Post 3

Although I have already seen this exhibit before, I decided to revisit the museum exhibition of The Guerilla Girls. The story of The Guerilla Girls starts in 1984 when a group of vigilantes wearing gorilla masks took to the streets of New York City. To preserve their identities, they assumed pseudonyms taken from deceased famous and important female figures like Gertrude Stein and Frida Kahlo. The Guerilla Girls called themselves the ‘conscience of the art world’, and began a poster campaign that targeted “museums, dealers, curators, critics and artists who they felt were actively responsible for, or complicit in, the exclusion of women and non-white artists from mainstream exhibitions and publications.” As a result, their goal became to shame the art world for its under representation of women artists.

I believe that the ideas and themes of the exhibition include The Guerilla Girls’ answer to the questions about the possibilities of a world where everyone is considered to be equal.  For example, almost every piece created incorporates aspects of what was and still is of current feminist focus such as: the intersectionality of race, class, and gender. Today, where women still earn less than men and women of color earn even less, The Guerilla Girls summed up this problem in their 1985 untitled poster, “Women in America earn only 2/3 of what men do. Women artists earn only 1/3 of what men artists do.” The Guerilla Girls projected their personal identity towards someone else. Hence, the gorilla masks and the pseudonyms. The reason for this, I believe, is because it reinforced these important women’s’ presence in history. Also, in order to make their audience solely focused on the issues their artwork conveyed and not their personalities. The Guerilla Girls are also telling their audiences and the gallery that women deserve to have a place in the art world and deserve to have their work shown in galleries. By having their own work shown as an exhibit, it sends a statement to the rest of the artworld that their message is necessary.

‘Dearest Art Collector’ (1986) is a well known poster by The Guerilla Girls. Shortly after the formed, they sent out this poster to well-known art collectors. This poster addressed how these art collectors owned few works created by women artists. It is written on a bright pink paper in black cursive script, which oozes femininity. This poster also contains a small flower on the top and is signed “all our love” to amplify the sarcasm that The Guerilla Girls are known for. By creating this poster, they are combating the expectation that even when women are voicing their opinion, it should be done in a polite and respectful way.

Another work I would like to discuss is ‘The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist’ (1988). As stated before, sarcasm and irony was a major part of how the Guerilla Girls convey their messages. In this poster, thirteen points as to why women should consider themselves to be “lucky” as an artist are listed. This includes: “working without pressure of success”, “having an escape from the art world in your 4 free-lance jobs”, and “having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood”.

References

“Confessions of the Guerilla Girls.” Guerrilla Girls, www.guerrillagirls.com/confessions_interview/.

“Guerrilla Girls.” Interview Magazine, 23 Mar. 2012, www.interviewmagazine.com/art/guerrilla-girls.

Tate. “Guerrilla Girls.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/guerrilla-girls-6858.