New Art Gallery Exhibitions
Activism & Advocacy on Display
If you have not heard yet, the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery has two new exciting exhibitions, “The Sixties: Visual Revolution and Social Change” & “Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly, 1985-2024.” I recently visited and was able to appreciate the artworks presented.
The Sixties exhibition consists of art that St. Lawrence University already owns in their permanent collection. Catherine Tedford, director of the Brush Art Gallery, explained how one side of the gallery reflects the colorful pop art of the era juxtaposed with the other side that displays real images and artwork that depicts the struggle in the Civil Rights movement. The pop art includes well-known Andy Warhol works, as well as Peter Max art that is bursting with color. Seeing the explosive psychedelic images with the inspiring images of the fight for equality for Black Americans shows what a transformative time the 1960s were. Photographers like Charles Moore who exposed the overarching racism of America as well as newspaper articles covering the fight for equality offer insightful perspectives on the time. The gallery also consists of icons of the era, including The Doors frontman Jim Morrison. The famous “Summer of Love” and Woodstock festival which both took place in the late ’60s are also represented in the artworks. Young hippies’ use of music as protest to war and hate was prevalent at these events. To coincide with this, Vietnam War protests are also displayed in the gallery.
Guerrilla Girls is an entirely new exhibit that features artwork ranging from 1985 to 2024. Originally formed in New York City, their work seeks to challenge the sexist and racist norms of the art world, as well as the government and pop culture. Many of their posters include statistics that expose racial and gender discrepancies. One poster in particular show that there was only one single-person exhibition created by a woman at NYC museums in 1985. 30 years later, that number has only moved up to five. It is certainly interesting and disappointing to see that little progress has been made. The Guerrilla Girls also criticized the entertainment industry, through exposing the extreme lack of female directors and filmmakers. Similarly, only 5 percent of Oscars have been awarded to people of color, showing the lack of inclusion and diversity in Hollywood. Their work on abortion rights back in the 1980s still reflects the fight for abortion rights today. Tedford informed that the Guerrilla Girls visited SLU back in the 1980s, presenting at the Gulick Theatre dressed as gorillas. A Zoom meeting with the Guerrilla Girls was held on Jan. 30. I don’t want to reveal everything because you should really see this for yourself if you have not yet! The posters and artwork are truly powerful.
Tedford explained to me that the art gallery is meant to supplement the curriculums of SLU courses and hopefully to be a resource for research. The Sixties exhibition will be there until Feb. 19 and the Guerrilla Girls will be shown until March 29, so make sure you check them out soon!