Yuko Shimizu

Yuko Shimizu is one of the most busiest and influential illustrators in the world. She received her B.F.A. and M.F.A from School of Visual Art in NY, and now she is a professor there also a freelance illustrator herself. She was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan (partially in NYC) and moved to NYC completely when she turned to 30. She is known for her illustrations of strong women, sexuality, and female empowerment.

She is very feminist, and also anti-Japan...

http://yukoart.com
http://www.drawger.com/yuko/

Hennessy youngman's advise on how to be an successful artist... pretty hilarious.. In this video he briefly mentions Cindy Sherman.

Shirin Neshat

Shirin Neshat is an Iranian visual artist and a film artist (now lives in New York City), and her works show the conflicts of the social, cultural, and religion in Muslim world. 

I don't practice Muslim, so am not familiar with anything deeper level,,, but her works are super strong to my eyes.

Shirin Neshat

Judy Chicago's Dinner Party

For five years, feminist artist Judy Chicago worked with a community of four hundred other artists, craftspeople and researchers to create "The Dinner Party," a monumental tribute to women of spirit and accomplishment throughout the ages - women whose names have been banished "right out of history." For over four of those five years, filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas followed the progress of "The Dinner Party," recording for posterity the alternately painstaking and exhilarating process of creating this work of unprecedented scale and beauty.

From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mrFRTEnMPQ

Fuyuko Matsui Explains Her Works

This is interesting video that she actually explains "pain" her paintings have, what is ghost painting,,, violence her paintings have...

Chinese "Iron Girls" Under the Communist

I found a really interesting aspect of "feminism" under the communist government while  I was reading a book. The book says that Chinese women have been treated equally by the communism, so Chinese women didn't have to go through such an oppressed moment by male dominated society like Korea and Japan. Women equally work with men, military system...

I was like, hmm that's kinda interesting point of view...

Like this,

and then, it reminds me of "We Can Do It!" poster...

The equality for everything...
Should women be treated the same as men in any kinds of job environment??

Kara Walker

Kara Walker is an African-American contemporary artist, and her works cover various subjects of life, such as race, sexuality, feminism, gender, and violence. She uses cut-paper silhouette against a white wall to make the contrast emotionally deeper.

Oh she used to live in Stone Mountain, GA!

You can see the exhibition she did, My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love at Whitney Museum.

She is visually straight up and shows the dark part of the history and the dark side of human nature... It's really narrative, isn't it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Ys9J7aJz4&feature=related

"Art is a guarantee of sanity. That is the most important thing I have said." 

(Louise Bourgeois)

Louise Bourgeois is one of the last surviving modernist artists who vividly recalls Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. She has exhibited and known artists from Duchamp to Pollock, and has survived to see the influence of her own work manifested in feminist-inspired art, as well as the development of installation art. Her artistic career, now spanning 80 years, has varied widely in her use of materials, which has constantly explored the sensuous properties of those chosen. Themes of the unconscious, fear, anger, and betrayal have also persevered throughout her work. 

From The Art story org, Louise Bourgeois, http://www.theartstory.org/artist-bourgeois-louise.htm, (accessed October 22,2012)

WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution

An awesome collection at the MoMA in Los Angeles featured the some of the best Feminist Artists in the Contemporary World. From Judy Chicago to Louis Bourgiouse. Although this exhibition is no longer up, they created a lovely Catalog that features articles, information and images about the artists. The ACA Library has a copy (sorry, I have it checked out at the time. lol) but it is also available online. DEFINITELY CHECK IT OUT... once I return it. LOL!

I am a Superwoman

I found this video montage of American comics' superwomen. I love it!!!! I don't think it's total feminism to show this kind of fighting superwomen in the American comic books though. It just reflects men's secret desires... her skin tight costume, her sexy body with the kick-ass attitude... but at the same time, showing the strong women is really super! I always wanted to be Wonder Woman when I was a boy... what? lol

Yohey

Fuyuko Matsui, Her Feministic Ghost Painting

So I'm working on my thesis under the cultural identities of Feminist art in Asian and African cultures.
This is just a short sneak peek of one of my artists that I have been researching!


I'd like to introduce the works of Fuyuko Matsui to you.

I love her works so madly.
You see and feel something deep and emotional wave (or whatever you feel) when you see her works. It's kind of obvious that seeing grotesque figures and feeling ghosty atmosphere in her works make you feel something good or bad, right?

She uses very traditional (I think she is one of the few Japanese traditional silk painter who use the technique) technique, and mostly known as a ghost painter. Traditionally ghost paintings were used as charms against evil spirit in one's house. Make ghost scared by ghost painting... haha

So these are some examples of ghost paintings...
it's just only two examples here, but if you googled Japanese ghost paintings, you might think "hmm why so many ghosts are female??"...

Matsui merged this type of traditional painting to feminism art... these are her works.

This ghost is carrying her uterus and her baby in it...

Traditionally speaking, women have to give birth to children no matter what.

Oh and have to have a baby boy, right?

I think she painted this before Lady Gaga wore the meat dress...

Oh but this girl is wearing her own guts like a dress.

It's a  interesting point of view that she explained her inspiration "Kusozukan" (which is a scroll painting describe 9 stages of decay). She said;

"I did get inspiration from kusōzu, but I don't agree with the Buddhist way of thinking," explains the artist. "I think the kusōzu was originally used to teach men that even beautiful women can decay, so they should give up such carnal desires. This way of thinking is very male-centered and I feel an aversion to it.

"In Shinto, too, I think concepts such as not allowing menstruating females to go through a shrine, and so on, are rather meaningless today. So I tried to paint a new kusōzu — from a female point of view."

"We have few female artists in Japan. Most of the female figures depicted in art are from the male's point of view, which can be sexually limiting or look down on women. But I am a female artist and I paint female figures from a female point of view, with experience of the situation of women and girls in Japan. In this way, I can paint the reality."

She certainly challenges to Japanese society which is a male-centered world traditionally and religiously. We (oh I'm Japanese anyway!) have so many "taboo" things, but she is speaking loud, but artistically and delicate way, classic way... and she said she loves a male audience is disgusted by seeing her works... 

Anyway, I'm just blah blah blah writing.

To be continued!!

Yohey

Cut Piece by Yoko Ono

Cut Piece, 1965

with her husband, John Lennon (b. 1969-1980)

Kusama's Early Works

Kusama's obsessions over the dots and shapes.