Brainstormers’ Weather Report.
13 Mar 2006
I have to say that the Brainstormers’ Weather Report comes quite à propos in light of the article I am writing about Hotel California at Glendale College Art Gallery. As the show was regrouping 20 paintings, 17 were created by female artists. Such an atypical situation, regarding the fact that this exhibition was not titled a “female group show”, seemed destined to create the kind of comment I found:
__”Although, I would like to ask Dan and Roger (note: Daniel Hug and Roger Dickes, curators of the exhibition) if there isn’t a second intention with the show. I mean, seventeen women and three men? (I wonder what a painter’s census in California might reveal? I don’t mean to count, but somebody probably did somewhere along the line. Or is there really gender weight in the story of painting here in SoCal?) Not that there is anything wrong with that. I’m just sayin’.”
And while this gentleman is blogging himself, I can quote him without feeling obliged to hide him behind anonymity. Mesdames, Messieurs, let me introduce you to Dennis Hollingsworth, whose work was part of the show. So let’s make this clear, first, when the number of female artists surpass the number of male artists represented at a show, someone (insert name) will assume that somehow there might have been a second intention other than just being willing to represent what the painting production in LA is about, because let’s be serious, it can’t be represented only by women! and second, someone (insert name) will describe this “event” in term of “gender weight”. Let’s then assume that males don’t carry any gender, only females do.
Now, let’s get back to Brainstorms’ informatively scary graphs. Between the various screen captures from Chelsea galleries website, the Whitney Biennial percentages (first image below - blue representing male, magenta for female) and the last percentages showing that a majority of female are graduating from the MFA programs in the Tri-State, it’s clear that something, somewhere got (is) wrong. It would be certainly enlightening to produce the same sort of graphs for the LA region.
(All images, screen captures from the Brainstormers Spring 2006 Report seen on their website)
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