Summer Wheat: Blood, Sweat, and Tears (installation view)

In “Blood, Sweat, and Tears,” artist Summer Wheat’s vibrantly colored paintings depict a community of heroic females doing the “heavy lifting and running things.” Using an inventive process of pushing paint through aluminum mesh, Wheat’s large-scale paintings resemble medieval tapestries showing female figures as hunters, fishers, and beekeepers. These women rewrite historical imagery through themes such as labor, discovery, and expressions of joy where traditionally only men were present. © Summer Wheat, courtesy of the artist and Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles. Photo: E. G. Schempf, 2020