Semester Project Description

Hi everyone!

We have had quite a semester! In this class, we were able to learn about incredible women that have been neglected over the years for their immense talent. I've written an essay that focuses on how women have had struggled in the past with gaining a political stance and gaining recognition. Under the presidency of Donald Trump, women have had lost the faith in the American system. In order to protest his presidency, women around the country marched for their rights. Even after years, women have no political progression in the world. By writing this essay, I've highlighted how women have marched for their equality, and intertwined it with how women in Art suffer the same non-recognition. The art world has been dominated by men willing to overstep and establish their presence, while women hid in their shadows. The presence of women in art has slowly been escalating as our nation regresses to the past. My essay is titled "Same Difference" to highlight the fact that women are different from men in various ways but does that mean that they stand behind them? Of course not! Women deserve the equality that establishes their presences as equals, but highlights their differences instead of masquerading them as weakness. I posted the essay to show a timeline of how women have had to fight their battles in the political and art world.

Check out this Tumblr Page:

https://artispolitics.tumblr.com/

Extra Credit: Brooklyn Museum

Emily Zuniga
Professor Cacoilo
Art and Women

The Brooklyn Museum

Going to the Brooklyn Museum was awesome to the say the least. I was excited to see the exhibitions, most importantly, The Dinner Party. I never went farther than Manhattan so it was a cool experience to go outside of my comfort zone. The museum itself is very modern and serene. 

 Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974–79.

Judy Chicago's installation at the museum is massive and captivating. The detail put into every plate setting and the tile work that each setting stands upon is mesmerizing. Celebrating female figures, historically and mythically, that have impacted civilization, yet have been overlooked. Chicago gives each one a unique place setting that represent her interpretation of them. All the porcelain plates resemble flowers, wombs, and vulva playing on the female sexuality in her feminist piece. Place on embroidered tablecloths, every female's name is at the bottom and decorated with characteristics of the women. Each plate is delicately molded and painted through Chicago's vision. By giving them a place setting, Chicago is honoring these women who were unable to obtain the deserved recognition in their time period. Referencing the Last Supper, Judy Chicago's installation plays on the idea that women are behind everything, yet only men are recognized. Considered it radical at the time, her art shook art critics and was condoned to be to liberal or not even considered art by definition. The Dinner Party gives viewers the massive notion that women have come a long way in society and by physically giving them a place setting keeps them alive in today's patriarchal world. Chicago's work reveals the breadth of research of art history, feminism, and general history to understand their struggles. Going beyond the books, Judy Chicago brought the accomplishment of previous women to life and dealing with female subject matter. The Dinner Party in total represents 1,038 women in history, 39 of them are represented by a place setting and other 999 names are inscribed in the heritage floor. The floor is made up of more than 2,000 white tiles with gold script lettering. Chicago is known for her large collaborative art installation pieces which examine the role of women in history and culture. 

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974–79.

The most significant element in this artwork is texture. Each plate has a design where you can visually see the texture and can imagine what the design would feel like if you could actually touch it. The most significant principle is emphasis and focal point. Each setting has a focal point of the circular china plate in the middle of the runner. This plate represents the most important statement of the piece, that is why it is located in the center. The focal point is symbolizing the women in which Chicago is representing at each setting. Chicago wants you to notice the center piece, she makes emphasis on each setting by using her design of the vulvar or butterfly form. By having the plate be the focal point, it draws the viewers eye to the center of the place setting, recognizing what is important about this artwork, and knowing women are important in our history. Chicago created this large piece to show the achievements of women, and she choose to use historical women to make her point to the viewer.

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974–79.

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974–79.

Themes of gender are definitely illustrated with each plate setting resembling female genitalia. Furthermore, Chicago reclaims stereotypes of femininity by emphasizing domesticity through the form of the installation.  The installation itself, a dinner table, reflects the expected domestic responsibilities of women to cook meals and prepare the dinner table. Chicago ties in more motifs of female gender roles through the focus on craftsmanship: all the table clothes and ceramics are made by hand. Chicago uses these crafts to emphasize, affirm and reclaim the feminine identity.

The Dinner Party serves as a reflection of the growing social acknowledgement and recognition of women in American society. This empowering set up glorifies and emphasizes on the female body. 

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974–79.

Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974–79.

Judy Chicago,  The Dinner Party, 1974–79.

Bibliography:

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/dinner_party

http://www.judychicago.com/gallery/the-dinner-party/dp-artwork/

Extra credit

Wilfredo Jimenez

Professor Cacoilo

Art and women

Extra Credit Post:

The Gateway Projects-

Hiba Schahbaz: Self Portrait

           

            Born in Karachi Pakistan, Hiba is a Brooklyn based artist who focused on miniature painting and graduated from the Pratt institute in New York City; with international gallery and fairs including the Vienna Art Fair, she is considered one of the most influential artist in New York and the world.

“I use the female figure to unfold a narrative that transcends cultural and political boundaries. I tell my own story while heavily embellishing it with imagination and metaphor. And although the protagonist in the work is me, she also carries a dual, existential meaning. I often use the female form as a tool, portraying thoughts and concerns from socio-cultural and political realms.”

This exhibition focused on what Hiba calls the “Gaze” known better to us as the male gaze. In her gallery show she questions the male gaze and challenges the ideals and origins of it. The paintings portray her in the nude posing for the male audience, she includes herself as the subject to challenge the patriarchy and force the audience to comprehend her point of view on the matter. I believe that the most successful part of this show is the way in which the audience is able to relate to the work and to the artist by her sharing her intimacy with the audience and creating trust. The naked body is sacred, and allowing someone to view you in your true self is a way of inviting them into your personal live. 

Growing up in a traditional Muslim country she women are not allowed to do as they please and they struggle for freedom to make their own choices; the man and parents dictate what goes and when it is done not leaving any breathing room for individuality. Failure to comply creates conflict that in most cases results in violent behavior and death, Hiba's criticism and exposure of her true-self is in violation of these beliefs and rules which makes her a target in her country and religion but the exhibition is successful because people like me get to experience her feelings in an attempt to relate and create awareness. 

Taking on the male gaze is taking on history itself, our modern society works based on the male gaze through media and print, corporations choose what to soon feed us and how much subjective content should be exhibited on a daily basis. Schahbaz challenges this idea by being the author, subject, and object; showing her knowledge, experience, and conceptual thinking all in one idea. We threat women as symbols and objects violating their rights to be and denying their development. These stylistic paintings provide the truth.

My favorite painting was "Self Portrait as The Grand Odalisque". As i gazed on it i felt a strong connection between her presence and nature, i come from a country were people are intimate and personal and the composition and ornamental elements of this paintings reminded me of the way my people carry themselves. It spoke of purity, simplicity, beauty, uniqueness and so many other things, the carvings were perfect and I believe that they can have a show of their own. It speaks to me as a study of the mind and dreams, wishes of freedom and desire to break the chains of the patriarchy, her face is shown as someone who has a lot to say but can't, someone who is forced to wait to express themselves.

Work Cited

"ABOUT." Hiba Schahbaz. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

Extra Credit Assignment

Jon-Carlos Sosa
Professor Cacoilo
April 29, 2017
Extra Credit Assignment

The Newark Museum

The Newark Museum located in Newark, New Jersey is a prestigious museum that carries an incredible amount of distinguished art collections from around the globe.  The Museum has collections from Western Hemisphere and also has collections that include Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian and Southeast Asian Art.  A main focus in this museum is the american art collection called "Seeing America".  "The renowned American art collection, on view in Seeing America, ranges from Colonial portraiture to a superb collection of Hudson River School landscape paintings, folk  and outsider art, as well as major works of modern and contemporary art in all media." (Newark)

From the "Seeing America" collection, it was essential to focus on the 18th  & 19th-Century exhibit.  The exhibit has many different sub galleries and the main attraction that I would like to focus on on two paintings from  the "Gretchen W. and James L. Johnson Gallery".

The first painting I would like to focus on from the selected gallery is Florine Stettheimer's Flower Piece from 1921. 

 The message in the title displayed the flower piece to be as:

 "Stettheimer has used an abstract vocabulary to create an image that has a sense of delicacy, whimsy and beauty.  The handles and stem of the vase look so fragile they would break if disturbed.  The paint in the flowers seems to have a all its own, at moments becoming thick and having tremendous presence, other time becoming lines of color that have nothing to do with making the flowers look real."

The message I feel addresses the issue of gender, patriarchy and feminism.  It represents these issues from all through the flowers, representing the female gender, which are living in this weak vase.  Moreover, the vase can be ideally representing this society and its weak mind of gender roles in this patriarchy structure of the 1920s.  

The artwork actually does catch the eye.  It catches the eye with the variety of color and ideal flowers painted for the audience to see.  I think without the description provided by the little plaque, it may go unnoticed to just a regular bystander with no art background.

It is an important to the discussion art due to impact it contributed to modernism movement.  The exhibition gallery for this museum does impact the significance of the painting.  It can be seen with other paintings that help contribute to the modernism movement.  An example of an other painting from the same gallery is Georgia O'Keefe's White Flower on Red Earth, No. 1 from 1943.  Overall, with the use of the gallery, it does creates a feeling for an observer to create a wonder to why are the images being painting and what is the true meaning being represented.  It encourages the observer to look outside of the museum for answers.

Work Cited:

Newark Museum Visitor's Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2017, from http://www.newarkmuseum.org/sites/default/files/NewarkMuseum_VisitorGuide.pdf

Extra Credit- Hiba Schahbaz

Karan Patel
Professor Cacoilo
Art and Women
29 April, 2017

Hiba Schahbaz, Self Portraits Exhibit

Hiba Schahbaz is a Pakistani female artist born and raised in Karachi. She received her BFA from the National College of Arts in Lahore, and when she moved to Brooklyn, New York later in her life she received her MFA from Pratt Institute. Schahbaz's most well known art style is Indo-Persian miniaturist painting. Her art exhibition which I will be discussing in this post is known as Self Portraits is displayed at Empty Space at Gateway Projects in Newark, New Jersey; it is an exhibition at Project For Empty Space’s inaugural Feminist Incubator program, GRAB BACK which is a continuous exhibition displaying artworks encouraging the empowerment and freedom of women.

Hiba Schahbaz, Self Portrait as The Grand Odalisque, 2016

As it is written on the wall carving in the exhibition, as well as the Project for Empty Space website, the themes surrounding her artwork mostly “explore female identity through form and subversive questioning of ‘the gaze.’”(Project for Empty Space). In the male predominated artistic world of Indo-Persian miniaturist painting, Schahbaz challenges the male gaze over women by painting nudes of herself through her own viewpoint. Expanding on this, according to her biography on her personal website, she defines her artistic methods in which she uses as support for themes displayed in her artwork as “In my work, I am both the artist and the performer. I photograph my body and use these images as references for my paintings. Through the stories I create I contemplate what it means to be a woman. These works addresses issues of personal freedom, destruction, sexuality and censorship by unveiling the beauty, fragility and strength of the female form” (Hiba Schahbaz.com).

Hiba Schahbaz, Self Portraits, 2016

As Schahbaz grew up in a traditional and conservative Muslim culture which rejects the paintings of nude women (especially by other women), Schahbaz was looked down upon by her family and by the rest of her society. “Traditionally, this type of painting was dominated by male artists; there is little evidence of female practitioners during its high period in South Asian from the early sixteenth through mid-nineteenth centuries. Women were frequently either the subjector ancillary ‘decorative’ figures. The way in which the female figure frequently functions in traditional Mughal miniature painting is in parallel to Western portraiture of a similar era, a topic which intrigues Schahbaz.”(Project for Empty Space). This quote expands on how significant Schahbaz's artwork is, since she is a woman who takes up what has been a majorly male dominated artistic style for centuries and uses to completely subvert the male gaze that has objectified women in her society. This symbolizes her addressing gender roles in her own society where women are subjected to be thought to be known as lesser than men all the while not being able to have the same freedoms as them to express themselves (painting nude paintings for example). Also her artwork addresses the patriarchal society that reinforces these gender roles since she adds female perspective to miniature painting, which has largely never even been considered considered in this art style for centuries. As a combination of both of these protests in her artwork, it can be derived that Hiba Schahbaz is a feminist as she against patriarchal domination of females; her artwork can also be seen as a beacon of inspiration to other aspiring female Muslim artists. The grand scale of which she paints some of her pieces are also significant as most miniature artwork is done on a small scale. This makes Schahbaz's Self Portraits even more empowering since it rebels on the very traditions that miniaturist style is based on, which even further supports it’s own message against the traditions of patriarchy since the style is predominantly patriarchal.

The Projects for Empty Space venue which exhibits Self Portraits definitely adds to the meaning of the entire exhibition. Project for Empty Space (as described on their curatorial material) is “a not-for-profit organization that creates socially engaging, multidisciplinary art exhibitions and programming that encourage social dialogue, education, and systemic movement towards equitability and empathy.” (Projects for Empty Space Curatorial Material). However, the exhibit itself is a part of an inaugural Feminist Incubator program named GRAB BACK, this program (according to the curatorial statement in the exhibit) “is prompted by mainstream attention to what has become a normalized climate of hyper-misogyny, rape-culture, and dehumanization of women [and] is a means of cultivating productive and critical intersectional dialogue and response to a violence against humanity.” (Projects for Empty Space curatorial material). What this basically means in short is that GRAB BACK, exhibits art that brings the topics it discusses such as rape-culture to light due to the fact that mainstream society today has blatantly just become normalized to it. The same can also be said about the unjust patriarchy that exists in the artworld, which is also brought to light in the programs exhibits.

Hiba Schahbaz, Self-Portrait as Eve, 2016

To be completely honest, I’m not completely sure if when, where, and how the audience would see the project would majorly affect the effect or meaning they would receive from the exhibit. However, I do know and realize that seeing a reproduction online does not offer the same effect as seeing the work in person. As I entered the Self Portraits exhibit, I felt mesmerized by Schahbaz's use of unique colors in her paintings as well as the scale of her works. When I viewed her artworks online before visiting the exhibit, I was certainly intrigued however not as mesmerized as seeing it in person. Seeing the work in person gave me more artistic appreciation for Schahbaz's work as well as being able to actually feel what she is trying to express in her art by being in front of it.

In conclusion, Hiba Schahbaz’s Self Portraits are a marvel that is extremely important to the discussion of art, as it protests the patriarchy that still exists to this day in other countries besides our own and keeps us in discussion about how we need to change it for the better.

Hiba Schahbaz, Self Portrait, 2016

Hiba Schahbaz, Self Portrait as Sleeping Venus, 2017

Curatorial Material

Curatorial Material

Work Cited

"ABOUT." Hiba Schahbaz. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

Space, Project For Empty. "Hiba Schahbaz: Self Portraits." Project for Empty Space | Artsy. N.p., 06 Apr. 2017. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.