Women in Art: 3 Female Artists Every Woman Should Know in 2021

If I were to ask you, “Who are your favorite artists throughout the history of western art?” What would you say? Most people would probably answer either Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Leonardo da Vinci, etc. Surely, there would be a clear bias towards an overwhelming majority of men artists. Why is that, though? Some will argue that the reason for that is that there were fewer women artists, while others believe those female artists were not notable enough to be written in history. Guess what, the answer is neither. These explanations are an attempt to rationalize gender discrimination. Newsflash! There is a long history of exclusion and oppression of women in the field of visual art, and the prevailing perception has been that women’s art is inferior to that of men’s. That is far from true, and we must right this wrong. Nowadays, our current situation isn’t as dire as it once was, but there is still a lot of work to be done, and we must make sure women artists around the world will receive their well-deserved recognition and appreciation. Women empower art, but nonetheless, art should empower women. Let me tell you a little bit about three contemporary women artists you must know who are proud to be female artists helping to put more of us on the map.

 

Ashley Longshore

Ashley is a completely self-taught artist, gallery owner, and entrepreneur from New Orleans. She is known for her energetic, bold, and colorful works that are often as profound as they are playful. She has a self-proclaimed pop culture obsession and has been featured in Vogue, Elle, and Forbes. Her most famous works include her larger-than-life portraits of fashion icons such as Kate Moss, Anna Wintour, and Audrey Hepburn, as well as her collection of pieces exploring the theme of money and power. Ashley says, “My art is a reflection of how I see the world. I paint subject matter that brings me joy, makes me laugh, exclamations about society, and overall imagery that pleases my soul”. In 2018, she became the first female artist to achieve a solo exhibit at Bergdorf Goodman, and in 2019 she obtained a role as the official artist in residence for New York Fashion Week.

ASHLEY LONGSHORE - 'RBG WITH LADY LIBERTY' & 'STILL LIFE'

 

When asked if she has encountered or noticed any gender discrimination while growing her career as a respected artist, she answered, “Fuck yes, I have, but I don’t dwell on it. I take the energy that many people use to whine, and I put it to the grind. If I continue to create my own empire, it doesn’t matter that I don’t have a penis. Hard work, enthusiasm, and gratitude are a hard fucking recipe to beat. Make your own path. Make your own rules. Focus and show them what you are made of! There is nothing tougher than a woman. Women are amazing and can accomplish anything and everything they put their mind to!”

ASHLEY LONGSHORE

 

 

Erin Cone

After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, the painter Erin Cone from Texas had her first show at 24. Since then, Erin has had twenty-two solo shows and participated in more than a dozen group shows across the U.S. and Europe, and has been featured in numerous art magazines. Erin creates magical realism of graceful female figures that evoke the viewer's emotional complexity. “I create a deliberate push-and-pull between near-photorealistic detail and my own vocabulary of visual glitches that challenge that very realism. This duality is central to my work and allows the figures I paint to remain wholly representational while functioning abstractly — evoking emotion without defining it.” It's no wonder that Critics are fascinated by her unique works, which embody minimalism infused with an intrinsic truth. When asked whether she has experienced any gender discrimination in her 20 years of being a professional artist, Erin replied, “I’ve certainly encountered a degree of gender-bias in the art world: from little things - like collectors at my art openings assuming that my husband is the artist instead of me… to bigger issues like the gallery owner who warned me not to have kids if I valued my career. And several times over the years, male gallery owners have pressured me to change the title of a show or a painting, or even the focus of my work, and I’ve wondered if they’d have done the same with a male artist. Such experiences have been subtle yet pervasive over the years, but I haven’t let them get in my way”.

ERIN CONE - 'AUTUMN' & 'PERENNIAL'

 

 

Bar Ben Vakil

Bar Ben Vakil, a striking artist from Israel, moved to the US at the age of 24 and made a name for herself in NYC, where she resides. By the age of 23, Bar was a part of 5 exhibitions and participated in the prestigious “Salon D'automne” in Paris. She sells her exquisite art and customized prints worldwide via social media, where she also reveals her working process and shares words of wisdom that inspire her. "While I'm painting, I disconnect myself from my surroundings and the space I am physically in. I only think about a specific door inside my heart. Once that door opens, I know I surrender to my creation, without judgment, without thinking about the audience nor about what they'll say. I use colors as a tool to express what I feel, and that is art to me.” Bar's work is vibrant, lively, and eccentric, expressing a heightened sense of contemporary art mixed with street art in her female and tropical subjects. She achieves this effect by using multiple mediums such as oil colors, acrylic, crayons, spray paint, wax pastel, 24 karat gold, 18 karats rose gold, ink, and more. When asked if she ever encountered gender discrimination in the art world, she said, “Technically speaking, yes, but to be extremely honest here, I never let it touch me. I didn't want that to become my narrative and did everything in my power to use it like gas on a fire that burns deep within all women. I am proud to be a female artist helping to put more of us on the map”.

BAR BEN VAKIL - 'FRIDA' & 'I WILL MISS YOU FOREVER'

 

 

WINDS OF CHANGE

These three talented and motivated women are ones to be inspired by, and experiencing their art in real life or via socials is an absolute mental and visual delight. Their success is showing us the world is finally changing, and great female artists claim their own. With that being said, gender discrimination is still very much real and present, even if more subtle or unconscious, women have to work ten times harder to get recognition, and these three women are an example of that. They will not let anything stand in their way, and they are hustling and grinding all the way to the top.
Now, suppose anyone has the audacity and ignorance to claim there haven’t been any notable female artists. In that case, he will encounter Ashley, Erin, or Bar’s unique and inspiring talent to knock that idea right out of his head, once and for all.