Judy Giera

Spantzo Gallery is pleased to present Judy Giera’s first solo exhibition: ‘til the Moon Turns Pink in which the artist explores the nuances of girlhood and confronts the expectations of the feminine. Inspired by Barbie and Barbie’s Dream House, Giera employs a bright color palette and synthetic materials to refer to the joyful, messy potentiality of abstract painting. Aesthetically, through playful experimentation, she subverts the patriarchal conceits of the action painters of the 1950s.

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A haptic and vibrant video; gurl world (or rather, don't make me over), juxtaposes live performances by the artist (as a life-size Barbie doll-esque character) contrasted with footage of the TERF rantings of feminist YouTubers and Barbie commercials from the 1960s to the present.The video informs the seven abstract paintings by situating them inside a broader dialogue of intolerance of trans people, as well as the commercialization of one’s femininity; experiences the artist encountered in her late twenties when she began her gender transition. With her impish video performances, and her audacious paintings, Giera calls out the violence that shapes contemporary conceptions of girlhood and, in so doing, invites the viewer to rethink the feminine.

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Giera's work has been shown at the Hudson River Museum,Amos Eno Gallery, White Columns (Online), Bronx Arts Space, EFA, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Trestle Gallery, and more. Her evening length performance work, Blanche On A Winter's Eve, premiered at the United Solo Theatre Festival in 2016 and was curated into the First International Human Rights Arts Festival in 2017. Her performance works have also been seen at Dixon Place, Under St. Marks, Theatre 80, and Ideal Glass Studios. She holds an MFA in Art (Painting) from Lehman College/CUNY and an MFA in Theatre from the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University. Judy maintains a studio at EFA (The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts) where she also serves as Program Manager for EFA Project Space, the foundation's cross-disciplinary gallery program. Giera resides in Brooklyn with her two cats, lots of plants, and a well-worn Hitachi Magic Wand.