An Army of Women

This ongoing series of work titled An Army of Women portrays real women as the strong, intelligent and courageous beings they are. Older women, in particular, are often overlooked and underestimated within our culture, and are sometimes dismissed as no longer having the interest, appeal and potential of their more youthful selves. As a result, our society is throwing away the valuable resources and attributes that these many-layered women now possess at this stage of their lives. These paintings portray singular women, but they represent women EVERYWHERE.

Currently and throughout history our culture’s political and governing structure, business, organizational and educational leadership suffers from the lack of mature, experienced and astute females in decision-making and leadership roles. The patriarchal system under which we continue to live gives little respect, value and authority to its female counterparts, continuing to hold dominance over females.

The enemy of feminism isn’t men. It’s patriarchy. And patriarchy is not men. It’s a system. Both men and women can support the fight for gender equality as well as fight the battle against ageism, which deals a double blow to women just as they are approaching the best version of themselves, metaphorically rendering them invisible. As more and more smart and informed women begin to experience the absurdity of being rendered completely invisible and useless once they are no longer seen as an “object of beauty”, a notion held not only by a patriarchal society, but driven by our society’s obsession with youth and physical beauty, I see a massive protest, an inevitable revolution brewing led by women of all ages who demand to be seen and heard, not in spite of their mature stage of life, but BECAUSE of it! And no longer will women’s power and visibility come with an early expiration date.

To this end I make women the subject of my work, and not the object. These paintings are meant to call out the visibility and the enormous value of capable women everywhere who possess the qualities of intelligence, wisdom, skill, knowledge and experience, which translate to a true and lasting female beauty.

Watch this Army grow…