Post 4

Jenna Arvelo
Post 4
Art and Women
Five Amazing (living) Working Female Artists

  In choosing these five individuals, I was excited to talk about some of my personal favorite living female artists that inspire me within my own practice. I'll admit I'm slightly bias seeing how all the women I chose happen to be women of color, yet I think that in itself is an important to bring into the conversation when talking about art and women. Each taps into distinct perspectives that give value and insight to relevant topics of gender and race in this modern day. With that being said, the first artist I want to talk about is a woman we have already discussed in class; Mickalene Thomas. Best known for her elaborate large scale paintings composed of jewels and rhinestones. Her paintings depict black women and plays with the boundaries that define beauty within the black female body. She breaks all of the rules of traditional painting and yet created this specific lens of portraiture that captivates the viewer. The intimacy of her portraits and the space these individuals exist in within her paintings become part of the representation of these specific individuals. She is most successful in capturing femininity and confidence within the subjects she depicts within her paintings in my opinion. Her work is particularly significant in the context of women and race because of the lack of representation within historical painting. Thomas depict black women as individuals, rather than stereotypical representations that linger from slavery (Mammy, Jezebel). But while also explore sexual freedom and liberation and embracing black beauty as is without European beauty standards as she claims a space for black women that simply was not there. Kara Walker talks Mickalene Thomas

 

'A Little Taste Outside of Love' 2007 and 'I Thought You Said You Were Leaving' 2006 Mickalene Thomas paintings

Slaughter of Innocents (They Might be Guilty of Something) 2017 Kara Walker

      The second artist I want to speak on is Kara Walker. It's not difficult to conclude what Walker's art is trying to convey in her large scale silhouette paintings. Her graphic and violent paintings stem from the bitter legacy of slavery and the mass psyche that still lingers and permeates through society today. I does not solely target one individual based on gender, but encompasses both men and women, black and white bodies to display complex and entangled inter relationships and dynamics between these dialectics. Walker's pieces are difficult to fully take in, yet as a person who has physically been in front of her pieces; it is important that viewing these paintings face to face is just as important as hearing an interview of her speaking on her work. Not only do the screens of your phone, computer or tablet not do these pieces justice, but to stand i front of her works it to be enveloped by it, you become actively engaged with her narratives within these chaotic silhouettes. She captures the complexity slavery for sure, but also takes the time to speak on the relationships that form from it and does not shy away from portraying the atrocities these slave bodies endured and often did not survive. Her art is important in the context of art and women because of this narrative that has never been visually manifested before in history. Vouge article on Kara's latest Exhibition

'Christ's Entry into Journalism' 2017 Kara Walker

    Next, I want to speak on another artist we have already discussed, Adrian Piper. Piper is very straight forward in her art making as she confronts ideas of race, sexism, identity and inequality straight to her oppressors; white viewers. Her confrontational performance pieces and video recording draw attention to the barriers between race, sex, class and the individual. She goes on to use her very body as part of her art to portray these themes. He use of unfixed mediums serve to sever the boundaries between the art and the viewer, or in this case the artist and the viewer. She challenges the perception of people of color by creating these direct pieces that engage it's targeted viewer, involving them as the problem and as a contributor to this racism, while also emphasizing how harmful it is. As a woman and as a black person Piper defines herself through this body of work, her post-modernist style provoke a direct engagement with the viewer that had never been explored in the past.Art Space article on Adrian Piper

My Calling (Card) 1986 Adrian Piper

    Another amazing artist i want to focus on is one that has yet to received much acclaim yet who's work has left quite an impression on me. Tshabalala Self is an artist who i had a hard time wrapping my head around at first. Her paintings are mixed media depict the black female from in exaggerated proportions drawing up on stereotypes of the black female form that she both embraces and rejects. It is difficult to signify what these black bodies mean in modern times which is part of the reason why shes creating these forms. She creates these characters in these spaces to just exist leaving them open to possibilities and adjustment, while confronting the fantasies that surrounding the black female form. Her characters are personal and posses a humanity, by queering the black female form she leaves room to redefine and build a new identification with these bodies and how they are perceived. While these pieces seem actively political, when defining ones self as a black woman within these forms, the personal can often be interpreted as political. Again within the context of women race and art I believe it is important that she questions this unanimous perception that either entices the viewer or repulses them. Leaving the viewer to redefine those conceptions on the black female body. Vice interview with Tshabalala Self

'Saphire' 2015 Tshabalala Self

'Pieces of Me' 2015 Tshabalala Self

Photograph by Lorna Simpson

   Last but not least I want to speak on is Lorna Simpson, who specializes in photography though she has work through over a wide range of mediums. Simpson's perspective investigates, race, gender, class, sexuality and culture. She specifically(for an amount of time) focuses own on the experience of African American women in American society. Similar to Barbra Kruger, Simpson uses photography as a conceptual tool to create political statements and critiques on society. She creates photographs, rather taking unfocused everyday photos. She then takes these poised photos and adds phrases that create a conversation between the photo and the words. These photos are consciously political, contrasting Tshabalala Self's very personal pieces. Her focus shifts between this idea of race and women to class and gender where she creates compelling photographs challenging those specific notions. She is important to this conversation because she of the simplified ways she approaches confronting these issues. Her voice was at the forefront of this new conceptual movement that rejected this one narrative and allowed for individuals such as herself to critique the world around her. Article on Lorna Simpson

Photograph by Lorna Simpson

                                                                       Work Cited
 1.“Artists at Work: Lorna Simpson.” Interview Magazine, 24 Aug. 2016, www.interviewmagazine.com/art/artists-at-work-lorna-simpson.

2. Cotter, Holland. “Exploring Identity as a Problematic Condition.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Mar. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/arts/design/02lorn.html.

3. Editors, Artspace. “Everyone's Problem: Adrian Piper Tackles the Complexities of Race Relations Head-On.” Artspace, 30 Dec. 2015, www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/book_report/adrian-piper-cornered-dca-53390.

4. Felsenthal, Julia. “Kara Walkers New Show Was a Sensation Before It Even Opened.” Vogue, Vogue, 8 Sept. 2017, www.vogue.com/article/kara-walker-sikkema-jenkins.

5. Khan, Karim. “Artist tschabalala self's black mirror.” I-d, 2 Feb. 2017, i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/d37g8q/artist-tschabalala-selfs-black-mirror.

6. Walker, Kara. “Mickalene Thomas by Kara Walker - BOMB Magazine.” Mickalene Thomas - BOMB Magazine, bombmagazine.org/articles/mickalene-thomas/.