Studio 1
OverviewTitle: Is Infidelity A Virus?
Size: 48 x 24 in Medium: Digital/Photoshop Completion: August 2023 Exhibition TextMy piece by the name of, "Is Infidelity A Virus," is inspired by the many posters and artworks created by the anonymous art group, Guerrilla Girls. "Is Infidelity A Virus," is a digital print with the size, 48 x 24 inches and was created by utilizing the Photopea Photoshop application. My piece uses the quote, "Women are not just flowers for men to pick," in Futura font with a photo of a daisy and a photograph of Pamela Anderson taken from her starring in the action movie, "Baywatch," to convey the message and bring attention toward the frequency with which men take advantage of women.
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inspiration
![Picture](/uploads/1/4/2/8/142850208/published/2015-8-66-cropped.jpg?1693491379)
I took heavy inspiration from the anonymous art group, Guerrilla Girls. To combat discrimination against women artists and artists of color in the art world, the feminist artist protest collective known as the Guerrilla Girls was founded. Later on, the group's focus expanded to include broader societal issues. The group decided to look for innovative ways to combat inequality in the arts after criticizing an MoMA art exhibit. They chose to protest in a guerrilla fashion, wearing gorilla masks in public and using pseudonyms honoring famous female artists from the past to keep the attention on the issues rather than on their particular personalities.
The feminist art group Guerrilla Girls was primarily formed in protest of a 1984 exhibition by the Museum of Modern: An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. The exhibition was produced to represent the world's best artists, yet out of the 169 artists shown in the exhibition, only thirteen of said artists were women. A year following the protest, the group began using street art as a way to spread their message to the world, primarily the art world. The piece in which I took the most inspiration, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?" by Guerrilla Girls was first advertised on buses but was then taken off by the bus companies as the photograph was seen as "suggestive."
The advertisement titled "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum?" by the anonymous group Guerrilla Girls shows a woman lying naked on a sheet (taken from Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres's painting Grande Odalisque,) holding a fan and wearing a gorilla mask, similar to the women in the group, to combine an aspect of humor into the art they create and provoke a response within their intended audience.
The group visited the Met Museum in 1989 and took note of every painting of a nude woman, the number of female artists against the (majority) male artists, as well as the number of artists of color being displayed.
The screenprint displays irony as they ask "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?" and showcases a naked woman. The bottom portion of the text provides insight into the discrimination towards women as well as people of color occurring within the Met. Museum. Guerrilla Girls' decision to use bold lettering, colored text to emphasize key data, and specific colors that tend to draw attention to the advertisement portray how the screenprint was precisely designed with advertising techniques in mind. As intended, the poster received a large amount of attention and was even showcased at the Met. Museum.
The feminist art group Guerrilla Girls was primarily formed in protest of a 1984 exhibition by the Museum of Modern: An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture. The exhibition was produced to represent the world's best artists, yet out of the 169 artists shown in the exhibition, only thirteen of said artists were women. A year following the protest, the group began using street art as a way to spread their message to the world, primarily the art world. The piece in which I took the most inspiration, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?" by Guerrilla Girls was first advertised on buses but was then taken off by the bus companies as the photograph was seen as "suggestive."
The advertisement titled "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum?" by the anonymous group Guerrilla Girls shows a woman lying naked on a sheet (taken from Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres's painting Grande Odalisque,) holding a fan and wearing a gorilla mask, similar to the women in the group, to combine an aspect of humor into the art they create and provoke a response within their intended audience.
The group visited the Met Museum in 1989 and took note of every painting of a nude woman, the number of female artists against the (majority) male artists, as well as the number of artists of color being displayed.
The screenprint displays irony as they ask "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?" and showcases a naked woman. The bottom portion of the text provides insight into the discrimination towards women as well as people of color occurring within the Met. Museum. Guerrilla Girls' decision to use bold lettering, colored text to emphasize key data, and specific colors that tend to draw attention to the advertisement portray how the screenprint was precisely designed with advertising techniques in mind. As intended, the poster received a large amount of attention and was even showcased at the Met. Museum.
planning
![Picture](/uploads/1/4/2/8/142850208/published/p50.png?1693920773)
To plan for my first senior project, I created a few sketches to represent my ideas. At first, I thought I wanted to create a feminism-based digital piece with key features of only the Guerrilla Girls' piece called, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum?". After much research, I decided to use multiple pieces made by Guerrilla Girls to better broaden my art piece. I wanted to incorporate flowers into my art as well. After viewing the color offset lithograph on wove paper poster made by Guerrilla Girls for the film, "The Birth of Feminism," I realized I wanted to involve a celebrity "sex symbol" in my art piece. I decided to use a photograph of someone who was on the poster, as my previous pick would have been Marilyn Monroe, with whom I have already completed a project around. I chose to incorporate the famous actress, Pamela Anderson who was one of the three women in the film and poster for, "The Birth of Feminism." I had a few photos in mind to choose from, all being full-body pictures to ensure that nothing was cut out. I plan to use the photo of Pamela Anderson to compare against a flower. I want to use a quote that references infidelity. In that, I also wanted to make my quote similar in tone to the quotes used by Guerrilla Girls in their many art pieces. The group is often described as "rhetorical" and "ironic" based on the way they send their messages of feminism and antiracism through their many art pieces. As data analysis was also a key feature in a majority of the Guerrilla Girls pieces, I hoped to include some form of data. I plan on utilizing Photopea to complete my digital poster, sizing at 2 feet by 1 foot.
process
experimentation
Throughout the process of my project, I primarily experimented with editing the appearance of photos, creating PNGs, fonts, wording, and the general organization of the features on the poster. I had two photographs of daisies to choose from. The outcome of editing the two photos helped me decide on which to incorporate into my final draft. At first, I wanted to make the entire poster black and white to make it similar to some of the Guerrilla Girls' less popular art pieces. When I finalized the Guerrilla Girls poster which I took primary inspiration from, I decided to make everything colored. For the photo of the daisy, I adjusted the brightness, contrast, and vibrance of the photo. I also utilized a 3D element featured on the Photopea website to make the daisy more realistic. I also had two potential photos of Pamela Anderson to use. After much difficulty using the "Magic Cut" tool on Photopea with the first photo, I tried the tool on the second photo and had a much smoother experience which resulted in its inclusion in the final draft. I also experimented with the different forms of the Futura font included in the poster as well as the wording of the texts. Overall, I simply decided to use two forms of the font, bold and extra bold. I used the bolded font for the quote in the middle of the poster which asks, "Is infidelity a virus?" I used the extra-bold font on all of the other wordings around the poster. I experimented with the color of the layout as well which resulted in three options for the final draft of the art piece. The first poster had a burgundy background, black lettering, and yellow bolding of words I thought were significant. The second poster I made had an orange-yellow background, with black writing and burgundy-colored bolded words. The final poster only changed the background color, making the background have less of an orange hue.
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critique
When comparing the two pieces of artwork: my piece, "Is Infidelity A Virus," and the Guerrilla Girls' piece, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum," I primarily look at details such as font, color choice, and tone. I took the understanding from research that the font used by Guerrilla Girls in the group's piece, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum," as well as many other artworks, is called Futura. I also chose to use the Futura font to build similarity between the pieces. However, with a close inspection of my final piece, I see that the text appears to be slightly wider compared to the art made by my inspiration. I decided to use the same color palette as used by my inspiration's artwork. I made sure to use a color sampler when creating my piece to get the perfect shades. The backgrounds, text, and bolded words are all the same color when compared to the Guerrilla Girls' piece. I attempted to use a similar tone from my inspiration as well. And lastly, both titles of our works are in the form of a question, which is also showcased on the poster itself.
When contrasting the two pieces, I focus on space, subject, sizing, and analysis. My poster utilizes space to move the audience's focus to the subjects in my piece, unlike the Guerrilla Girls' piece which has a lack of space due to a large portion of text. While the subject in my inspiration's piece takes up almost half of the space on the poster, my subjects, in contrast, don't take up nearly as much. The dimensions of our posters are different as well. The piece titled, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum," has a dimension of 11 x 28 inches. My piece, in disparity, is 24 x 48 inches. The Guerrilla Girls' poster also has an analysis of data, whereas mine does not.
When contrasting the two pieces, I focus on space, subject, sizing, and analysis. My poster utilizes space to move the audience's focus to the subjects in my piece, unlike the Guerrilla Girls' piece which has a lack of space due to a large portion of text. While the subject in my inspiration's piece takes up almost half of the space on the poster, my subjects, in contrast, don't take up nearly as much. The dimensions of our posters are different as well. The piece titled, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum," has a dimension of 11 x 28 inches. My piece, in disparity, is 24 x 48 inches. The Guerrilla Girls' poster also has an analysis of data, whereas mine does not.
Reflection
Overall, I am satisfied with the way the final draft of my project turned out. I believe my work, "Is Infidelity A Virus," looks very comparable to the piece by Guerrilla Girls, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum?" In retrospect, I wish I had incorporated some form of data analysis in my piece to make my piece even more similar to the piece created by the Guerrilla Girls. As I continue to work with the Photopea application, I feel as though I am improving my skills within photoshop, although I could still improve further. I think the biggest challenge I encountered was attempting to make this piece connect to my previous projects, although I do believe I connected them successfully with the theme of feminism and using a flower as one of the primary subjects. Through the subject of flowers, this piece connects to previous artworks such as, "Growth," "A Devil's Snare," and, "A Story Told From Different Sides," Through digital creation, this project ties together to my pieces, "Monroe," and, "Stepping Into A New Mindset." My favorite part of the piece is the cutouts of the subjects. I believe I did a decent job using the Magic Cut tool on the Photopea website to create a smooth cutout. My least favorite part of the project is the lack of data analysis. I think if I had added a data analysis to the poster, it would have looked better visually and added more depth to the piece.
AcT connection
1.) Clearly explain how you can identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork:
My primary inspiration for this project is, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum," by Guerrilla Girls which has a yellow background, bold black and magenta futura lettering, a photograph taken from another artist, and a question within the art piece, similar to my art piece.
2.) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Guerrilla Girls has a somewhat different approach than my usual approach regarding the topic of feminism. Their approach is humorous while my approach is usually more serious.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some conclusions I've discovered are that the problems and experiences that women face are often overlooked and dismissed.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was feminism and the common experiences of women.
5.) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached based on evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Some inferences I made while reading my research is that, especially in the art world, women and people of color are often overlooked and under-represented.
My primary inspiration for this project is, "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum," by Guerrilla Girls which has a yellow background, bold black and magenta futura lettering, a photograph taken from another artist, and a question within the art piece, similar to my art piece.
2.) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Guerrilla Girls has a somewhat different approach than my usual approach regarding the topic of feminism. Their approach is humorous while my approach is usually more serious.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some conclusions I've discovered are that the problems and experiences that women face are often overlooked and dismissed.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was feminism and the common experiences of women.
5.) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached based on evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
Some inferences I made while reading my research is that, especially in the art world, women and people of color are often overlooked and under-represented.
Citations
- “Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?” Nga.gov, 2016, www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.139856.html.
- Guerrilla Girls. “Guerrilla Girls | Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?” Metmuseum.org, 2022, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/849438#:~:text=They%20included%20the%20statistics%20in.
- “Guerrilla Girls Archive (Getty Research Institute).” Www.getty.edu, www.getty.edu/research/special_collections/notable/guerrilla_girls.html#:~:text=Guerrilla%20Girls%20grew%20out%20of.
- Tate. “Guerrilla Girls | Tate.” Tate, 2013, www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/guerrilla-girls-6858.
- The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Guerrilla Girls | History, Mission, Activities, & Facts | Britannica.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Guerrilla-Girls.