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women

women, graphic design
Sugar-Power-Women
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This popped into my head as I was going to sleep last night. The best time for art ideas. It’s a Homer Simpson quote from one of my favorite episodes. Can you guess which one?

August 7, 2008
Photoshop
photography, portrait, women, style
Alter Ego
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I was invited to be in an art show called Alter Ego. For several months, I’ve had the idea to do some art/fashion portraits of the regular characters I inhabit in the theater of my head. I wanted to show the inner alter egos we all have, how we see ourselves in fantasies, daydreams, and also the male/female anatomy that makes up our psyche that may go unacknowledged. I don’t really express either persona on the outside at all, but maybe things do come out slightly and don’t get fully explained in my words or actions. This show gave me an opportunity to execute these ideas. There was one character I missed but I hadn’t quite thought her out yet, and I didn’t have the right outfit on hand anyways. Everything is completely self-styled, self-shot, and the shirts in both photos are my creations. These photos are amateurish, I know, but I think this gives them an intimate, honest and immediate feel.

Alter Ego I (if I were a guy)
May 2008
18″ x 24″ print

Most of the time I’m not a girly-girl. I call people “man” a lot. I feel more comfortable having male friends than female friends. And I wonder from time to time what it’d be like to be a guy. How would I look? How would I carry myself? Walk? Stand? How would I dress? Would I be considered good-looking or dorky or ugly? I was trying to think of all the guys I know and how they stand and position their arms, necks, shoulders… body language. It was actually physically uncomfortable to stand like a man. I had to mentally push my hips and butt out of the way, and the awkwardness showed in the shots where I was standing. Although I think my choice of pants had something to do with that - they needed to be looser and more concealing of curves. Here I look like a cross between my dad and my uncle (on my mom’s side). It’s weird. Closeup of the shirt is here.

Alter Ego II (the diva)
May 2008
18″ x 24″ print

This is the Diva. Dramatic, eccentric, elegant, bold, aloof one second, loud the next, ultra feminine. I like how the makeup came out. Operatic (female) but also drag queen (male). Detail of self-made shirt here.

Basic Self/Test Shot

Outtakes

I’ve been thinking about a shoot like this since last fall, and especially had the idea to wear a small hat or beehive hairdo thrust towards the forehead, but had neither the hat nor hair to do so. Also working against too little time & too much humidity in my non-climate-controlled studio.
women, observations
Fabrotica
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I mentioned in my last post that I was going to Katy Heinlein’s show at Women & Their Work, Unknown Pleasures. I wasn’t disappointed. On a compositional/first-impression level, all the pieces were wonderful examples of balanced, yet exciting design: straight lines contrasted with ripples, muted tones and bright, almost neon colors. Then, as I took several more looks at the work, the intellectualism of form was overtaken by the erotic: many pieces consisted of rigid, phallic shapes rising from the ground concealed by folds of fabric, or lush billows of fabric strategically constrained.

The only thing I felt taken aback by was the scale. From looking at the images online, I expected the exhibit to consist of 3-4 grand installations taking up the whole room. Rather, there were about 10 pieces, no larger than 4 ft. high, some on the floor, some posted to the wall. I’m very rarely one to read into/look for the erotic in everything, usually I get a little turned off by it, so to speak, but the conversation between head and groin in Heinlein’s work showed neither entity was being taken too seriously, which is refreshing to see in Austin. I smiled.
women, critique
The Gender of Grassroots
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When you look at a cross-section of the grassroots, contemporary visual arts upstarts in Austin, most were founded by men, or a majority of men form the entities running these spaces (Okay Mountain, ArtPalace, Mass Gallery, Bolm Studios, Fresh Up Club, to name a few). In this brief and underdeveloped analysis, I am not including established institutions that serve contemporary artists such as Women & Their Work, Arthouse, Creative Research Lab, Gallery Lombardi, and AVAA, which do feature women in prominent positions.

But when approached from a traditional angle of defined gender roles, does the perceived nurturing sense of women add something to ensure the longevity of organizations? Can breakout efforts organized by male-dominated groups be seen as a projectiles into the universe that eventually fizzle? Does it go back to the whole male birth-envy thing? Or is it simply the nature of the project, to be short-lived and unsustainable? I think, and I’m sure others would agree with me, that Pump Project - initially organized and run by men as Shady Tree Studios - would have fallen apart by now if it wasn’t for the fact that a handful of women were accepted/forced our way into leadership.

Should what appears to be a gender gap, in the visual art scene is, or should be, an issue at all in the 21st century? Is it some PC/affirmative action-type issue that needs to be addressed? Or is it time to move on to a merit-based system where it’s ultimately the quality of work that matters, not one’s gender.

I just wonder because there seem to be few visible women taking on prominent roles in the emerging local art community. And I don’t mean they’re out there trumpeting, “Hey, look at me, I’m a female and organizing this great show/space/collective!” I just mean giving credit where credit is due.
women, paintings
Svata
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2007

Acrylic and puff paint on vintage fabric, 18″ x 24″

$175