Guerrilla Girls storm St. Louis
In 1985, the Museum of Modern Art in New York opened an exhibition titled “An International Survey of Painting and Sculpture.” The curator, Kynaston McShine, was proud to present the most significant contemporary art in the world. So proud, in fact, that he stated that any artist who was not in the show should rethink “his” career. Yet, out of the 169 artists exhibited, only 13 were women (most were white males), from either the U.S. or Europe.
Out of this, the Guerrilla Girls were born. They didn’t simply rethink their careers. They began to question the art world and its insistence on discriminating against women artists. In the 20 years since, this anonymous group of gorilla-mask clad women has reclaimed humor, the word “girl,” and the names of dead women artists to expose sexism and racism in politics, the art world, and culture at large.
They’ve produced over 100 posters, stickers, books, printed projects, and they’ve broad-flyered the insides of big-name New York museum bathrooms with facts like “Women in America earn only 2/3 of what men do. Women artists earn only 1/3 of what men do” (1985). Also quoted, “In 1987, 2.4% of major films were directed by women. By 1999, that number rose to a whopping 4%” (2001). However much we’d like to think that these issues have gone away, the Guerrilla Girls remind us that they have not.
With names like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keefe and Gertrude Stein, the Guerrilla Girls pride themselves on reinventing feminism. They’ve dubbed themselves the “Conscience of Culture,” declaring “they are feminist counterparts to the mostly male tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Batman, and the Lone Ranger”.
This Friday, the Guerrilla Girls come to the Contemporary Art Museum for a reception at 6 p.m., followed by a free public lecture at 7 and a masked reception at 8 p.m. They are expected to share excerpts from their latest book “Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls Illustrated Guide to Female Stereotypes,” along with, of course, airborne bananas.
They will also be performing on Tuesday, Nov. 15 in the Gargoyle at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale in Mallinckrodt.
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