From the Exhibition: 40 Top Art Events of the Downtown Era: A Timeline, 1974–1992

1985, Palladium, Guerrilla Girls/Jenny Holzer, Poster

Offset print, 17″ x 22″.

The self-proclaimed “women artists terrorist organization” Guerrilla Girls formed in 1985 to expose the art world’s extreme gender imbalances, surreptitiously hanging posters around downtown Manhattan.

The first and only exhibition curated by the group was a détente of sorts with the mega-nightclub Palladium, whose impressive, and all-male, art collection Guerrilla Girls had previously protested. The project resulted in some acrimony, as members resigned over the exclusive choices entailed by such an invitational exhibition. The poster lists the artists featured, and reproduces one of Jenny Holzer’s strident text pieces.

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DOWNTOWN ERA EXHIBITION HOMEPAGE

From the Exhibition: 40 Top Art Events of the Downtown Era: A Timeline, 1974–1992