Art Call: Stop violence against Women

The other day, while sitting in my old truck at an intersection in the rapidly gentrifying NoHo Arts District of Los Angeles, California, two twenty-something young men sailed though the pedestrian crosswalk on skateboards. One wore a brand new black T-shirt with a big bold message screen-printed on the front in bright Day-Glo orange. Its infuriatingly misogynist message audaciously shouted, "Bitch F**ks, Gets Money" - and no, the T-shirt did not make use of double asterisks.

After first wondering how the contemptible twerp managed to wear such a T-shirt on a public street without receiving a sound thrashing, I began to angrily brood over our society regressing when it comes to the issue of sexism. That we find ourselves in such a deplorable condition presents us with a profound moral, cultural, and political crisis. As luck would have it, upon reaching home and checking my e-mail, I had been sent an Artists Call for an International Women’s Day themed exhibition organized by Amnesty International USA and Avenue 50 Studio of L.A. I’m enthusiastically submitting an entry to the show, and urge all likeminded artists to follow suit. The press release issued for the project follows:

Call for Entries
¡Presente! Homenaje a la Mujer

Amnesty International USA and Avenue 50 Studio announce a call to artists for the ¡Presente! Homenaje a la Mujer art exhibition. The show will run throughout the month of March 2008, in commemoration of International Women’s Day.

The purpose of the art exhibition is to celebrate women, while at the same time creating awareness of Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women campaign. Both men and women artists are welcomed to enter. All 2- and 3- dimensional media invited. Please limit one entry per artist. Images of entries must be emailed no later than January 1, 2008 to voluntarios@aiusa.org and should include artist’s name, title of work, medium, and dimensions.

Jury will consist of Kathy Gallegos, Director, Avenue 50 Studio, Liliana Herrera, Latino Outreach Coordinator, AIUSA, and Julissa Gómez, Field Organizer, AIUSA.

A month-long exhibition of ¡Presente! Homenaje a la Mujer will be held at the Avenue 50 Studio, 131 No. Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA 90042 (323) 258-1435, with an opening reception on Saturday, March 8, 2008.

Timeframe:
Images of entries mailed no later than: January 1, 2008
Notification of inclusion in exhibition: January 31, 2008
Exhibition Opening Date: March 8, 2008