Palmer Museum

Affirmative Action
Jerry Kearns
Acrylic on canvas
1987

This picture has a woman digging with a shovel in thick mud. Her apparel isn't typical for the type of work she is doing instead of work attire she is wearing a dress and open toed heels. Behind her in the background is the outline of a city. The painting isn't very colorful and only contains the shades of yellow, red, black, and white. Its drawn is a cartoonist kind of fashion and is larger than life.

The rhetorical situation in this piece is women’s right to equal pay for equal work. It’s a contemporary piece because women still are not getting paid as much as the men who work the same jobs and same hours as they do. This piece is making a huge political and social statement. It shows women how society views them in dresses with open toed shoes, not really out in the world getting their hands dirty. Instead they should stay in their house wife attires never aspiring to be any more than a secretary or a stay at home mom catering to the needs of her husband and children. This woman on the other hand is digging in the mud refusing to sit back and do “women’s work.” This piece about how women are viewed compared with how they should be viewed. It’s no longer the dark ages men and women are equal even though someone might picture a woman in a dress sitting in an office taking messages doesn’t mean she’s not qualified to get dirty and show the world what hard work truly is.

This piece changes my mood to anger and resentment being a woman coming into the work force I don’t want to be treated differently than the man next to me doing the same job as me. I also think that just because women may dress up and have more delicate of an appearance doesn’t mean we are weak and can’t accomplish great things. Another aspect of this piece that really drives my emotions is the colors schemes chosen. The red and yellow resemble a fire and the intense anger that the woman is experiencing for being treated unjustly. Next the black and white symbolize how the view on women hasn’t changed much and is still almost archaic to their true capabilities and potential to do great things.

Jerry Kearns is very into larger than life Pop Art he does a great deal with political and social issues in the country which makes him a credible artist. It’s claiming that women will no longer be depicted like how they were in the past they will overcome the stereotypes of the typical and housewife and hold careers and overcome whatever stands in their paths. I think the claim of this piece is more informative and expressive then persuasive he’s letting the viewer know his feelings but wants them to form their own opinion on the subject.

I am actually not a museum goer, but this class seems to be about experiencing new things I was happy for the chance to get to check out our campuses museum, but as for me as far as art goes I’d rather preform dance or watch someone else preform it. I do however have an immense passion for history, and my art history class is starting to show me connections between paintings and the history. So may be in the future I will be more interested in museums.