5 x 5: 5 Pics and comments about 5 artists

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LIISA HIETANEN: 

Finnish artist Liisa Hietanen crochets and knits imitations of her friends and neighbours in a series which she has called Villagers. Amazingly accurate, she likes to get to know her subject before recreating them. Here are 5 examples: 

 

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DAKU 156: 

Daku is the pseudonym of an Indian street artist who frequently uses light, shadows and refl;ections in his works, as well as word messages. 

One example that is straight street art: in 2014 before India’s elections, Daku painted a large hand with an inked middle finger with the words “Mat Do”, which can be interpreted as vote or alternatively don’t vote. 

Recently Daku installed a text-based shadow work in Goa by having letters suspended on fishnet above pedestrians casting shadows on the street. The messages are about time passing, the work being called Theory of Time. 

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A BULL AND A FEARLESS GIRL: 

You know that statue known as Charging Bull, which is sometimes referred to as the Wall Street Bull, well. it started as guerrilla art that was installed unofficially by sculptor Arturo Di Modica. It became so popular that it has been allowed to remain permanently. 

The bronze sculpture is an iconic symbol of Wall Street that has become a tourist attraction in its own right. It is said that for good luck, one must rub the bull’s nose, horns and cods, the latter having become shiny and gleaming as a result: 

Charging Bull has often been a subject of criticism from an anti-capitalist perspective. The Occupy Wall Street protests used the bull as a symbolic figure to protest against corporate greed, and it has been likened to the golden calf worshiped by the Israelites during their Exodus from Egypt. 

On March 7, 2017, the night before International Women's Day, another bronze sculpture, Fearless Girl, was placed directly in front of Charging Bull.  

The statue was designed by Kristen Visbal and commissioned by State Street Global Advisers (SSGA) as part of a marketing campaign for their gender-diverse index fund. The plaque below the statue states: "Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference," with "SHE" being both a descriptive pronoun and the fund's NASDAQ ticker symbol. Fearless Girl was placed facing the bull, and seems to be staring it down. The city granted a permit allowing Fearless Girl to stay on the site for at least 11 months. 

Creator of Charging Bull, Di Modica, was not happy. He asked that the statue of the girl be removed, arguing that the piece exploits his work for commercial purposes and that it altered the perception of the bull from "a symbol of prosperity and for strength" into a villain, doing so for SSGA's commercial gain. Some valid comments.

After Fearless Girl had been in place for thirteen months, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that both Charging Bull and Fearless Girl would be moved to a location facing the New York Stock Exchange. 

Fearless Girl has drawn criticism as being corporate advertising, corporate feminism, as trivialising the pro-rights movement for women and in using a child for the message. Nonethess the statue has been as popular as Charging Bull. 

A report states that sculptor Visbal is making 1,000 miniature replicas about 56 cm/22 inches in height. It will cost $6,500 to own one. 

On February 14, 2019, State Street Global Advisors filed a lawsuit against Kristen Visbal, claiming that she has made and sold replicas of the statue in violation of her contract with the company. The suit claims the artist made at least three unauthorized Fearless Girl reproductions that could damage the company's global campaign in support of female leadership and gender diversity. 

Funnily enough, on October 6, 2017, State Street, the company that funded Fearless Girl, paid $5 million to settle a lawsuit from its female and minority employees who alleged the company violated equal pay rights. 

One final note: 

A replica of Fearless Girl was unveiled by Kristen Visbal at Federation Square in Melbourne before Women's Day on March 8, 2019. It is planned to stand there for four years, 

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PEETA: 

Peeta, also known as Manuel Di Rita, is a graffiti artist currently based in Venice, Italy. His works frequently display an interaction between letters, words, shapes, space, three dimensional volume and altered perceptions of reality, as the following mural examples show: 

 

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OLGA KAMENETSKAYA: 

Ukrainian artist Olga Kamenetskaya trns unrealistic painted faces on dolls and turns them into realistic images, creating something better and amazing in each case. See what you think . . .