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| The Dinner Party // Judy Chicago |
Can I name five women artists? I can! After researching the Brooklyn Museum website I am definitely angry that I was not able to make to the Museum myself with the rest of the class or even on my own but after preparing for this post, I definitely will try my best to visit, hopefully this summer. I came across five women artists who grabbed my attention on https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/eascfa. These five women are: Judy Chicago, Mary Coble, Bailey Doogan, Laurie Simmons, and Vadis Turner. All these women have something to express through their art. Each of these women express an issue whether social or political. Some attacked gender, sexual orientation, and political injustice.
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| The Dinner Part // Judy Chicago |
Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" can be found at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. This piece is obviously about gender. "The Dinner Party" largely represents women, the piece features the name of many women, like Angelica Kauffman which you can see the picture below. "Each of the settings represents one of thirty-nine historically significant women. The table sits on a floor of 2304 porcelain triangular tiles (in 129 units) inscribed with the names of 999 significant women" (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/5167/The_Dinner_Party) From what we have seen in class, this piece is very controversial as the plates depict female genitalia. In the video we watched in class, the men in the video were trying to suggest that Chicago's artwork was not art at all. I strongly disagree with these men, what Chicago did with "The Dinner Party" was incredible and is, in fact, art. If it was not art, then people would have no opinion about it, if it wasn't art then people would not have a reaction to it. Anyone who looks at the large masterpiece would most certainly have a opinion and would react to it. I know I do and I have not gotten the chance to see it in person. What Chicago was able to do by creating this was to give women recognition. She was able to show us that there are great female artists out there and there have always been whether or not we paid attention.
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| Angelica Kauffmann's name in the bottom right corner |
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| Laurie Simmons // Kitchen |
Vadis Turner's "Reception" is a very interesting piece part of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center. Her artwork is also quite feminist and I love that she used things like tampons and birth control pills in her contemporary piece. In the video below, Turner tells us a little bit about what she is trying to tell us through the "Reception." She calls it a "dowry" piece where it shows how women, when they are getting married are basically giving themselves value. She says, "...a lot of my work obviously has to do with gender roles and how we measure our worth as women" (Turner, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vqvgnwt2yQ) This piece also represents the societal problems that women face. As females, when we get married we are "given away," as if we are some object that you can just get rid of whenever you want. It seems like most of the things I saw on the Brooklyn Museum website that really caught my eye were those that had to do with gender roles.
Video of Vidas Turner talking about the "Reception"
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| Maria Maria Acha Kutscher // http://www.acha-kutscher.com/mujerestrabajando/indignadas/indignadasglobal1.html |
There is more to be depicted in art created by brilliant women other than gender roles. For example, I was intrigued when seeing Mary Coble's, "Unitled 2 (from Note to Self)" Before seeing the picture up close, it reminded me of something I have seen by Maria Maria Acha Kutscher which can be seen below on the left side. Coble's work of art attacks society and politics with her statement about hate crimes against the LGBTQ community. "In 2005, Mary Coble staged a twelve-hour endurance performance titled Note to Self,
in which she had the first names of 438 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender victims of hate-crime murders tattooed over her entire body
without ink. Vivid evidence of Coble’s harrowing artistic process
appears in this photograph" (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/5047/Untitled_2_from_Note_to_Self). Sexual orientation has been a controversial topic for many years, we have just recently made it legal for same-sex couples to marry. Coble created this in 2005 and the hate crimes against the lgbtq still exist today despite the walls we have broken down. Coble took what was going on in the world, saw the injustice, and then brought us her art. I think the idea of writing the names of those who were murdered for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trans, is powerful. I look forward to seeing more of Coble's projects. Her work is something that I could definitely get behind, even just based on what is written on her website, "Embracing unpredictability, messiness and failure Coble aims to manifest
problems of bodily, societal and symbolic navigation particularly
focusing on issues of injustice and normative boundaries. Recurrent
themes in Coble’s work revolve around queer politics, poetics and
histories often working site-specifically, research-based and - from
time to time - collectively/participatory" (http://www.marycoble.com/).
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| Mary Coble // Untiled 2 (from Note to Self) |
Bailey Doogan is another very political artist that I saw under the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center For Feminist Art collection on the Brooklyn Museum website. I was drawn to her piece, "The Hard Place," I was curious to see what the words said on the canvas. "The ghostly text in the upper right—“Your mind is your strongest weapon
because they can’t control your mind they can’t get inside and that’s
their failure” (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/5030/The_Hard_Place_For_Mairead_Farrell). I could not agree more with these words, which actually are not Doogan's but are the words of Mairead Freeman, a prisoner that was shot to death. "This is a monumental elegy for the Irish Republican Army member and
long-term prisoner Mairead Farrell, who, along with two unarmed male
companions, was shot to death at close range in 1988, in Gibraltar, by
the British Security Service" (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/5030/The_Hard_Place_For_Mairead_Farrell). Doogan's "The Hard Place" is clearly political in nature. Doogan is expressing her feelings of sorrow towards the unjust death of Freeman and is blaming the British Security Service for it. I think it is always a great idea for all people, not only women artists, to share their thoughts about what is going on in the world. Whether it be highly political, like it is in this case, or more of attacking society for their norms.
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| Bailey Doogan // The Hard Place (For Mairead Farrell) |
It doesn't and shouldn't matter when these artists try and depict these thoughts and feelings. The idea that there are no great women artists goes back to the beginning of time and even today no one can name a female artist besides Frida Kahlo at most. Chicago's "The Dinner Party" in all of its ceramic, triangular glory proves all those people wrong. Simmons doesn't use paint or flat surfaces to show that gender roles are stupid, that a woman in a kitchen and that being the place where she belongs is dated. Turner's "Reception" was created in 2009 but dowries are an old tradition, but the idea that a woman's worth can be given monetary value still exists today. Weddings in some cases today are still seen as when a daughter is being given away to a husband. Whether the issue is old or new, it is important that the artist express their creative freedoms. Hate crimes and the history of the lgbt community can be dated back to ancient times (seriously, I took LGBT History a few semesters ago). Doogan's "The Hard Place (For Mairead Farrell)" was completed in 1990 while the shooting occurred in 1988. These are five amazing women artists who have important messages to send about gender, race, sexuality, politics, and much more and they do a wonderful job.
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