If you have spare nautical tow rope lying around the house and can’t think of anything to do with it, perhaps Sheila Pepe (one half of the Two Women exhibit currently at the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art on Lake Avenue in Lake Worth) may have a suggestion or two for you.

Pepe is a 45 year old artist based in New York who creates “Site specific” pieces of art, her creation, “Gowanus” is made of hundreds of feet nautical tow line and shoelaces and looms over a good deal of the museum’s 6,400 feet of exhibition space.

Another one of her creations, entitled “Above the 9th Street Bridge” is made up entirely of industrial rubber bands. Using intricate braiding and weaving techniques, Sheila’s unique style really brought the show room to life.

Sheila, along with her life partner and fellow artist, Carrie Moyer are the two women featured in the self-titled exhibit. Pepe creates original art from obscure items found in and around her home, Moyer, on the other hand, is a painter with a strong social and political point of view that she uses to influence her art.

Moyer’s paintings are, at first glance, brilliantly colored, beautifully crafted pieces of art that use poured color to accentuate the pastel colors and shapes. Upon further inspection, you’ll start to notice the ever so subtle pictures in the background. These pictures are taken from early 20th century political posters and Moyer strategically places them in her art in order to convey her messages. Moyer’s messages are socially and politically fueled, and stem from a liberal, socially conscious and well-informed point of view.

Her piece “Believe in Ruins” is not only beautiful to look at, but it has a strong message as well. If you examine this piece, you can see Moyer’s lesbian power message in the contemporary capitalist society. The beautiful colors and designs in Moyer’s work not only make for great art pieces, but also help convey her socially relevant commentary in a subtle and creative way. Capitalism, and anti-capitalism, are recurring themes in a lot of Moyer’s work.

“The Great Leap Forward” (pictured) personifies the communist aggression towards capitalism during the mid-20th century. You will notice what I refer to as her “Blatant Subtlety” in this piece. It’s this sort of politically conscious commentary that makes her art more than just paint on a canvas.

While walking through the exhibit, I noticed an entire wall covered with multiple pictures of this hippie/stoner/beatnik with a cigarette in his mouth and the words “Practice More Failure” written across the top. It was in a checkered pattern and every other square had an obscure picture of a finger pointing and the American flag dangling below it.

When asked about the significance of this piece, Moyer said “We’re living in a time where everyone wants to be perfect”. It encourages trial and error, and that message alone made this piece stand out in my mind as a positive influence to the art world.

Like Moyer’s art, the title “Two Women” conveys a more underlying message. In my opinion, the title does not just describe the artists’ genders, but their struggle. After viewing the exhibit and meeting these remarkable and talented women, the title seems slightly abbreviated, it should continue to read; Two Women…against the world.

These two artists don’t compromise their views or their art for anyone, and for that they should be commended.

Check out the exhibit at the PBICA, located at 601 Lake Worth Ave, in downtown Lake Worth, it will be there for the duration of the summer.