Marely Fontanez
Art and Women
Post 4

Can You Name Five Women Artists? 

      In the art world women have been fighting for fair representation and participation for a long time. Although they have made a lot of progress there is still much to accomplish in order to achieve full inclusion in the art world. "Women artists still get collected less and shown less. The price of their work is almost never as high as that of white males" (Guerrilla Girls 90). Despite the many obstacles that women have faced and still face today they continue to create art and pursue art careers even if they receive less recognition than their male counterparts. Five women artists who art creating art today despite the unfairness of the art world are Yoko Ono, Faith Wilding, Cindy Sherman, Faith Ringgold, and Mona Hatoum. 



Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, 1965

Yoko Ono is a Japanese artist well known for her work in performance art. A lot of her performance art was considered radical and often called for audience participation such as her 1964 performance Cut Piece. In her performance of Cut Piece Yoko Ono invites the audience to cut off pieces of her clothes with a pair of scissors she's provided. In the performance" "the intimate encounter between the artist and the audience becomes a symbol of (female) passivity and vulnerability, while the latent potential for sexist and racist violence and for a destructive desire becomes increasingly apparent." Another work of Yoko Ono is Bag Piece where she instructs two members of the audience to enter a large black sack, remove their clothes, and do whatever they'd like (or nothing at all). While the individuals were in this dark environment unable to see well, the roles of race, gender, and class disappeared. "These distinctions were diminished by blindness and vulnerability, observers on the outside were also unable to draw conclusions based on these traditional categories."


Yoko Ono, Bag Piece, 1964

 

Faith Wilding, Waiting, 1974

Faith Wilding is a Paraguayan artist who's artwork took the form of drawings, paintings, and performance. One of Wilding's performance pieces is Waiting where she recites a series of phrases while she sits rocking back and forth. The phrases all begin with the words "waiting for" and go through the cycle of life from birth to death. The performance takes us through the repetitive life of a woman essentially waiting for her own life to begin. She spends her life taking care of others and serving others and her own existence is only defined by this role she plays. She is someones daughter, then someones wife, then someones mother but she is never her own self. 

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #153, 1985

Cindy Sherman is an American artist known for her photographs where she herself is the model. Much of Sherman's photography is inspired by movie films, and other media. She would dress up in make-up, wigs, and costumes imitating characters she would see. In her photography she is often critical of the way women are portrayed in media and society overall. In the 1980's Sherman was influenced by centerfolds."Taking as inspiration the design of stylish magazine's centre spreads and adding some pornographic influence." These photos show her posing on the floor or the bed some confident and others vulnerable. In her series Centerfolds she addresses the stereotyping of women in magazines. When someones flips through a magazine and comes across a centerfold they expect to see a sexualized, inviting woman and instead with her centerfolds you come across these daunting photographs of possibly a victim. Untitled #93 seems to represent a possible victim of a sexual crime. 

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #93, 1981

Faith Ringgold, Die, 1967

Faith Ringgold is an African American artist whose artwork shows the struggles of people of color. Her work is often political and critical of the American dream. Faith Ringgold created her painting Die during a time of civil unrest and racial violence in the United States. One of her later works is Tar Beach, a quilted narrative. Tar Beach was about the roof of her apartment building where in the summer one could go to cool off. It speaks volume about urban poverty. The roof is considered their "beach." Tar Beach was made into a children's book about adventures of a little girl who flies around the city as she daydreams on her rooftop.

Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach, 1988

Mona Hatoum, Hot Spot, 2006

Mona Hatoum is a Lebanese Palestinian born artist who's work has taken various forms such as video, performance and large-scale installations. Some of her work is influenced by political conflicts and by her very own dislocation caused by war. Her sculpture Hot Spot is a large globe with red neon outlines of the continents. The term hot spot is a term often used to describe a region that's experiencing military, civil, or political turmoil. In this sculpture Hatoum is describing the entire world as a place with continuous conflict and crisis. Another one of Mona Hatoum's art works is Over My Dead Body. The giant photographic poster shows the artist herself and a toy soldier making his way up her profile. She stares at the soldier bravely and fearlessly. This is another of Hatoum's art works where politics is the subject. 

Mona Hatoum, Over My Dead Body, 1988

Works Cited 

"Faith Ringgold: Tar Beach." The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Nancy Spector. 

www.guggenheim.org/artwork/3719

The Guerilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. Penguin Books, 1998.

"Yoko Ono Artist Overview and Analysis."TheArtStory.org. Laura Fiesel.www.theartstory.org/artist ono-yoko-artworks.htm

"Yoko Ono Cut Piece." Re.Act. Feminism #2.  www.reactfeminism.org/entry.php?id=121&e=.

http://modeconnect.com/project/cindy-sherman-exhibition-kunsthaus-zurich

http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/who-is-mona-hatoum