Female artists and MASA-UK Art Gallery

Do we still need the “Guerilla girls” in the 21 sentry to overcome under-presentation of Women in the World of Art?

In 1989, New York the group of female artists called “Guerilla Girls” created this billboard to criticize the museum institutions for under-representation of female artists and objectifying women.

Is it changed much today and how much the female artists are represented at the museums and art galleries today?

Cascone S.(2022) stated that when the Art Historian Katy Hessel conducted a research among 2000 Britons asking them to name three women artists, for her book “The Story of Art without Men” the results were bleak. Only 30% of the respondents could name at least 3 female artists.

Even more shocking fact in an article written by the National London Gallery, stated that: “In a collection of over 2,300 paintings spanning the 13th to early 20th century, only less than 10% , 21 to be precise, were by women artists.”

Surely in the 21st century there should be a better and larger representation of the female artists or at least we would think so?

Walking Piece (1966) by Yayoi Kusama

The experience of female artist, especially one’s of colour, is very well presented in the “Walking Piece 1966” project by Yayoi Kusama, one of the most famous modern female artists. When she went to New York from Japan, she could not help but feel alienated, not just by being in a big city, but as a Japanese artist in the art world that is mainly dominated by white male artists.

In an another extract from an article by from UNIT London (2018) we can see that: “New research from the Freelands Foundation has shown that although 66% of postgraduate arts students in 2017 were female, just under a third of artists represented by London’s major galleries were women. In 2017, just 22% of solo shows presented by major London non-commercial galleries were by women artists. Shockingly, this figure has decreased since 2016, which shows why it is more important than ever to champion female artists.”

That is why there are more and more art galleries, curators and advisors doing their best to promote and shaw appreciation to the female artists. Amanda Lambert, an art advisor and AWITA Member has worked on this area for a while and states: “As an advisor, I am really excited to introduce clients to lesser known talents and create a narrative that runs across a collection that helps to tell a story that resonates with the client”.

That is exactly what we at MASA-UK Art Gallery do. It fills like a Don Quijote’s fight but we are trying very hard almost ten years to bring art closer to ordinary audience with continuous enfaces of female artists. We are very proud at the fact that we managed to bring some incredibly exiting and unusual visual artist.

At this very moment, 60% of the artists exhibiting at Masa-UK Art Gallery (established by female owner - Matija Sapundzieska) are local and international female artists. There are over 70 original paintings exhibited at the moment created by inspiring female artists.

We have the ongoing exhibition by Lancashire based Lita Narayan, the new collection by Patricia Leontief, Shane Dalmedo from Gibraltar, Olga Lomax, Bojana Artimovska, Sladjana Ikomonova from Macedonia, Manchester based Sabina Nealon from Baku, Azerbaijan, Bolton’s treasure Christine Southworth and many more .

Thailand based, Suthamma Ta Thimkaeo, very authentic expressionist/surrealist artist, has been introduced at the Manchester Art Fair by MASA-UK Art Gallery. Her paintings certainly made a stamp to the fair, as they were very much appreciated by many art lovers and collectors and Ta’s art work is in many homes in the North-West, now.

My Funny Valentine, oil on canvas, 150x100cm by Suthamma Ta Thimkaeo

Exhibited at Masa-UK Art Gallery at the moment, Lita Narayan is one of the artists who collaborate with us for many years and it is a great pleasure to witness her development to the reconasible semi abstract style artist. The theme of her work is based on Manchester sceneries, which are always popular with our local visitors.

November Mist, mixed media on canvas, 91x60cm by Lita Narayan

We will always strive to create a welcoming, warm environment where art lovers, art collectors can enjoy the art work by cearfully chosen good artists. Masa-UK Art Gallery is a please where art without any borders, gender, color, religion is promoted and we really mean that …

STEVIE COHEN 

Stevie Cohen's work can subtly shift how we see and understand the world. It continues a long standing and deeply spiritual enquiry concerning the measured and immeasurable aspects of life. Elements such as graph paper, wallpaper, numbers and now dots are used to signify the  physical. Whereas as spontaneous and uncontrolled scribbles signify immeasurable or metaphysical attributes. Motifs, symbols and signs are strategically used.  An arrow often pointing the edge of the frame questions what is beyond the physical boundaries of time and space.

"All work is nothing more or less than an exact recording of events”

So the state of mind is everything whilst creating work. Through rigorous practice, what begins as descriptive becomes more spontaneous, and focussed play becomes paramount. This is when wonder and surprise occur.  And if this sensation is not experienced by the artist, then it will not be recorded and the work cannot contain it.

Stevie Cohen is a North-west based artist. Her practice, based in drawing, painting., collage and text has  continued for over 30 years. She is a past University Lecturer in Contemporary Fine Art and has widely exhibited both in the UK and abroad. Her ideas are influenced by scientific, mathematical as well as spiritual philosophies and this has allowed her to formulate her own version of the world, often with humorous connotations. She feels an affinity with artists - Tapies, Motherwell and Twombly (who in turn influenced Basquiat - and some similarities with these artists can be appreciated.t All Begins Here

The Long Kiss Goodbye by Suthamma Ta Byrne

 Dave Coulter is a British artist who specialises in cityscapes.  As part of the Northern Art movement, his particular focus is on painting the streets of Manchester, Altrincham, Salford. In his paintings, he captures the dynamic movement of the multifaceted cities that have been the inspiration for many painters before him. Dave Coulter is, in essence, as much a part of the North as the scenes he paints.