FIVE FEMALE ARTISTS WHOSE WORK IS ALL ABOUT WOMEN
words by Olivia Kellerman
Exploring the female body has been a key concept in art work for hundreds of years, many artists have come and gone expressing the female form in so many mediums. Here, we have collated a list of modern artist who we feel have chosen to represent the female form in new and enticing ways.
Kristen Lui-Wong
Born : September 1991, San Francisco
Education: The Pratt Institute, Brooklyn
Her work: “Erotic women will be fighting, bleeding, and even dying throughout Kristen’s intriguing work.” - Highlark Magazine
Best Known For: “Kill Them, Crush Me” her largest and most ambitious piece Kristen has created showing her bright and provocative work at its best.
Los-Angeles-based illustrator Kristen Lui-Wong depicts fierce and strong females in fluorescent hues, creating modern-day tapestries filled with contemporary references and obscure details to fill the space.
With a touch of erotic fantasy showed in her illustrations which comes through with the characters that she creates in her pieces, through interacting seductively with each other and various objects around them. She commented that “(she has) always been fascinated with the more aggressive, animalistic side of human nature”, which is shown in the vivid imagery and colour she uses in her work. Only portraying confident females in her art, with tortilla-shaped breasts and snake-like tongues exploring the two-dimensional world that Kristen has created.
Jenny Saville
Born : May 1970, Cambridge
Education: Glasgow School of Art
Her work: “If her oeuvre doesn’t offer a pretty picture of humanity, she believes it’s an honest one.” - Artsy Editorial
Best Known For: “Propped”, the ground-breaking self-portrait that led her to become the world’s most expensive living female artist.
6 by 6 feet paintings magnifying the raw details of the female body propelled artist Jenny Saville to become “the most expensive living female artist”. Her artistic choices and depictions of human form transcend the lines between classical and modern figuration.
Heavily applying oil paint in layers to create flesh as visceral as itself, Jenny Saville’s work expresses her interest in “imperfections” as she captures the details of the real world. Her canvases have shown pregnant bellies, faces squished against plexiglass and erotic moments being observed by others.
Saville separates her work from the classics through the aggressive form her art sometimes takes, with red marks slashed across faces to off-set the viewer. It is difficult to not feel something looking at her work.
Marie Jacotey
Born: 1988, Paris
Education: Royal College of Art, London
Her work: “Tender depictions of heartbreak and seduction” - Another Magazine
Best Known For: “My Soul is Dark”, a series of pieces expressing her love for comics and cinema, depicting the female experience of relationships.
Even after expressing the difficulty of sharing personal emotions in her work, Marie Jacotey surprised many with intimacy within relationships as the heart of her latest show, Goodbye Darkness. Taking form as a bedroom the exhibition includes a 25-metre textile installation, in addition to the silver-coated mattresses embellished with hand-drawn images and text.
“I was drawn to the intimacy (and lack thereof) that such a place beholds. It’s for this reason that I’ve chosen to include torn bits of a journal in the textile installation. It’s meant to look like one’s diary has been torn up and spread across the room. It’s also meant to elaborate on that feeling of being in someone’s room and using the walls and the beds as a canvas.”
The elaborate and attentive artwork spreads itself across the gallery space, giving the viewer an immersive and engaging experience of how relationships can consume you and shape the person you become.
Polly Nor
Born: June 1989, London
Education: Loughborough University
Her work: “Frank, devilish and unabashed in its representation of real girls and their own personal space.” – People of Print
Best Known For: Her unmistakably style of “grotesque” and devilish creatures.
North West London-based illustrator, Polly Nor gained an immense following through her “dark and satirical drawings of women and their demons”. The characters she creates are reminiscent of the cartoon series Daria, as the illustrator chooses to focus on the elements of the female body that are often not discussed.
Being bold with her content as she depicts personal worries, secret sexual tendencies and mundane habits she explores the woes of being a woman in a humorous way. The reoccurring devilish character that Polly continues to use represents this with a charming relatability, whether she is unfolding something erotic or grim.
Linder Sterling
Born: 1954, Liverpool
Education: Manchester Metropolitan University
Her work: Sterling focuses on questions of gender, commodity and display.
Best Known For: The 1977 collage used on the Buzzcocks’ Orgasm Addict.
A key figure in the punk movement and a master of photomontage, Linder thus far has enjoyed a noticeably exciting and prolific career. Physically cutting out images from print media to create surreal collections of work, she focuses her work questioning social constructs.
Combining everyday images of domestic items with pornographic material, her vivid graphics work violates and adorns the female body. She has transformed her work into different forms, from her initial collages to moving on to her own aesthetic portraiture work. She has combined many art forms to express her views on violence, sexuality, feminism, desire and morbidity in her instantly recognisable pieces.
Kristen Lui-Wong
Born : September 1991, San Francisco
Education: The Pratt Institute, Brooklyn
Her work: “Erotic women will be fighting, bleeding, and even dying throughout Kristen’s intriguing work.” - Highlark Magazine
Best Known For: “Kill Them, Crush Me” her largest and most ambitious piece Kristen has created showing her bright and provocative work at its best.
Los-Angeles-based illustrator Kristen Lui-Wong depicts fierce and strong females in fluorescent hues, creating modern-day tapestries filled with contemporary references and obscure details to fill the space.
With a touch of erotic fantasy showed in her illustrations which comes through with the characters that she creates in her pieces, through interacting seductively with each other and various objects around them. She commented that “(she has) always been fascinated with the more aggressive, animalistic side of human nature”, which is shown in the vivid imagery and colour she uses in her work. Only portraying confident females in her art, with tortilla-shaped breasts and snake-like tongues exploring the two-dimensional world that Kristen has created.
Jenny Saville
Born : May 1970, Cambridge
Education: Glasgow School of Art
Her work: “If her oeuvre doesn’t offer a pretty picture of humanity, she believes it’s an honest one.” - Artsy Editorial
Best Known For: “Propped”, the ground-breaking self-portrait that led her to become the world’s most expensive living female artist.
6 by 6 feet paintings magnifying the raw details of the female body propelled artist Jenny Saville to become “the most expensive living female artist”. Her artistic choices and depictions of human form transcend the lines between classical and modern figuration.
Heavily applying oil paint in layers to create flesh as visceral as itself, Jenny Saville’s work expresses her interest in “imperfections” as she captures the details of the real world. Her canvases have shown pregnant bellies, faces squished against plexiglass and erotic moments being observed by others.
Saville separates her work from the classics through the aggressive form her art sometimes takes, with red marks slashed across faces to off-set the viewer. It is difficult to not feel something looking at her work.
Marie Jacotey
Born: 1988, Paris
Education: Royal College of Art, London
Her work: “Tender depictions of heartbreak and seduction” - Another Magazine
Best Known For: “My Soul is Dark”, a series of pieces expressing her love for comics and cinema, depicting the female experience of relationships.
Even after expressing the difficulty of sharing personal emotions in her work, Marie Jacotey surprised many with intimacy within relationships as the heart of her latest show, Goodbye Darkness. Taking form as a bedroom the exhibition includes a 25-metre textile installation, in addition to the silver-coated mattresses embellished with hand-drawn images and text.
“I was drawn to the intimacy (and lack thereof) that such a place beholds. It’s for this reason that I’ve chosen to include torn bits of a journal in the textile installation. It’s meant to look like one’s diary has been torn up and spread across the room. It’s also meant to elaborate on that feeling of being in someone’s room and using the walls and the beds as a canvas.”
The elaborate and attentive artwork spreads itself across the gallery space, giving the viewer an immersive and engaging experience of how relationships can consume you and shape the person you become.
Polly Nor
Born: June 1989, London
Education: Loughborough University
Her work: “Frank, devilish and unabashed in its representation of real girls and their own personal space.” – People of Print
Best Known For: Her unmistakably style of “grotesque” and devilish creatures.
North West London-based illustrator, Polly Nor gained an immense following through her “dark and satirical drawings of women and their demons”. The characters she creates are reminiscent of the cartoon series Daria, as the illustrator chooses to focus on the elements of the female body that are often not discussed.
Being bold with her content as she depicts personal worries, secret sexual tendencies and mundane habits she explores the woes of being a woman in a humorous way. The reoccurring devilish character that Polly continues to use represents this with a charming relatability, whether she is unfolding something erotic or grim.
Linder Sterling
Born: 1954, Liverpool
Education: Manchester Metropolitan University
Her work: Sterling focuses on questions of gender, commodity and display.
Best Known For: The 1977 collage used on the Buzzcocks’ Orgasm Addict.
A key figure in the punk movement and a master of photomontage, Linder thus far has enjoyed a noticeably exciting and prolific career. Physically cutting out images from print media to create surreal collections of work, she focuses her work questioning social constructs.
Combining everyday images of domestic items with pornographic material, her vivid graphics work violates and adorns the female body. She has transformed her work into different forms, from her initial collages to moving on to her own aesthetic portraiture work. She has combined many art forms to express her views on violence, sexuality, feminism, desire and morbidity in her instantly recognisable pieces.