Q&A with Marilyn Minter

Written by Lauren Hurwitz / Artwork courtesy of Marilyn Minter

What is the opposite of a feminist? An asshole. Painter, photographer, visual artist and activist, Marilyn Minter, perfectly embodies what it means to be fearless. After first discovering her unique talents at the young age of five, she has always stayed true to her vision: creating images that we know exist but never see a picture of. Minter has been a huge inspiration of mine, and it was an honor to feature her as the cover star of this magazine.

What pushed you to start creating art?

“Well, it was the only thing I could do better than other people!”

When did you first start to notice this?

“Right away. I was around five. I could draw so much better than my friends. It was a shock to me! Then, I started to draw everything, and I could draw better than anyone. It was like woah, this is a skill I have that no one else has.

I just kept encouraging myself to keep drawing. I learned from comic books because I lived in a cultural desert, Florida, and there were no art classes.”

How was your class experience at Syracuse University?

“I would not say it was a great education, cause it wasn’t. I was the only girl with 17 male artists, and it was right in the 70s when the change was coming, we were the anti-Vietnam generation, feminism was just starting to take hold and it was pretty misogynistic. The shock to me though was going up north. I had never seen snow. In my first year at Syracuse, it snowed 156 inches. It was a huge culture shock and people thought I was an idiot because I had a southern accent.

I had this great friend who taught me everything, he was a really good artist too; I didn’t learn from the school, but I learned a lot from the other students.”

Your work seems to make visible what typically is commercially airbrushed: sweat, pimples, body hair, freckles, etc. Why is this important for you to show this in your artwork?

“It’s really more about showing images that we know exist but never see a picture of. I am very interested in working with the culture and the times I live in, and I saw there was so much contempt for fashion and it was considered so shallow, and I also saw

that it was this giant industry, so I just thought I should examine it. What I ended up doing was using a lot of magazine images at first, until I ran out of magazines, and re-shot things. So it would be the things that were already there but were cleaned up, and that was the beginning of the way we erase human imperfection. That was the beginning of it being ubiquitous...

I just thought, even the fashion models don’t look like this, nobody looks like the fashion industry but it gives everyone so much pleasure. So I thought I will try to still give you pleasure but show you what it really looks like.”

What do you think of the fashion industry now?

“I still think it’s this mixed bag; it’s nuanced. It creates body dysmorphia and at the same time, it gives people so much pleasure. Then there are these punk kids who are making magazines and using transgender models and growing out their armpit hair and showing reality. Human beings are shot through with imperfections and somehow trying to be perfect is making everyone sicker!

I just feel like my job as an artist is to comment on the times we live in, I’m not trying to teach anyone anything, I’m trying to just make a picture of what I see.”

Your work has drawn such a wide mix of opinions over the years, especially the hard-core paintings. Do you think if it was released today, it would go over differently?

“Oh much more, nobody would give a shit now!

There would be no internet without the porn industry, and when I started examining it I thought well does it change the meaning if women use this imagery? I was taking images directly from porn and I was trying to be funny most of the time. The images were compelling to me, the ones I was using. I was a pro-sex feminist which was a really an invasive group even though I thought everyone thought just like I did, but it was the first wave of giant political correctness.

I thought why can’t women own and make imagery just for their own amusement or pleasure? After all, nobody has politically correct fantasies.”

You have called yourself a pro-sex feminist. How do you define that? Has your view of feminism changed throughout time?

“Well, I have always thought that the definition of feminism from the 70s on was owning your own reproduction rights and organs, you make those choices, and equal pay for equal work. Do you know what the opposite of a feminist is? The opposite of a feminist is an asshole.”

What is one piece of advice you wished someone shared with you when you were in your early 20s?

“I had a vision even when I was a really young kid, and sometimes I think that the work I am making now it looks different, but it is the work I have always made. And to fit into the vernacular, or whatever was going on, the movement of the moment, it is so easy to be shamed out of your gift because it does not fit whatever is the popular art movement at the time. So, I guess what I would like to say is to trust your inner voice...”