I have been an artist for more than 30 years. I have also been a mother, a wife and a museum curator, and a teacher. I’ve noticed that men and women artists work in very different ways, and by work I mean their creative work.. Most women work from their life experiences, as perceived emotionally more than cerebrally; and even though women intellectualize their perceptions, there still is a large part of their emotional intelligence that rules their creative processes. Within that perspective, it’s truly interesting to view women’s art when presented in a group show of seven women artists, who I’ve selected, because their varied creative dialects talked to me on both emotional and intellectual levels. This is not to say that there aren’t many more artists with whom I can connect similarly, but that I had to limit myself to a certain number of them, and the number of works, for the current show.
Images in various forms and media emerge from some unknown, unclear source, deep in the subconscious, as I suppose most women artists’ works do. But the degrees of delving deep or exploring sideways are subjective, often influenced, other than from life experiences, also by one’s exposure to the enormous, almost limitless parameters and variousnesses of the world of art, encompassing thousands of years down the lanes of history, and hundreds of countries and their urban and traditional cultures. In a global world laid wide open, it’s easy to emulate and copy and be influenced by other artists’ works, for a lack of creative ideas, or from the intention to keep abreast of the fashion trends of the contemporary art world. But to create something from one’s own perceptions of life, while having been enriched by artists and artworks from the world over, while evolving from a student artist into a professional one, lends a different and an entirely individual depth to an artist’s work, especially that of a woman artist. It’s an arguable point that I differentiate between male and a female artists’ attitude towards work, one might say; but I can affirm it with some conviction, for the mere fact of being an artist myself, having observed the way my work evolved over the years with changing life circumstances. Simultaneously I have also observed male artists’ works, and yes, the distinction is definitely there. Their work grow more from their intellectual perception of the world than an emotional response to life. It is less personal, and more form oriented, world-view oriented. The dividing line between a male and female artist’s works is thin and sometimes not perceptible, but that has its own reasons too, which lie beyond the scope of this essay. The woman’s body and its organic changes through menstruation, experiences of childbirth, bonding with her offspring, caring for them, menopause, are all very visceral experiences, understandable only by a woman having gone through similar common experiences. Added to that is the whole process of growing up in a society, deeply misogynist in its outlook towards women, and each woman’s individual experiences with society and men, personal and general. Therefore, women’s art is bound to be very different from men’s at a very basic organic, and a wider political level.
The seven artists i have chosen here are a demonstration of these differences in their perceived and assimilated life experiences, put forth in various media and forms. Their names, randomly put here are:
