Marisol
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Marisol Escobar was a Venezuelan-American artist, born in Paris to affluent, Venezuelan parents and is best known for her sculptural work with wood and various items. She began her formal arts education in 1946, taking night classes at art institutes in Los Angeles, where her family relocated after her mother\’s suicide. Later, she studied at the Ècole des Beaux-Arts in 1949, before eventually settling in New York. Her works of art most often tackle the concept of sex and gender norms, specifically regarding the traditional roles of women. Marisol\’s models deliberately assume the role of the “feminine” to reclaim it. In the 1950s she dropped her surname, Escobar, perhaps to diverge herself from a patriarchal tradition. Beginning in the 1960s, Marisol was influenced by the Pop art movement, although her style ultimately defies categorization with its use of Dadaism, Surrealism, and pre-Columbian techniques.
