Female Artists
Here I will show you some art history references related to female artists.
Georgia O'Keeffe
"While we see Ariana in a bed with a black and white background of organic forms and male dancers crawling in foam, it is impossible not to remember Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers, which resemble female genitalia. Georgia was a woman ahead of her time, challenging male modern artists during the first half of the twentieth century, and she's definitely the most popular female American artist around the world. Even at the beginning, around the 1920s, she didn't want her artwork to be referred to as erotic; it was in the 1970s when feminists started celebrating her work."
Tamara de Lempicka
"In another scene, Ariana is sitting in front of a city skyline made up of squares and rectangles, which reminds of a painting by Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka. Here, a group of tiny men is throwing words at Ariana (words like bitch, stupid, little girl), like the ones almost every woman in a powerful position has to hear at least once from her male peers. Tamara interpreted modernity in the early twentieth century, but also defied the norms by declaring herself bisexual at a time when society was much more conservative."
Kiki Kogelnick
"Kogelnick might not be as easily recognizable as the other female artists, but she was part of the Pop Art movement, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. The scene where Ariana is dressed as a goddess holding a hammer reminds us of an artwork called "Superwoman," which belongs to the collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Quite a statement, right?
This painting, which dates back to 1973, features a woman in a strong and empowering pose. It was not the usual superwoman comics portray, but rather an androgynous character who wears boots, aviator glasses, and red gloves holding a pair of giant scissors. It is said that this was a self-portrait of Kogelnick, as she usually wore a similar style with the sunglasses, and also created pieces from cut paper or vinyl."
Frida Kahlo
"In the same scene, there's a woman with her legs spread open who seems to be giving birth through a ray of light. This evokes one of Frida Kahlo's painting, "My Birth," 1932, on which she portrayed a woman giving birth to a baby Frida, apparently. The Mexican painter was one of the first in art's history to depict female issues in her work, such as miscarriage, betrayal, and female genitalia."
Judy Chicago
Feminist artist Judy Chicago is also present in this video, as Ariana appears to be swimming in a sea of pastel colors. Some of Judy's representations of female sexual organs are circles or shapes similar to flowers with lots of different shades of red, purple and yellow. These trippy representations are related to the artist's experimentation with drugs.
Alexa Meade
