My tribe...

... Or, giving credit where it is due, or the appreciation of what was, or those women that have contributed to my growth as an artist and human being. I feel compelled to write about these women as not only were they each unique, brilliant and strong, but they helped me as a student of art and as a woman about life. That is not to say there weren't other artists, male artists, that did not inform my mental make up as it pertained to art, but, I feel enough has already been said about them.

Alice Neel

A feminist- unconventional, refusing to fit into any popular art movement, and so being true to what she believed art should be.  A grandmotherly looking figure; she was fantastically refreshing in the way she worked. While minimalism, post-minimalism, pop, expressionism and modern art, held the art world in their grasp for the bulk of the 1900s, Ms. Neel was painting landscapes and people. For me, it is her people paintings that hold the most interest. Notice I am not saying portraits, but people. Each painting is at first glance a painting of person, however it refuses to remain a surface exploration. Each work delves into the complexity of being human, leaving the viewer with a reading on the model as a person complete with thoughts, feeling, personality, depth and a history all of their own. No two paintings are the same. I am going to write about Alice Neel again in another post when I discuss the 'female gaze' and feminism in art.

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This is a self portrait of Alice Neel done in 1980. In this painting, if she were clothed, we would see her as a grandmotherly old lady, except she isn't clothed and unlike most female nudes, which tend to be sexualised, youthful and objectified, she isn't. We see her with her brush and rag in hand. We see her looking directly at the viewer. She isn't shy. She sees us just as much as we see her. And when we do, we see her as she sees herself- a woman, an artist, complete, whole and confident.

Eva Hesse

"I think art is a total thing. A total person giving a contribution. It is an essence, a soul.. In my inner soul art and life are inseparable"- Eva Hesse**

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Unlike Neel, who lived and worked a long career, Hesse was only 34 when she passed away from cancer. However, in that short time, she delivered a powerful body of work, much of which has not survived. Using fiber-glass, wire and threads, her work spoke of her delicate sensibility, adding a psychological fragility to the work, mirroring her own struggles with illness, both physical and mental. She juxtaposed opposites, big with small, soft with hard, geometric with biomorphic, painting with sculpture creating a quirky sensibility that defied the emotional coldness of minimalism.  Eva Hesse was beautiful and that came with its own set of challenges. In a world where most women were seen as subject matter or objects and muses that men used to make great art, her battle for acceptance and recognition as an intellectual, capable artist was even more challenging. Hesse, along with Neel, generate questions about gender equality and the biases within a profession that is supposed to nurture the social critics and thinkers of its time. 

As artists, we are all pulling from the same creative energy. Our expressions may be as different as our muses, but we are part of a chain, a link that existed before us and will extend after. In making art, these women contributed to generations down the line, even though in their eyes, they were merely doing something they felt compelled to do. In Hesse's words, her life and art were inseparable, a tribute to her honesty in her work, a view that I hold sacred as well.

References:

* picture from http://www.aliceneel.com/gallery/?mode=display&decade=8

** http://www.theartstory.org/artist-hesse-eva.htm

*** picture from http://jadegilchrist.blogspot.sg/2010/11/eva-hesse.html