SaveArtSpace is proud to present Patriarchy RIP, a public art exhibition on billboard ad space in 10 US states!

The Patriarchy RIP selected artists are Michele Pred, REKA NYARI, Fatimazohra Serri, Van Velden Studio, Aminta Paiz, EllaSuper, Niohuru X, Jess Whittam, Holly Silius, Autumn Breon & Michele Pred.

Curated by Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova.

In the year 2022, big $ is still concentrated in the hands of men. Men still own the world, and it's not cute.

Art by women sells for 50% less than works by men, creating a 50% discount for women’s art at auction. Female artists accounted for just 5% of all NFT art sales. In the traditional art world, female artists represent just 2% of the market. The market for work by women is still less than the total sales for Picasso alone. Less than 10 percent of decision-makers at VC firms are women—and 74 percent of VC firms in the U.S. have zero women investors.

We can revolutionize everything, but only if we mean it, and if we come together. Just like an army.

During the week of March 7, 2022, SaveArtSpace launched public art installations for each selected work on billboard ad spaces in 10 US States. The public art will be on view for at least one month.

Selected Artists

Location: Glendale Blvd & Silver Lake Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

Location: Sunset Blvd & N Normandie Ave, Los Angeles, CA

Michele Pred is a Swedish American conceptual artist and activist whose practice includes sculpture, assemblage, and performance. Her work uncovers the cultural and political meaning behind everyday objects, with a concentration on feminist themes such as equal pay, reproductive rights, and personal security. Pred’s projects also contain social components that drive the conversation into public spaces. Examples include her exploration of the intersection of personal space and security by using airport-confiscated items after 9/11, the cultural background of the fight for reproductive rights, using thousands of expired birth control pills, and the continuing economic and political struggle for women’s rights, represented by her modified vintage handbag editions. 

In December 2017, Pred organized Parade Against Patriarchy in Miami during Art Basel. In November 2018, Pred lead We Vote, an art and social justice parade in New York City, to coincide with the midterm elections. The We Vote parade took place during her solo exhibition VOTE Feminist at Nancy Hoffman Gallery. She has since organized six more Feminist Art Parades in Oakland, San Francisco, Miami, New York, and Stockholm.

Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Berkeley Art Museum, the 21st C Museum, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, and the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York. Pred received a Pro-Choice Leadership Award from Personal PAC, Chicago. She has shown at Jack Shainman Gallery as an original member of the first artist-run organization For Freedoms. Pred has exhibited both nationally and internationally at the V & A Museum in London, Neuberger Museum, White Plains NY; Bild Museet and Kulturhuset in Sweden; University of Westminster, London, Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco; University of Technology, Sydney, Australia; Omi International Art Center, Ghent, NY; ASU Museum, Tempe, AZ; the Honolulu Museum of Art, HI; Museum of Design Atlanta, amongst others. 

Her work has been reviewed and featured by The New York Times, Ms. Magazine, The LA Times, The International Herald Tribune, ARTnews Magazine, Art in America, WIRED, Playboy, The Art Newspaper, American Craft Magazine, Huffington Post, Rachel Maddow, ReadyMade Magazine, TimeOut New York, Associated Press Television, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, NBC, ABC, The San Francisco Chronicle, Corriere della Sera (Italy), Dagens Industri, TV4 and Dagens Nyheter (Sweden). Michele Pred received her BFA from California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA. She was born in San Francisco and lives in Oakland, CA.

Connect with Michele on Instagram @Michelepred or on Twitter @Michelepred

Location: Orleans Ave & N Broad St, New Orleans, LA

Autumn Breon uses art to reimagine global narratives. A graduate of Stanford University, she studied Aeronautics & Astronautics and researched aeronautical astrobiology applications for NASA. Autumn went on to advocate for global access to affordable education in South Central Los Angeles, India, and South Africa. During her frequent travels throughout the African continent, Autumn examined contemporary art throughout the Diaspora and its impact. Based in Los Angeles, Autumn Breon curates and creates art to communicate ideas related to liberation, identity, and Diasporic memory. Her work has been recognized by Artsy, the Smithsonian Institution, Aspen Institute, TED, the Obama Foundation, LA Magazine, and Artnet.

Connect with Autumn on Instagram @autumnbreon or Twitter @autumnbreon

See Michele’s bio above!

The Equal Pay portrait is a collaborative artwork by Autumn Breon and Michele Pred. It is part of an initiative titled The Art of Equal Pay started in 2020 by Michele Pred. Autumn and Michele have been working together on the project for the last two years.

TAOEP encourages women-identifying and non-binary artists across the country to raise their prices by up to 15% in order to decrease the gender and racial wage gaps in art. Arts professionals, art collectors, gallerists, feminist and art-oriented organizations, and individual art lovers can also sign the pledge on our website in support of women artists. 

We understand that not every artist is in a position to raise their prices and/or fees—and that an individual solution cannot necessarily solve a systemic problem. Little data exists on the wage gaps in the visual arts, and we believe the most important work is to increase discourse and awareness about systemic pay inequity by recording more data. We have therefore launched a survey to collect data from artists of all genders in order to gain more information about the wage gaps in art and how they impact artists who are marginalized based on their race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. This is the first study of this kind for visual artists. 

Since March 31st, Equal Pay Day 2020 we have signed up hundreds of artists to participate in the activation. After the COVID shutdown occurred we started holding zoom events that presented artists, curators, collectors in discussions about Equal Pay. In the first month of shutdown, we featured weekly zoom events, later we held events on Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, Indigenous Women’s Equal Pay Day, and Women’s Equality Day. Since that time we also presented four activations and performances at Frieze LA 2020, Upstate Art Weekend in New York  2021, Kansas City 21C Museum and Hotel, and at Frieze London 2021.

Moving forward, we are continuing to sign up artists to participate in raising their prices and to take the survey. We are currently featured in the 2022 Deciders issue of Artnews Magazine. The initiative has also been written about in theArtnewspaper,Artnet News, Whitewall Magazine, Playboy, OG Magazine and Ms.Magazine.com.

Learn more about The Equal Pay initiative on Instagram @theartofequalpay

Location: S Las Vegas Blvd & North Dr, Las Vegas, NV

Living and working in New York City, REKA NYARI’s practice spans from fine art photography and videography, to elaborate installation and performance pieces. Oscillating between mischievous eroticism and wistful splendor, her work employs and explores traditional ideals of beauty and gender to portray sexuality from a predominantly female perspective. Nyari’s images of nude figures are not strictly intended as alluring portraits – while deriving their emotional charge from the familiar motifs of erotic photography, they expand the pictorial vocabulary to the realm of narratives, layering in personal histories and fictitious content. Unapologetically, Nyari embeds luscious and empowered bodies in luminous landscapes or against staged backdrops. Nudity, gesture, gaze, as well as objects, become intrinsically linked to the feminine identity. Born in 1979 in Helsinki, and raised in Finland and Hungary, Nyari came to New York City at the age of seventeen. After studying at The School of Visual Arts, she started modeling and discovered her interest in photography. The cinematography and eccentric narratives of Roman Polanski and David Lynch influence her work as much as the art of Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Miles Aldridge, and Cindy Sherman. Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in the United States and Europe. She has received awards from prestigious organizations, including first place Winner of International Photography Awards (IPA) 2010, Beauty Pro Category. Her 225-page Monograph titled “Femme Fatale: Female Erotic Photography” is published in 6 languages and sold out worldwide. Her NFT auction at Art Basel Miami 2021 raised $200,000 for charity, and she is a Superrare represented artist.

Connect with Reka on Instagram @rekanyariphotography or on Twitter @RekaNyari

Location: N Compton Ave & Olive St, St. Louis, MO

Fatimazohra Serri, 26 years old, born in Taza, raised in Nador, Morocco. I started photography in the summer of 2016 out of curiosity, I first turned to it as an outlet for my depression after starting a desk job as an accountant. My quotidian was composed of sameness, solitude and a feeling of voicelessness. I started shooting with the simple lenses of a midrange phone, a Samsung galaxy J3 ,a year later I received an affordable camera that i still shoot with until this day which is a Canon 1200D, as a present from a friend to take my hobby to the next level. After enjoying street photography for some time, i wanted to discover a complete different style which is conceptual photography, to create something that reflects who I’m and more related to me. I started with self portraits on the roof of our house, with the help of my sister sometimes. it’s a bit challenging to shoot freely in public, as my work is often deemed controversial and goes against the beliefs of the people in my city and the culture of my country in general, so my work is almost shot exclusively on the roofs of my own house. On August 2021 I decided to quit my job and focus on photography to work as a full time artist photographer, i took this decision after 5 years of working as an accountant, that was affecting my practice as an artist and most importantly my mental health. I use photography to highlight some of the issues that concern women in our Moroccan society and the conservative side of it in particular, since I am a part of it and grew up in a conservative community, where women aren't allowed to do as they desire. Though Morocco is often lauded as the most progressive country for women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa region, Moroccan women still face economic inequality, patriarchal laws and taboos about their bodies and sexuality. and that really motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and speak for myself and other women. I feel privileged to express my thoughts through pictures, and reflect the reality that I'm living, keeping the Moroccan touch but with a sense of originality. I try to make every picture speak for itself, tell a story, and send a message.

Connect with Fatimazorah on Instagram @fatimazohraserri

Location: S Las Vegas Blvd & Circus Circus Dr, Las Vegas, NV

Van Velden Studio explores new ways of producing, defining and celebrating the process of art by facilitating a collaborative platform detached from traditional and academic approaches. This collective production of art is characterised by the attempt to establish socially different production conditions, determined by equality, freedom and individual responsibility - production specifically not characterised by competition.

The platform champions art as the first line of resistance to social injustice and marginalisation. All people are artists and all lives are art. This platform exists where art and life intersect and the separation of artist and non-artist is removed, insofar, the joint work is the expression and facilitation of social interaction and communication. Irony, subversion, ambiguity: we are the lines and the space you fill between them. 

Van Velden Studio was founded by Regina Schneider & Kate Bailey in 2022.
We welcome pitches, collaborative ideas and anti-fascist rhetoric.

Artist's Statement: Supermarket of Art

According to NMWA, a data analysis of 18 major U.S. art museums found their collections are 87% male and 85% white. There are no women in the top 0.03% of the auction market, where 41% of the profit is concentrated. Overall, 96% of artworks sold at auction are by male artists.* Supermarket of Art seeks to represent this injustice. In a supermarket, ‘’Eyeline Space’’ is sold and reserved for brands with the biggest budgets and the safest ideas.

The art industry, according to the numbers, is no different: consumers can only buy what they see.

Thus, the piece seeks to critique and denounce the hollow performance of an industry performing and exploiting equity, while maintaining the status quo: good vibes for cis white men only. As digital currency, the aubergine and the peach represent the structural sexism and injustice that people in the contemporary art world encounter every day.

Connect with Van Velden Studios on Instagram @vanvelden.studio

Location: N 3rd Ave & W Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ

Aminta Paiz is passionate about experimenting, exploring, trying multiple mediums at once if possible. I love to play and be free, not following rules or structure. I enjoy the surprise factor. I experience extreme joy and extreme pain. I'm an emotional roller coaster.

I create to connect with myself, to dive deep into my emotions, to heal, to liberate, to flow, to exist.

The more I know myself, the better I can interact with the world around me and contribute to make it a better place with kindness and compassion towards others.

"I find myself being reborn everyday, unlearning old patterns and becoming who I decide to be.

I want my work to bring awareness and/or healing as I go through this journey myself "

Connect with Aminta on Instagram @aminta_paiz.

Location: Marietta St NW & Parker St NW, Atlanta, GA

EllaSuper is a Hong Kong born multidisciplinary artist based in Sydney, Australia. She directs and animates visuals, and produces music under the moniker French Concession. These days she spends her time helping musicians and brands creating wildly unique music videos and promo visuals. Having a background in film studies, EllaSuper’s digital art works are visually cinematic and her motion pictures were screened at international film festivals. Many of her animation works are otherworldly and fantastic visions transporting the audience away from reality. EllaSuper does not confine her works to a specific theme but is inspired by whatever that is happening in our current world; sci-fi, fashion, futurism and social and political issues from the Chinese diaspora have been an inspiration for her past works.

‘Equality is Harmonious’ is inspired by a decade of censorship of the feminist movement in China. It depicts a representation of a 2012 protest in Beijing where female protesters dressed as beaten brides to raise awareness against domestic violence. A protester held a sign that said「平等才和諧」(Only Equality is Harmonious). Seeing such a powerful protest image outside the Chinese internet firewall is rare, and I was blown away by what I saw. I thought the phrase was beautiful and clever as it reflects the ancient Daoist concept of striving for harmony in society and with nature, while also answering why equality is important in an eastern perspective. In my artwork, the 'Yin' and the 'Yang' is represeted by the smoke bombs behind the feminist figure to echo with this concept. I hope that the future and digital worlds that we are building can simulate this social and eco harmony by providing equality for all walks of life.

Connect with EllaSuper on Instagram @ellasuperrr

Location: 22nd St S & 1st Ave S, Birmingham, AL

Niohuru X is a queer Chinese Manchu makeup/visual artist. “Venus” is inspired by their painful struggle in a Chinese conversion camp, as well as their experience as a queer Asian artist living in New York. It reflects Niohuru’s journey of becoming who they are and explores Asian stereotypes in a twisted but beautiful way. The real strength comes from confronting your demons. Look them in the eye and it will set you free.

Connect with Niohuru on Instagram at @niohuru_nyc.

Location: 15th Ave N & Church St, Nashville, TN

Jess Whittam is a New York-based artist born in Port Jefferson, New York. Her practice uses drawing, sculpture and video to explore identity and body image. Her work has been exhibited in “Itinerant” at Crossing Art Gallery in Queens, NY (2012), YANS and RETO at Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY (2012), CinemaSunday at the Bushwick Community Darkroom, Brooklyn, NY (2015), BODY/Space at Rabbithole Projects (2016), Brooklyn, NY , +1 at Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2016), and Future Is Female by #SAVEARTSPACE at The Storefront Gallery, New York, NY (2017).

Connect with Jess on Instagram @jesswhittamstudio

Location: Forsyth Street & E Broadway, New York, NY

British-born artist, Holly Silius, was raised in the northwest of England before moving to London to study SFX makeup at the London College of Fashion. Silius’s interest in makeup was borne from her extensive background in fine-art. Early on, she utilized her training in SFX by working in TV & film as well as the Royal Opera House of London. In 2016, she was invited to exhibit at Tate Britain in a group exhibit for “Late at Tate,” a series of interactive workshops and exhibited work. Private and commercial commissions of her work have led to collaborations with Apple, Yves Tumor, KKW Beauty, and Katie Grand’s The Perfect Magazine. Holly is currently based between LA and the UK. 

Title of Piece - Phantom Feel

Multidisciplinary artist Holly Silius presents a new series of stone body sculptures ‘Phantom Feel’, inspired by writer and actor Lio Mehiel’s top surgery. The new series reimagines traditional figurative sculpture with a gender-queer and transmasculine body. All profits will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, which works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression regardless of income and race without facing violence.

Holly Silius is a fast emerging contemporary artist, based between the UK and LA. Silius’ body of work explores the human form, both raw and adorned, from body cast stone sculptures to masks and wearable body jewelry. The duality of raw and adorned mirrors Silius’ background in fine art and SFX.

The title “Phantom Feel” refers to a question Holly Silius posed to Lio Mehiel, whether they still have phantom feelings of their breasts. The question inspired Mehiel to respond with a poem, including the verse “She asks if I have phantom feelings. Whispers from breasts no longer there. I assume yes. Why wouldn’t it be the same as a soldier who lost his limb? That is, if I lost something.”

Holly Silius on Phantom Feel: “I was interested in understanding the way bodies are represented in a sculptural way. Figurative sculptures are historically gender normative, and I believe all bodies should be represented in stone. I wanted to share this as I think it's beautiful and bold. I wondered how it felt, and knew about the phantom limb feelings. I wanted to share a tangible piece for the viewer's mind to wander and feel something..”

Connect with Holly on Instagram @hollysilius or @studio.silius

Other credits:

Photographer - Kobe Wagstaff

BIO: American queer photographer Kobe Wagstaff (He/They) generalizes their work as being built on the foundation of fluidity. As an image-maker, they are always striving to photograph things they want to learn more about. Kobe has found that being the societal constructs of gender. Exploring the gender in between while simultaneously clutching to the divine fem. Kobe’s images are known for being carefully composed, carrying a sense of simplicity with a harmonious blend of color and composition. Placing their subjects in a world of stylized self-reflection and self-expression.

Connect with Kobe on Instagram @kobewagstaff

Muse - Lio Mehiel

BIO: Lio Mehiel is a latine, transmasculine, non-binary writer and performer based in Los Angeles. Lio’s work spans film, multimedia installation, and theater. They employ techniques of surrealist cinema and movement-based performance to explore the inherent contradiction of the trans experience – equally rooted in socialized flesh and transcendent in its imaginative embodiment. They can be seen on Tales of the City on Netflix and WeCrashed on Apple+. Their short films have premiered at Sundance Film Festival, Outfest, and Newfest. Their installation Arcade Amerikana was included in the list of 10 Best Immersive Shows in NYC by TimeOut and Gothamist.

Curator

Locations: Forsyth Street & E Broadway, New York, NY / Commerce St & Rosa L Parks Blvd, Nashville, TN / N Ewing Ave & Olive St, St. Louis, MO / NW Grand Ave & W Taylor St, Phoenix, AZ / 11th St NW & Howell Mill Rd NW, Atlanta, GA / St Andrew St & S Claiborne Ave, New Orleans, LA / Lincoln Blvd & E Marco Ct, Los Angeles, CA / 6th Ave & Rose Ave, Los Angeles, CA / 20th St S & 14th Ave S, Birmingham, AL / S Decatur Blvd & Faircenter, Las Vegas, NV / Spring Mountain Rd & Polaris Ave, Las Vegas, NV

Conceptual artist and activist Nadya Tolokonnikova is the founding member of Pussy Riot, a global feminist protest art movement. Today, hundreds of people identify as a part of the Pussy Riot community. 

She was sentenced in 2012 to 2 years' imprisonment following an anti-Putin performance. Went through a hunger strike protesting savage prison conditions and ended up being sent far away to a Siberian penal colony, where she managed to maintain her artistic activity and with her prison punk band she made a tour around Siberian labor camps. Published a book "Read and riot: Pussy Riot's guide to activism".

Co-founder of independent news service and media outlet, Mediazona. Has spoken before the US Congress, British Parliament, European Parliament, appeared as herself on season 3 of House of Cards, performed at Banksy's Dismaland exhibition. 

Pussy Riot's Punk-prayer was named by The Guardian among the best art pieces of the 21st century ("feminist, explicitly anti-Putin, protesting the banning of gay pride and the Orthodox church’s support of the president"), collaborated with Bansky on his Dismaland exhibition, endorsed by Marina Abramovic and Ai Weiwei, created an immersive experience in Saatchi gallery in London. Pussy Riot joined the NFT community in early 2021, is a PleasrDAO member, and a supporter of a stronger female representation in the NFT space. 

Pussy Riot stands for gender fluidity, inclusivity, matriarchy, love, laughter, decentralization, anarchy, and anti-authoritarianism.

Connect with Nadya on Instagram at @nadyariot.

Participating Organizations

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.

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