Posts Tagged 'Street Art'

Who Are the Guerrilla Girls?

We’re excited to have selections from the Guerrilla Girls’ Portfolio Compleat on view through September 9, 2018, in the Rachofsky Quadrant Gallery. But you might be wondering “who are the Guerrilla Girls” . . .

In their own words:

The Guerrilla Girls are feminist activist artists. Over 55 people have been members over the years, some for weeks, some for decades. Our anonymity keeps the focus on the issues, and away from who we might be. We wear gorilla masks in public and use facts, humor, and outrageous visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film, and pop culture. We undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair. We believe in an intersectional feminism that fights discrimination and supports human rights for all people and all genders. We have done over 100 street projects, posters, and stickers all over the world. . . . We also do projects and exhibitions at museums, attacking them for their bad behavior and discriminatory practices right on their own walls. . . . We could be anyone. We are everywhere. (guerrillagirls.com)

The Portfolio Compleat is a new acquisition to the DMA’s collection. The works span more than two decades, but many of them are now as relevant as ever. Since they started, the Guerrilla Girls have been prolific, accumulating a large catalogue over time. We chose to display the works as you see them below, so that visitors can read a large number of the posters and see the wide reach of their artistic complaints.

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The videos in this space point to issues like the lack of non-male, non-white representation within specific institutions. As a large, encyclopedic museum, the DMA could be listed among the museums under critique. In recent years, our curators have sought to be more inclusive in the works we show and collect. Currently on view are many works and multiple exhibitions by women artists. But, of course, this is an ongoing conversation with a long road ahead.

In the central seating area, we have provided books created by the Guerrilla Girls that are reminiscent of zines. Zines are self-published magazines or artist books associated with niche subcultures that are usually produced via photocopier and distributed for low to no cost. They gained popularity in the US in the 1990s as an artistic expression, but the format has long existed as a method of political dissent.

Many of the Guerrilla Girls’ works and books are available for purchase on the group’s website. They try to make them accessible to typical museum visitors rather than art collectors. This allows their viewers, and anyone who is so inclined, to become an art collector instead of perpetuating a system where the same one percent decide the direction of the art world. According to the group’s website, “Everything you buy supports our efforts to expose discrimination and corruption!”

Zines, posters, and Guerrilla-style videos are something that anyone can create for a relatively low cost. The Guerrilla Girls’ message is all about breaking down barriers to art to show that it can be cheap to create, easy to disseminate, and indiscriminate in whose message is important. This is also why they use the style of street advertising and employ humor and pop culture to get their message across.

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The Guerrilla Girls are now internationally relevant and more active than ever. We are pleased to present this portfolio to the public and encourage its message of thoughtful and critical viewership.

Skye Malish-Olson is an Exhibition Designer at the DMA.

Party in the DMA

Nicolas Party Pathway_artist Nicolas Party_August 2016_Courtesy of Dallas Museum of Art

On August 1, Nicolas Party hopped off the plane at DFW and ever since it has been a Party in the DMA. It only took the Swiss artist two weeks to transform the Museum’s Concourse into an enchantingly surreal landscape. Unconfined to a static sketch, each day the former graffiti artist added richly hued flora that simultaneously recalls forest floors and ocean depths. Visitors were entranced as he worked to bring his imaginative vision of a sanctuary for the people of Dallas to life. Check out the progression of the site-specific mural below.

And tomorrow, let the long weekend begin. Come experience the wonder of Nicolas Party: Pathway on Thursday evening and throw your hands up because we’ll be playing your song when DJ Wild in the Streets takes over the DMA patio. You’ll be nodding your head like yeah as we start the weekend early with 20% off crepes from Socca, fresh retro pop, funk, soul, and great company. See you there!

 

Julie Henley is the Communications and Marketing Coordinator at the DMA.

 

 

 

 

Friday Photos: Clarion Alley

 

Earlier this week, I enjoyed a vacation with my family to San Francisco. After the requisite stops at the Golden Gate and the Painted Ladies, we headed for some shopping in the Mission District where we stumbled upon Clarion Alley. This tiny alleyway has been filled with an ever-changing array of street art since the early 90s. Check out some of the images we snapped on this colorful street.

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Sarah Coffey
Education Coordinator

All in the Family: A Community Partnership with the South Dallas Cultural Center

Families from the South Dallas Cultural Center are regulars here at the DMA. For six months out of the year, a small group come to the Museum every second Sunday of the month to explore and make artworks together. Below are images of our Museum adventures from this past group:

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In July, we capped off another wonderful year of our Second Sunday partnership with an exhibition of our creations at the South Dallas Cultural Center.

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Also on display at the Center was a street art project created in collaboration with a group of teens at the Center’s summer program.

Thank you, South Dallas families, for another wonderful partnership! We look forward to the creativity our next group will bring!

Amy Copeland
Manager of Go van Gogh and Community Teaching Programs

Urban Armor Street Art Camp with Isaac Davies

Guest Artist Isaac Daniel Davies

Urban Armor is the Dallas Museum of Art’s unique program for tweens and teens.  These photos highlight the first summer camp  for this age group focused on identity through street art.

During this camp, students developed new ways to express themselves with the assistance of our Urban Armor teachers Amanda Batson, JC Bigornia and guest artist Isaac Davies.

Teens Working

Isaac Daniel Davies and Urban Armor student

Late Night Camp Demo with Isaac Daniel Davies, Anthony Gonzales,  DJ EZ Eddie D, Amanda Batson, JC Bigornia, and Urban Armor students

Completed

For upcoming Urban Armor programs, please visit our website.

Amanda Batson
C3 Program Coordinator

Urban Armor: Meet. Relate. Investigate.

Urban Armor is the Dallas Museum of Art’s unique, ongoing program for tweens and teens that offers students a chance to meet, relate, and investigate the world around them. Classes are designed in a way that the concept of identity is the heartbeat of each workshop. Urban Armor classes serve teens, who represent an often underserved age group in museums and are at a critical age of self-discovery.

Untitled #21, Karel Funk, 2006, Acrylic on panel, Overall: 31 x 27 in. (78.74 x 68.58 cm), The Rachofsky Collection and the Dallas Museum of Art through the DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund, 2010.28

Each workshop is built around the concept of identity. The name Urban Armor is inspired by the Karel Funk painting Untitled #21, currently on view in Variations on Theme: Contemporary Art 1950s-Present, and the notion that we clothe ourselves in physical layers of clothing to protect us in a literal sense against the elements but also as a metaphorical means of protection. It could be to guard ourselves against the scrutiny of others, attempting to fit in, or wanting acceptance. In a similar way, the different faces we present to others depending on the environment can be seen as figurative armor to serve the same purpose. Who are we underneath these layers? That question drives us to help support teens through the program and to facilitate transformative experiences with art that allow for personal expression. They also learn new techniques, meet artists and DMA staff, and develop social bonds through their interactions with each other.

Teens participating in Urban Armor Street Art Camp with Isaac Davies

This year, Urban Armor launched its first exclusive teen summer camp in an effort to provide teens with a way to enhance their world and the space around them. Students encountered new forms of expression with the assistance of our Urban Armor teachers and guest artist Isaac Davies. They contributed to a large community “piece” on Ross Avenue Plaza, worked on their personal expression and self-statements in their sketchbooks and on their own painted panels, and explored how artists express themes of identity and space in artworks throughout the DMA’s collection.

Street Art Camp with Isaac Davies

Regardless of diverse opinions about street art, everyone can agree that it is a public way people are communicating or expressing themselves in our city. It is common now to see a tag, sticker, mural, or art bomb on any given street of Dallas. With heavy influences from artists like Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, Shepard Fairy, Banksy, and the many unnamed artists on every wall in town—it is important to recognize street art’s strong influence on our culture. For today’s generation, this is a prevalent force in their lives and a heavy part of their visual culture.

Watch participants from the summer camp Urban Armor: Street Art Camp and guest artist Isaac Davies as they demonstrate learned techniques from their camp experience tonight during Late Night at 7:00 p.m.

Amanda Batson is the Program Coordinator for the Center for Creative Connections and JC Bigornia is the Coordinator of Family Experiences.


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