In honour of International Women’s Day, I have decided to share with you some of my favourite contemporary female artists and some of the awesome work they create. If you get the chance to see any of their work, I cannot recommend it enough and would love to hear what you think or who your favourite female artists are!
Sarah Hardacre creates striking prints and collages which juxtapose the female figure with harsh, industrial landscapes and buildings. Hardacre is interested in the ideas of utopia and the rise of urbanism, contrasted with the role of women and the fetishisation of an image or certain appearance. Not only does her work raise questions about the role of women in a utopian future, tackle subjects like class disparity and financial irresponsibility, it is also visually striking and effortlessly intriguing.
Rebecca Ward is a painter and sculptor who creates visually striking works, based around her interest in materiality and process. Her abstract paintings often include geometric shapes that could be suggestive of the body or figures and the delicate use of acrylic paint on silk allows the viewer to experience the fragility of the surface and see through to the wooden stretcher bars, reminding us of the physical structure of painting. I was lucky enough to see some of Ward’s work at The Ronchini gallery in London, last year, and I can confirm that they are utterly breath-taking and draw the viewer into the minute details of each painting and incredible care in its conception.
Florence Given is a vocal feminist artist whose playful prints challenge patriarchal ideas of femininity and encourage empowerment. Along with her colourful prints, Given is also a social activist and a brilliant social media presence – her stories are informative and hilarious and she has an eclectic music taste which she shares regularly.
Elly Smallwoodpaints beautiful and vibrant nudes and portraits, which examine themes like sexuality, intense emotions and alienation, but ultimately are all inspired by her personal interests and what she finds beautiful or moving. Smallwood often refers to her paintings as a process and a language that cannot be explained, but that she hopes people will feel or relate to when they see them, she is a wonderful example of an artist who simply loves paint and feels an intense desire to explore her view of the world through her practice. She has also recently been interviewed by Playboy on painting women as a female artist.
Lorna Simpson is a visual artist who uses photography, collage and painting to explore the concept of identity; examining what makes us who we are and using her own experience as a black woman to discuss culture, discrimination and race. I absolutely love the way that Simpson uses a variety of mediums and themes within her work and particularly enjoyed her exhibition at Hauser and Wirth last year, where her collages, sculptures and paintings were linked by the motif of snow and ice.
Venetia Berry is challenging the male gaze through her abstract paintings of the female nude. By simplifying the female form to pure line, Berry hopes to reverse the male gaze and the archetypical sexualized female nude. I adore her use of colour and her definitive style, she has also recently been working with ceramic painting and is speaking next week at the Royal Academy’s on Investigating the Female Gaze in Contemporary Art and Culture.
Jenny Holzer creates mesmerizing art using text as a method of delivering words and ideas in public spaces. Holzer’s neo-conceptual art makes narrative and commentary an implicit part of visual objects, and she uses anything from billboards, to wallpaper, and LED displays, to plaques. Visiting her artist room at the Tate last year, I loved the use of repetition within her works and how the duplication of phrases emphasized their message.
Ashley Longshore is a painter, gallery owner and entrepreneur who creates bright, bold, largescale paintings that focus on pop culture, consumerism and Hollywood glamour. Her interest in celebrity culture, fashion and society has gained her incredible exposure and success with celebrity clients and elite galleries. Her own gallery is also described as an incredible experience – one which is still yet to be ticked off my bucket list!
Anna Tsvell paints surrealist portraits of women, with acrylics and inks. She abstracts and distorts the female form and face to create sweeping abstract shapes in her colourful, bohemian paintings. I love the way Tsvell is commenting on female beauty by painting their likenesses in a distorted, alien way which makes each work distinctively beautiful and intriguing. Similar to Venetia Berry, her use of line to reference the figure is wonderfully bold and the abstraction weaves the shapes of women into the visible and invisible line.
Sandra Chevrieris a painter whose portraits discuss restriction and limitation with the theme of cages. She uses painted masks to explore the ‘cages’ women are encased in societally and how we, as women, are trying to find freedom from society’s twisted preconceptions of what women should or shouldn’t be. Chevrier’s layered paintings entice the viewer and make the subjects appear to be jumping out of the canvas, leaving the surreal world they live in venturing into the real world. I absolutely love Chevrier’s work and her painting technique is so stunning, both visually and conceptually.
Wishing you all a very happy International Women’s Day
