“ANTI-ICON–the collapse of the pedestal, the end of the chosen one, the hegemony of definition and image undone.”
–Martine Gutierrez
The ANTI-ICON project’s cult following began in 2021 when first commissioned by Public Art Fund. Ten images from the original series were chosen to circulate on bus shelters normally used for advertising. Pedestrians encountered the larger-than-life figures on their daily commutes in 300 locations across New York, Chicago, and Boston. Gutierrez adapted these images by veiling the publicly hung nude self-portraits, both delegating her autonomy and struggle in the ongoing political restrictions placed on women’s bodies in the United States. This monograph reproduces all 17 images in the series, in their originally intended presentation.
Gutierrez is the sole performer in the series, portraying groundbreaking figures: Aphrodite; Ardhanarishvara; Atargatis; Cleopatra; Queen Elizabeth; Gabriel; Helen of Troy; Joan of Arc; Judith The Slayer; Lady Godiva; Our Lady of Guadalupe; Mary Magdalene; The Virgin Mary; La Madonna; Hua Mulan; Sacagawea; and the Queen of Sheba. —the publisher
