Art Event #2 (oops I thought I posted this a while ago)

Jane Kaufman  was once a member of the feminist group known as the guerilla girls. Kaufman came to Hartwick to discuss the reason, or rather necessity for this group. Emerging in the late seventies and through the eighties, the guerilla girls fought discrimination towards female artists and artists of color, (among other things). They were a group of anonymous females who took the names of dead female artists as pseudonyms and appeared in public wearing gorilla masks.  There modes of protest involved using posters, stickers, books, printed projects, and actions that expose sexism and racism in politics, the art world, film and the culture at large. Humor was used to get across the information, incite discussion, and show that feminists can be funny. They wore gorilla masks to focus on the issues they were discussing rather than their appearances. Jane has recently come out as a guerilla girl, having this information and learning what the guerilla girls were all about allowed for great insight into her private works of art. You could still see the humor used in the former guerilla girl posters, but the issues seem to broaden. My personal favorite was the Virgin Mary chocolates with the cherry, I believe the piece was called “Immaculate Confection; The Cherry is Still Intact.” Not only is the subject matter funny (similar to older guerilla girls works), but the work itself shows a great deal craftsmanship and attention to fine detail (particularly evident in her needle points). On the whole I liked Jane Kaufman’s speech; she was saucy old lady with sharp wit and intellect.