Richard J Demato Fine Art Announces The Women Painting Women Artists

RJD Gallery is hosting it's 1st Annual Women Painting Women Exhibition. It is a juried show of
favorite paintings of women by women, with a focus on contemporary, living artists.

Opening Saturday, September 21, 2013

I'm so pleased to announce that my painting Primavera, has been accepted to show alongside the work of 29 other artists. I'm thrilled to be showing with so many artists I've long admired!

Primavera, 24x24, oil on panel

Also included in the show: Erin Anderson, Melinda Borysevicz, Ann Chwatsky, Elaine Despins, Teresa Elliot, Loretta Fasan, Ingrid Cappozzoli Flinn, Noelle Giddings, Haley Hasler, Pam Hawkes, Barbara Kacicek, Anne Marie Kornachuk, Andrea Kowch, Maria Kreyn, Catherine Lucas, Victoria Novak, Teresa Oaxaca, Isabel Olivares, Kat O'Neill, Claire Klarewicz-Oskur, Joyce Polance, Rene Porter, Kyla Zoe Rafert, Harriet Sawyer, Victoria Selbach, Margo Selski, 
Adrienne Stein, Maggie Taylor, Xiaolu Zhang.

Women have been a main subject in art as far back in history as any of us can think.  And yet that subject has predominantly been presented from the perspective of male artists.  Women Painting Women (the blog, the exhibitions as well as our small group) has continually tried to feature and promote paintings that share a different perspective.  We frequently wonder - do women see themselves differently?  Are women artists representing a bit more of what it means to be a woman, in the art that they create?  We argue that women are not merely eye candy or decorative fodder.  We seek to promote the work of figurative painters that share these more varied and complex views of women. ~Alia El-Bermani on behalf of the Women Painting Women group

See below the break for a few details of the painting and more info about Women Painting Women:

I had fun hiding little critters in her hair.

Flight themed imagery has been showing up in my work for a while now. I guess I finally have my model flying. 

RJD answered a Call to Action, an initiative by the Women Painting Women blog and the artists from the Expedition and Beyond Exhibit of 2012 at Principle Gallery to encourage concurrent WPW shows in the fall of 2013. 

Why the Call to Action encouraging concurrent 2013 shows?:

We knew that since we are busy with our own careers and families, it would be impossible to curate and organize the kind of massive show or multiple WPW shows in various venues that we would like to do.  As an alternative,  we put out a "Call to Action", encouraging artists and galleries to host their own WPW shows. We'd use the collective energy and momentum of the group to promote all the shows. It was a way to put the power of the movement into the hands of women artists, gallery directors and curators anywhere in the world.

We are saying, "Here is a cool idea, run with it".  The WPW title doesn't belong to any one group of people since any woman artist that paints women are in fact, WPW artists - there are over 400 on the blog now!

The WPW Call to Action goals are:

~Explore women as the painted subject from the unique perspective of women artists

~To challenge the status quo of the gallery world in which male artists are predominately represented

~Get exposure for more women artists

~Encourage women artists to use their connections to promote themselves and other women artists

~Allow galleries the opportunity to freely host WPW shows

~Use the positive, collective power of this group of artists to advertise the shows on blogs, websites and social media sites.

The "Call to Action" response:

There are 7 galleries hosting shows this fall and over 100 women artists will be shown. Four of the galleries plan to make this an annual event. 

Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA

Haynes Gallery, Nashville, TN

MGallery, Charleston, SC

Richard J Demato Fine Art, Sag Harbor, NY

Art Exposure Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland UK

GalleryU, Westfield, NJ

Townsend Atelier, Chattanooga, TN