2022 | Oil and Acrylic on Canvas | Original Painting
Strong enough to do it all. Still expected to look pretty doing it.
In Sliding Scale, Alissa Van Atta examines the shifting expectations of femininity through a bold juxtaposition of vintage imagery, graphic color, and expressive abstraction.
At the center of the composition, the iconic figure of Rosie the Riveter flexes her arm in a familiar declaration of female strength and capability. Her blue work shirt and red polka-dot headscarf evoke the enduring visual language of women's empowerment. Beneath her, however, the imagery shifts dramatically into the flowing silhouette of an elegant yellow gown, introducing a contrasting representation of femininity.
The two images appear joined within a single vertical composition, creating an unexpected collision between independence and traditional feminine presentation. Rather than treating these identities as mutually exclusive, the painting questions why women are so often expected to move effortlessly between them.
A vivid yellow background gives way to deep teal, while energetic passages of blue-gray paint interrupt the carefully outlined figures. These spontaneous marks disrupt the polished vintage imagery, suggesting the instability and contradiction beneath society's seemingly straightforward expectations of women.
The title Sliding Scale introduces the idea of femininity as something continually measured and evaluated. Women are expected to be strong, but not intimidating; beautiful, but not vain; independent, but still accommodating. The standards shift depending on who is watching, and success in one role does not necessarily bring freedom from the demands of another.
By combining two recognizable ideals of womanhood, Van Atta challenges the notion that feminine identity can be defined by a single image, role, or standard. Strength and beauty are not contradictions, yet the pressure to embody both according to someone else's expectations can become its own form of restriction.
Part of Van Atta's She's so Vintage collection, Sliding Scale uses nostalgic imagery to explore contemporary questions of gender, identity, and the persistent contradictions surrounding women's roles.
Bold, colorful, and unapologetically feminist, the painting celebrates the complexity of female identity while questioning the ever-changing standards by which women are judged.
Because the problem isn't that women can be many things.
It's that we're so often expected to be everything.
Artist: Alissa Van Atta
Title: Sliding Scale
Year: 2022
Medium: Oil and Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 40 H × 30 W × 1.5 D inches
Collection: She's so Vintage
Original: One-of-a-kind painting
Signed: Yes
Inventory Number: avap202240307
Price: $2,895
Status: Available
Original artwork by Alissa Van Atta. Insured fine-art shipping can be arranged with protective packaging suitable for an original canvas painting.
2022 | Oil and Acrylic on Canvas | Original Painting
Strong enough to do it all. Still expected to look pretty doing it.
In Sliding Scale, Alissa Van Atta examines the shifting expectations of femininity through a bold juxtaposition of vintage imagery, graphic color, and expressive abstraction.
At the center of the composition, the iconic figure of Rosie the Riveter flexes her arm in a familiar declaration of female strength and capability. Her blue work shirt and red polka-dot headscarf evoke the enduring visual language of women's empowerment. Beneath her, however, the imagery shifts dramatically into the flowing silhouette of an elegant yellow gown, introducing a contrasting representation of femininity.
The two images appear joined within a single vertical composition, creating an unexpected collision between independence and traditional feminine presentation. Rather than treating these identities as mutually exclusive, the painting questions why women are so often expected to move effortlessly between them.
A vivid yellow background gives way to deep teal, while energetic passages of blue-gray paint interrupt the carefully outlined figures. These spontaneous marks disrupt the polished vintage imagery, suggesting the instability and contradiction beneath society's seemingly straightforward expectations of women.
The title Sliding Scale introduces the idea of femininity as something continually measured and evaluated. Women are expected to be strong, but not intimidating; beautiful, but not vain; independent, but still accommodating. The standards shift depending on who is watching, and success in one role does not necessarily bring freedom from the demands of another.
By combining two recognizable ideals of womanhood, Van Atta challenges the notion that feminine identity can be defined by a single image, role, or standard. Strength and beauty are not contradictions, yet the pressure to embody both according to someone else's expectations can become its own form of restriction.
Part of Van Atta's She's so Vintage collection, Sliding Scale uses nostalgic imagery to explore contemporary questions of gender, identity, and the persistent contradictions surrounding women's roles.
Bold, colorful, and unapologetically feminist, the painting celebrates the complexity of female identity while questioning the ever-changing standards by which women are judged.
Because the problem isn't that women can be many things.
It's that we're so often expected to be everything.
Artist: Alissa Van Atta
Title: Sliding Scale
Year: 2022
Medium: Oil and Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 40 H × 30 W × 1.5 D inches
Collection: She's so Vintage
Original: One-of-a-kind painting
Signed: Yes
Inventory Number: avap202240307
Price: $2,895
Status: Available
Original artwork by Alissa Van Atta. Insured fine-art shipping can be arranged with protective packaging suitable for an original canvas painting.
