Here’s another depressing fact about the lack of representation of women in the art scene: It is seemingly just as bad as it was 29 years ago. New York and Sydney-based curator Maura Reilly posted an image on Facebook today by anonymous feminist art collective Pussy Galore in the form of a report card. It revealed that only a handful of the city’s top galleries have achieved gender balance in featuring works by women. The scorecard representation is a direct reference to the 1986 NYC-based Guerilla Girls’ assessment of gender inequality issues in art galleries.
Among the lowest on Pussy Galore’s list were Marlborough, Tony Shafrazi, and Sperone Westwater – all with less than 10% female representation on their rosters. They appeared as “Failing,” “Still unsatisfactory,” and “Unforgivable” on the 1986 card, which included number of women instead of percentages.
Out of the 34 galleries Pussy Galore focused their attention on, only 5 had over 50% females featured (Hyperallergic notes that Salon 94’s rating is actually 52%), and only 3 more broke past 40%. These two examples aren’t the only instances of bringing attention to this issue, either. Investigative art collective Brainstormers have chronicled top offenders in this very category for years. While the numbers still aren’t great, it’s a (small) step in the right direction from the multiple galleries with not a single female artist represented with that original piece back in 1986.
(Photo: Maura Reilly)
