(en)Gendered (in)Equality - The Gallery Tally
2013, LA Louver Gallery - 37 artists; 78% male, 22% female
2014, Sargent's Daughter's, NYC - 11 artists; 55% male, 45% female
2013, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles - 13 artists; 85% male, 15% female
The Tally Project, conceptualized and organized by Micol Hebron, is a crowd-sourced, social engagement art project in which 300+ (this number keeps growing exponentially) artists from around the world have joined the effort to collect and visualize statistical data regarding ratios of male and female artists represented in top contemporary art galleries. Unlike the Guerrilla Girls, The Tally Project is more localized, focusing on galleries rather than museums, which is precisely where an artist begins their career. A step-down approach of sorts - right at the source.
Today, 80% of BA/BFA studio art undergraduates are female, 20% male. MFA studio art programs are approx. 60% female, 40% male.
Collectively, the tallied ratios uncovered that 70% of artists represented by galleries in the country's two biggest cities (NY & LA) are male. Represented artists in 87 of the top commercial galleries in Los Angeles alone, there are a total of 2068 artists. 1429 (69%) are male / 641 (31%) are female.
Why is there such an imbalance in the Arts?
"The short answer is: the market. Galleries are businesses, not social service agencies, and the market plainly feels more secure investing in the cultural production of men." - Christopher Knight, LA Times, 2016
Thomas Solomon poster featured in Site 95 Magazine (published March 1, 2014)
Click Here to see all the posters from artists around the world participating in the Tally Project
2016 installation at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), image courtesy of LACE