artist you should know / faith ringgold

i have been so bad at art posts lately, and i'm going to try to be better about it! i have been planning to share this very special artist all month, but somehow have had so many other things to post about i didn't have a spot for her. but enough is enough, you all need to know faith ringgold.

faith ringgold, self portrait, 1965

i hadn't heard of faith ringgold before i interned at the national museum of women in the arts. on our first day in dc, jarman and i visited both places we would be working at that semester. when we walked through the museum, there was an exhibit on ringgold's works. i could immediately tell they were political, so sadly i walked right past them. i always insist to jarman that i hate all things political, so i had to make the point that i also didn't like political art. 

on my first day of work at the museum, i attended a lecture on faith ringgold and my eyes were opened. her works are truly important in our country's history, and sadly there are many people that don't know about her. many of her works still haven't been purchased by museums because of their controversial yet blunt connotations. i am seriously embarrassed that i had the gall to walk past such honest works, and have learned a lesson.

faith ringgold, the flag is bleeding, 1967

about the artist:

faith ringgold started painting in the sixties. think about that for a second- she was a black woman painting during the civil rights movement? do you think she was respected or heard? absolutely not. but she continued to paint and show her side of the story. she approached other black painters at the time, but they didn't respect her as a female artist. she finally got a big break and was given the opportunity to paint in a large studio, while her children lived with her mother for the summer. this was when she created her largest works, and pulled out all the stops. her early works (like these paintings) are actually her least popular. later in her life she began making story quilts and children's books that are much more well renowned.

faith ringgold, die, 1967

die, 1967:

pablo picasso, guernica, 1937

nicholas poussin, the abduction of the sabine women, 1634-35

tony smith, die, 1962

this piece is my favorite of her early works. it is so bloody and scary, but has so many great connections to the art historical past while showing something new. she clearly pulls from picasso's famous work guernica with the black and white boxy background and planar arrangement. the subject matter also matches picasso's work, which shows the effects of war on the population.  i also feel like she was looking at the many paintings of the taking of the sabine women- the ancient story of the roman men stealing the sabine women for the empire- with the men and women fighting and the children looking directly and cautiously out. because the painting is not confined to the canvas- people's bodies literally spread across the edges- i think it is almost frieze like. in greek and roman temples the frieze was a continuous relief sculpture above the columns and went all the way around the temple, often showing a battle between centaurs and humans, amazons and humans, etc. like a frieze, ringold's scene spreads past the canvas, which shows that racial battles spread across the united states. lastly, her title evokes an interesting meaning as well - ringgold was working during the sixties, a time when minimalism reigned and figuration was no longer scene. her works show more than the human form, they show the angst of a nation. in 1962, just a few years before this work was created, tony smith created his famous 6'x6'x6' metal cube and titled it die. while his work has lots of it's own evocations, it fails to show the state of the united states social upheaval. ringgold's painting, though scary and at times hard to confront, is an honest portrayal of our countries past, and truly shows her side of the story.

contemporary artist / nikki lee on nmwa's blog

for the first time ever my writing was featured on a different blog! i am so delighted! i mean, it is the blog at the museum where i do my internship, so it may not be as exciting, but still. at the national museum for women in the arts we focus on women (obviously) and how to increase their visibility in the art world. i was working on writing some self-tour guides, and one of the artists i researched was nikki lee. i had never heard of her before, but her work is fascinating. here is the post that was featured on nmwa's blog. 

Part (14), Nikki S. Lee, 2002

Fluid Identities: The "Parts" and "Projects" of Nikki Lee

The old cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words” may actually be true of  photographs by Nikki S. Lee in NMWA’s collection. In her series “Parts,” Lee curates scenes of herself with a significant other showing intimate dynamics and details of a relationship, then physically cuts her partner out of each printed photograph.

This mysterious process imbues meaning and surprise: Lee often created varied, in-depth narratives around her scenes, from routine day-to-day activities to cheerful tourist-style snapshots, to a woman on her wedding day. Her cuts force viewers to focus on the emotions—anger, heartbreak, a wish to forget—with which someone might cut a formerly beloved person out of a photo.

In an interview, Lee said, “The purpose of the cut is to make people curious about the missing person and to think how his identity has affected the woman who is left behind. It forces people to examine the relationship itself, even if it is only part of the story.”

the seniors project (26), nikki s. lee, 1999

The “Projects” series is less about artistic beauty, and more about exploring the many facets of oneself. Lee has said that each of the roles she played during this project made up a piece of her. She examines the ways that a person can be made up of many disparate identities and personality traits, and she also examines the way that being surrounded by different groups of people who share those traits can completely change how you are perceived by others.This series is not Lee’s first major photographic undertaking. For her “Projects” series, Lee insinuated herself into subcultural groups, working for two to three months to be accepted in each social group. These groups included seniors, Hispanics, swingers, yuppies, lesbians, and others. For each project, Lee changed what she wore, where she shopped, and how she presented herself. After she had spent time with them, she would ask a friend or passerby snap a picture of the group. These photographs—simultaneously staged and casual—are less than professional, even including the date and timestamp from the small digital cameras used to take them.

Each of Lee’s series analyzes the deeper meanings of outward identities. She focuses on how identities can be changed by who we surround ourselves with, what we wear, and how we act. While “Parts” spotlights the ways the relationships affect our lives, “Projects” demonstrates the fluidity of identity that people use to define others as well as themselves.