the issues of her time such as World War I. With the technique of photomontage, these two artists take outside images and put them together in a way that displays their true views on feminism and politics even though both are from different times and parts of the world.
Art is a very important part of humanity’s history, and it can be found anywhere from the walls of caves to the halls of museums. The artists that created these works of art were influenced by a multitude of factors including personal issues, politics, and other art movements. Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh, two wildly popular artists, have left behind artwork, that to this day, influences and fascinates people around the world. Their painting styles and personal lives are vastly different, but both artists managed to capture the emotions that they were feeling and used them to create artwork.
“They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my reality,” said Frida Kahlo describing her art work (Frida Kahlo n.d.). Kahlo was a Mexican artist from the mid-20th century. She was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico, and the daughter of German and Mexican descendants (Lucie-Smith 1999). During her lifetime Kahlo embarked on many hardships caused by illness, heartache, and love. She became known for her haunting self portraits, radical politics, and that infamous unibrow (Stephen 2008).
Many modernist art movement moved away from traditional medium, topic and form in attempt to change the world through their art, including the influential feminist art movement who, through the efforts of individuals such as Judy Chicago and groups like the controversial guerilla girls, effectively altered the world and the way in which woman are viewed. The successfulness of the feminist art movement had on changing the world is reliant on individual opinion
The title itself, The Yellow Wallpaper, is symbolizing the role men play in a patriarchal society, where men are the more dominant sex, and how women are 'trapped'; in a life of male control. For instance, At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all moonlight, it becomes bars!';(Gilman 211) This shows how the narrator feels trapped by the paper. Another symbol that refers to the role women play is, 'And she is all the time trying to climb through that pattern, it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads.';(Gilman 213) This is meaning that if a women tried to play a role in society she was just not taken seriously, or felt like trying to play a role was getting nowhere.
In the fourth quarter of eighth grade in Art and Computer Science I worked on a project on Frida Khalo. Although the topic selection was random I was excited to do my project on Frida Khalo because I have visited Guanajuato, Mexico where she is very popular. The computer science part of this project was an Adobe Spark Video where I informed viewers about Frida Khalo and her work. I really enjoyed being able to research such an interesting topic. Through this research I really came to appreciate Frida’s work. This is the eighth grade theme and Frida’s work really made me embrace it. The Art part of this project was a recreation of one of Frida’s works. I selected “Me and My Parrots” (pictured below) which is a self portrait of Frida and her
In the course of human events, women have been subjected to being seen as far less superior than men. Women through most of history have never been seen as equals to men and seen as pitiful and slave like, but women have tried to change the views of society and become equal. Feminist art was a major contributor in helping women fight these societal views during the feminist movement. Many talented women artist banded together during the 1960-1970s to be able fight the societal view as a woman. Their art was sometimes not accepted by society for exploring subjects that were not accepted for that time. They fought to make their topics they talked about socially accepted. Artists such as Judy Chicago, Barbara Kruger, and guerilla girls helped spark and shaped the feminist art movement by