“As you approached the entrance to the massive reclaimed warehouse that is Brooklyn’s Knockdown Center, you couldn’t miss them: Ten wood-framed letters, each about ten feet high, spelling out the phrase “Nasty Women.” Each letter was crisscrossed with mesh, and on the mesh hung paintings and sculptures and collages and embroidery and ceramics made by women and female-identifying artists from as close as Manhattan and as far away as Hong Kong. Six hundred and twenty-two works in all, and on Thursday night they were snapped up one by one by buyers eager to support their cause — every dollar of every work sold was donated to Planned Parenthood.
Like many forms of political expression these days, the exhibition was born in a Facebook post. The day after the presidential election, Roxanne Jackson — a New York–based ceramicist and sculptor — posted a status that read, in part, “Hello female artists/curators! Let’s organize a NASTY WOMEN group show!!! Who’s interested???” She received dozens of responses, and she quickly teamed up with curator Jessamyn Fiore and studio manager Carolina Wheat. Just a few days later they’d finalized a logo and a website, secured a venue, and posted a call for submissions. And the work came flooding in.”
–Claire Landsbaum, NYMAG