Girls! Girls! Girls! In Contemporary Art

by Catherine Grant (Editor), Lori Waxman (Editor)

 

Since the 1990s, female artists have led the contemporary art world in the creation of art depicting female adolescence, producing challenging, critically debated, and avidly collected artworks that are driving the current and momentous shift in the perception of women in art. Girls! Girls! Girls! presents essays from established and up-and-coming scholars who address a variety of themes, including narcissism, nostalgia, postfeminism, and fantasy with the goal of approaching the overarching question of why female artists are turning in such numbers to the subject of girls—and what these artistic explorations signify. Artists discussed include Anna Gaskell, Marlene McCarty, Sue de Beer, Miwa Yanagi, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Collier Schorr, and more.

            Contributors include Lucy Soutter, Harriet Riches, Maud Lavin, Taru Elfving, Kate Random Love, and Carol Mavor.

Genres: Art

188 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

Catherine Grant is a Senior Lecturer in the Art and Visual Cultures Departments at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is the coeditor of Girls! Girls! Girls! and Creative Writing and Art History.

Reviews

[John Teehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Offering a much-appreciated look at women in contemporary art and the representation of adolescence. While women in the arts have made huge gains over the past couple of decades, they can often still be overlooked--much to the loss of the viewing public. In my own experience, I've found many female artists--particularly photographers--to be more daring than their male counterparts. More willing to take risks, and more willing to evoke reaction. In looking at the transitional aspects of female adolescence, sexualization, gender identification, and such and their relation to visual culture, the editors and authors provide a multi-faceted examination of girls in contemporary art.

I think the reader would be hard-pressed not to walk away with some fresh perspectives and, perhaps, some new artists to explore.