Remembering F. John Sierra, Valie Export, and Mary Lovelace O'Neal

F. John Sierra created the 1982 mural “The Planting of Cultures,” a cultural landmark in Fresno, California. He co-founded Arte Américas in 1987 and served as its artistic director until 2000. His work appeared in museums including the Mexican Museum in Chicago and the Oakland Museum of California, and Fresno designated an annual John Sierra Day on July 17. Valie Export used guerrilla gestures to undermine patriarchal society and reclaim the female body. She co-founded the Austrian Filmmakers Cooperative in 1968, wrote “Women’s Art: A Manifesto” in 1972, made feature films, taught in Cologne, and opened the Valie Export Centre in Linz to promote performance art research. The Civil Rights activist painter combined abstraction and figuration with gestural marks and explosive energy, especially in Lampblack paintings.

"His 1982 "The Planting of Cultures" mural became a cultural landmark in Fresno, California, and he co-founded the Latin America-focused contemporary art center Arte Américas in the city in 1987, serving as its artistic director until 2000. His work has been shown in museums such as the Mexican Museum in Chicago and the Oakland Museum of California, and in 1982, the city of Fresno designated an annual John Sierra Day on July 17."

""A 'Feminist Actionist,'" her playful, powerful, and provocative work undermined patriarchal society through guerrilla gestures that reclaimed and reinterpreted the female body. She co-founded the Austrian Filmmakers Cooperative in 1968 and wrote the landmark "Women's Art: A Manifesto" in 1972, as well as made feature films, curated exhibitions, taught at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, and opened the Valie Export Centre in Linz, Austria, to promote performance art research."

"The painter, educator, and Civil Rights activist's monumental works moved between abstraction and figuration with gestural marks and explosive energy. She is perhaps best known for her Lampblack paintings, in which she applied loose black pigment in layers onto canvases before punctuating it with a chalkboard eraser, her hands, or white and colored lines."

"Perhaps best known for designing Malta's Lira coins in 1986 and Euro coins in 2007, as well as medals, commemorative pieces, and public monuments, he was a key contributor to the nation's cultural identity. He has held solo exhibitions in France, Yugoslavia, and his home country, including a retrospective at the Museum of Archaeo"

Read at Hyperallergic