10 FEMALE ARTISTS
You'd Better Know And Why
Women have a more robust presence in the art world than ever before. The women we choose to illuminate for this feature are among the well-known and the not-so-well-known. We selected a mix of eclectic talent from a diverse group of women. They have very different styles and make up a tapestry that taken separately or together is visually stunning. We urge you to learn about these women and their significant work. Nothing is quite as impressive as to learn and share knowledge. We love turning you on to the following women artists.
YAYOI KUSAMA
is a sensational artist from Japan who works in exquisite colors in painting, installations and film. She has had incredible majestic color works displayed in the last couple of years at major exhibitions all over the world. Dive in.
KARA WALKER
the bravest, most truthful artist who is working today. Her representations of race and gender are bold. Her mix of historical violence and sexuality is shocking but so true. She is a painter, silhouettist and she does massive installations. All forms of her art carry her unique vision throughout. Walker’s work is must-see.
ELIZABETH PEYTON
is an American contemporary artist working in painting, drawing and printmaking. Her brush strokes and color choices are mind-blowing and her portrait choices exude her feminine gaze, which is a very personal one and offers us a unique change. Her series on Kurt Cobain is otherworldly.
FAITH RINGGOLD
is 89 years young and a lifelong Harlem resident. Her work in painting, mixed media and narrative quilts is an incredible adventure through her eyes, her history and her vibrant color selections. Her quilt series called Tar Beach (better known to NewYorkers as the tar roof of their tenement buildings) are so alive you want to sit right down and join in. Her creative reaction to the race riots of the 60s is a masterpiece.
EUNICE GOLDEN
is an American feminist painter from NYC who is 93 years old and notorious for exploring sexuality using male nudes in brilliant, often-times abstract executions. Graphic and involving, her painting style and colors are stunning.
JENNY SAVILLE
is a British contemporary painter known for large scale nudes of women and portraits. She has a unique choppy, exaggerated and almost dirty feeling brushstroke that is impossible to dismiss. Check out her self-portrait, Branded, where she takes distortion and that nasty brushstroke to the extreme.
ALYSSA MONKS
is a Brooklyn-based American painter who specializes in enormous oil paintings she partially obscures with an original technique involving water, steam and vinyl. Wish she would teach us how she does it. It works and it is stunning work with unexpected color choices.
JANE LA FARGE HAMILL
is a painter and virtual reality artist who was living and working in Brooklyn and now resides on a farm in rural New Jersey. Her paintings are mesmerizing portraits of her interactions with people real and imagined. Her style seems fleeting but is capturing an emotional space. So cool, we need a studio visit.
VIJA CELMINS
is a Latvian-American artist dedicated to painting nature. Her photorealism works of oceans, stars, spider webs and rocks sweep you away. You can hear the roll of the waves in her seas. She is a marvel, indeed.
MARLENE DUMAS
is a contemporary South African artist living in the Netherlands. Her crazy-great paintings are intense and mind-bending as she explores sexuality, love, death and shame. Be prepared for very austere and ghostly images. After a minute or so, you’ll love the intense, charged nature of her creations.
