Is art industry partial to just women or coloured men too ?
There are umpteenth number of articles that have been published across the globe, on numerous platforms addressing the issue of disposition for women and other several lot on coloured men in separate. However, here we are looking at those two groups as one whole sanctity that has been cornered in every competitive realm.
Men vs Women
“So tell me gentleman, tell me the time and place where it was easy to be a woman.” ― Andrew Sean Greer.
Source- Pixabay (Illustrator Unknown)
In a recent interview published by Artnet news reveals the pay gap between men and women in the art Industry and how it has worsened over the years, despite of women acquiring executive level positions in the industry. According to a survey by Naomi Rea from Artnet news, women’s pay in the commercial world is observed to be 40% less than their male counterparts, up to 14% less in museums and around 18% less in large businesses. These figures are astounding to fathom for a lay man who’s born in the 21st century, only if it is true,”There is a cognitive dissonance in underpaying people who can manifest in valuing them less or instrumentalizing them to the vision of the institution and not to their own future careers”-Amy Whitaker (Sotheby’s Institute).
The bias is not only seen as the pay gap but also as various issues such as under-recognition of female artists and infidelity in various exhibitions. The works by one of the famous artists and curators, Marina Abramovic can be witnessed in the ecstatic works in exhibitions around the world, along with one of the famous authors and curators, Maura Reilly who’s voice against discrimination took shape as a book titled,’Curatorial Activism’.
Curatorial Activism; Maura Reilly (Source- Artnet)
White Vs Color
In an industry where the fusion of whites and blacks, greys and yellows, blues and greens have not only created surreal pieces but also defined creativity as colourful. Lets consider the art industry as a coin having two sides. However the mentioned afore is only the former side of the coin, the latter is more radical and realistic side, rather ugly compared to the former; racial bias in auction houses, hegemony in galleries and white male viewpoint as the prevailing viewpoint. Apart from the trending shibboleths about racism in humans, lets throw some light on a recent encounter with technology.
According to TheGlobalMail, people witnessed racial bias whilst using the google arts and culture app that matched selfies with famous works of art.’ Amidst the success of the app, visible minority discovered that the app did a poor job matching them; matches with caricatures and generic Asian faces. The conclusions can be racism oriented or as little as bias. Whereas, technology that is best seen as a means to mediate a relationship to the broader world or as a tool or means to an end’ (Navneet Alang, 2018), this encounter with design and innovation has been merely an interaction with trembling reflections of the current societal crisis.
The distortion in the app can hence be seen as adding light to the predicament of thought process or choices of the people designing technology, “otherwise reproduce existing inequalities” (Navneet Alang, 2018).
Illustration, (Source- TheGlobalMail, 2018)
Achieving Neutrality
After reading through the racial slur and intense content, every reader craves for a fresh perspective and artists such as Alex Villaluz, Wire Tuazon, Julie Marie Monsted dissipate the influencing consciousness attained from the figurative speech in previous sections. The work displayed in the exhibition ’Neutral’ at the Provenance Art Gallery by the former artists pronounces neutrality using multimedia facets such as photography, 3D, scans, performances, video installations and collages (Rappler, 2018). Whilst trying to comprehend neutrality using art and comparisons with the definitions by science that define completely otherwise, Alex Villaluz says, “In humanity, there will always be bias based on personal interests and motivations and we want to explore neutrality apart from scientific explanations and definitions” (Rapper, 2018).
Source- Alex Villaluz (Exhibit Neutrality, 2018)
Exhibit- Neutrality, (Source- Alex Villaluz , 2018)
The comprehensive look at the art industry and the hidden specs might turn out to be more conducive in terms of reinventing the ways that we look at men of color and women in the art industry.
Author- Abhineet Narang
References -
- https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gender-pay-gap-uk-art-organizations-1260317, Naomi Rea, April 2018
- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/ways-of-seeing/article37752697/, Navneet Alang, Jan, 2018.
- https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/arts-and-culture/art/198537-neutral-exhibit-alex-villaluz-julie-monsted-wire-tuazon, March, 2018.
- https://yotagram.com/p/1732711150981068185/,Divyastorya, March, 2018
- http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/16842/1/the-da-zed-guide-to-marina-abramovic, Ananda Pellerlin, August, 2018.
- https://news.artnet.com/at-world/we-asked-20-women-is-the-art-world-biased-heres-what-they-said-81162, September, 2014.
Originally published at Thee Art.
